No traffic on the Crossfire?

What Toyota? Ford owns Jaguar, Aston-Martin, and Land Rover; BMW owns

Rolls-Royce and Mini; VW owns Bentley. GM has always owned Vauxhall. What

does that leave? Rover-MG? Lotus?

Reply to
Lloyd Parker
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Well, I am glad you respected Jag engineering....but I hope your respect

doesn't go back too far...a load of unreliable old-fashioned metal until

Ford pumped a bit of money (billions) in...

;-)

DAS

--

Reply to
Dori Schmetterling

And I never bought any of that crap either.

Reply to
Steve

Yeah, Ford improved reliability. And killed the soul of Jaguar. I'd love

to have an old V12 Jag. The Brits used to know how to build *engines*

that were works of art even if they couldn't make wiring that would

reliably power a night-light. Engines from companies like Napier,

Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, Bristol, and Bentley. And they weren't just called

by their displacements, they had names like "Merlin," "Lion," "Sabre,"

"Centaurus," and "Deltic.". I was pleasantly surprised to learn recently

that the incredible Napier Deltic locomotives have been preserved and

are in use at rail shows and on excursion runs. Maybe Britain hasn't

sold its entire soul to Ford, Toyota, and BMW.

Reply to
Steve

"Chris Mauritz" wrote

No thanks. I have one, love it, and hope to drive it for years to come. I

don't think it can be matched at a reasonable price. 73,000 miles of smiles

so far.

Gramps

Reply to
Jim Shulthiess

...Morgan, Caterham, TVR, Miniscule Motor Company, Tiny Sales Ltd, Kit

Manufacturing Associates...

Lotus has been 'unindependent' since 1986, when GM bought it. Been owned by

Proton Malaysia since 1996.

formatting link

:-)

DAS

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Reply to
Dori Schmetterling

You're an old (?) Romantic! (And, maybe, a dab hand at DIY repairs...)

When you're yet again failing to start your car on the way to work or having

another failure on a wet afternoon then you give a fig about soul....

Jags are fine cars again and the big ones can, I believe, hold their own in

any company. And that's thanks to Ford! IIRC, when the new owners walked

into the Coventry plant to have their first really good look at their new

acquisition they were horrified.

DAS

--

Reply to
Dori Schmetterling

It's supposed to be out later this model year. And I wouldn't think the MB

C240 or BMW 325 or Jaguar X-Type would be all that much more unaffordable than

an Audi.

Reply to
Lloyd Parker

My personal experience with the A4 has been positive, though I would

avoid other Audi models (like the A8). The only real downside is the

relatively higher cost of parts (which I'm willing to accept in order to

get the other features I want). Believe it or not, the A4 is even

cheaper to insure. Go figure.

I really like the 300M and was considering keeping it, but my wife

doesn't like to drive it (she's not that tall and has problems seeing

over the tall rear deck when she backs up.

Cheers,

C
Reply to
Chris Mauritz

VW (and by extension Audi) definitely doesn't have a good reputation for

initial quality. That's for sure and it's borne out in the JD Power

surveys. That's why I picked up a used A4 from a friend of mine who is

*at least* as anal as I am about cars. He's already dealt with the

kinks. 8-)

After driving the A4 around for a week, I don't think I could go back to

a big front-wheel drive car again.

Cheers,

C
Reply to
Chris Mauritz

It looks like I left out the word "affordable"...though the G35 may

be...I don't see prices for the new AWD model anywhere.

C
Reply to
Chris Mauritz

I don't really have any complaints about mine either. It's a nice car,

but I wanted AWD and something sportier.

Cheers,

C
Reply to
Chris Mauritz

I take all of that (even the "old" part) as a compliment. (I'm only 40,

though).

Well, that's why I have old Dodges and Plymouths instead of old Jags...

you CAN drive them every day and they never let you down, yet have a

good share of "soul" themselves. But I still salivate over old Jag V12s.

And Bentleys when Bentley was independent.

The amorphous cross-bred cars that are coming out these days have less

and less appeal. It used to be that individual makes solved the same

engineering problem in different ways.Simple and quick example- Carter

carburetors versus SU. You'd think that one or the other couldn't

POSSIBLY be a carburetor they did things so differently. Not anymore,

the name on the part may be different, and the case may look slightly

different, but all the fundamental components work the same way. Yawn.

Reply to
Steve

A4 quattro: $30k

C240 AWD (only available as wagon...yick): $40-50k

BMW 325xi: $40-45k once it's optioned

Jaguar X-type (for the lowest end 2.5): $30-35k

So the only one in your group that's really close in price is the Jag

and this is what Edmunds has to say about the Jag:

"Priced to compete with the entry-luxury offerings from Audi, BMW and

Mercedes, the all-wheel-drive X-Type falls short in most areas, from

driving dynamics to cabin furnishings. Only worth considering if you've

got to have a Jaguar."

But I guess if one considers your penchant for ignoring the facts and

buying a car solely based on its snob value, I can better understand

your recommendations.

Cheers,

C
Reply to
Chris Mauritz

No, 4Matic is available on all C-classes sedans.

And you're not adding any options to the Audi? Apples, oranges.

Reply to
Lloyd Parker

Mercedes C240 4Matic sedan -- $32,760

BMW 325xi sedan -- $30,245

Audi A4 1.8T Quattro -- $28,140

Audi A4 3.0 Quattro -- $33,630 (and the others are 6 cylinders)

All from Edmunds.

Reply to
Lloyd Parker

Yeah, for the record, I like the styling of the Crossfire (and the

related new show cars). If the purpose is to garner [new] interest in

Chrysler, then it's sounds like it's working -- I'd have never

considered one before.

I also tend to ignore people who think there's still a concept as a

"domestic car" so that's definitely not a factor here.

FPtM

Reply to
Fruit Pie the Magician

After seeing them in magazines, then seeing a nice black one parked in a

lot, I can say that print doesn't do it justice. I've seen a few since

then, but one thing's for certain: it's one of the few cars that scream

"buy me in black!"

FPtM

Reply to
Fruit Pie the Magician

Yeah and you know, I can see where they're coming from. A lot of

reviewers have always complained about the BMW Z4 styling and I liked it

heartbeat-stop on-the-spot, no questions asked. So I think a fraction of

that "strange" appeal is what I like about the Crossfire. It's a brave

design and I think it works.

Now if the rest of the car can hold up?

FPtM

Reply to
Fruit Pie the Magician

True. And where's the "domestic" version of the Subaru WRX Sti? Ain't

one.

FPtM

Reply to
Fruit Pie the Magician

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