15k: Low Mile SLKrossfire: 2005 Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6; Low Miles
During the dark imperial ages of the Daimler/Chrysler merger, the product offerings from Mercedes compromised quality for short term profit and the Chrysler cars could barely be considered rental fleet material – but a few shining gems stand out from the crowd. Chief among them is one of the examples of the German DNA being re-constituted into an American product in the Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 – a heavily disguised R170 platform SLK32 AMG. Find this 2005 Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 located in McDonald, TN current offered on ebay for $17,500 buy-it-now or best offer.
The Crossfire merged the SLK sports car chassis and powerplants in a ‘styled by Detroit’ package – which at first glance looks silly, but has aged much better than the clearly out-of-date SLK. It is probably because there have been two new redesigns of the SLK since 1998, forcing the brain to see the R170 as dated, but there is only one Chrysler Crossfire.
The SRT badged engine cover didn’t use any parts from Chrysler’s Street and Racing Technology group – it was 100% engineered by Aufrecht, Melcher, and Großaspach and assembled by Karmann in Germany. The 3.2 liter AMG M112 engine was a carryover engine from the SLK32 AMG and produced 354 horsepower and 332 ft-lbs of torque. As a side note, don’t cell phone cameras all have auto focus? Why are half the photographs in this ebay ad out of focus?
The Crossfire has a typical of the early 2000s era Chrysler dash, complete with chrome trim gauges and an abuse of hard plastics – and the pseudo aero/nautical theme that is familiar for anyone who has driven a rental Chrysler 300 in the past 10 years.
The real negative on this Crossfire is the lack of 6-speed manual gearbox, but for someone who is looking for an oddball for a daily commute…this will certainly raise eyebrows when you tell them it is actually a Mercedes. Combine the low 16,500 miles on the odo and reasonable asking price and we think this one is a winner.
See a better re-badged Merc for cheap? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
Agreed. An excellent fourth-bay garage filler. I know they're not practical, I know they're wannabe Mercs, I know Top Gear hates on 'em, but I've always thought the C'fire was a fine-looking (if a bit ill-proportioned), distinctive American-ized take on an otherwise pretentious hairdresser's Euro-trash vehicle, the SLK. If only I had a fourth bay….
Very cool. I put this in a category with a hard-top Solstice GXP, but not quite as hard to find.
Been looking for a hardtop GXP every chance we get – almost never for sale. If you find one…send us a tip!
Challenge accepted.
~ was there ever a Saturn Sky coupe? or removable hardtop?
goog'd my question —- i'm so sorry i asked! [he said, clawing his eyes out]
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~ i was driving to the shop to tension the brake pad spring on the 745 this morning when i saw only the second Solstice coupe i have ever seen. the coincidence was quite surprising. i'm going to keep my eyes open and hope they have been sneaking past me. they look infinitely better than the images of the Sky Sportwagon concept.
We just moved from Rochester Hills, MI where almost every engineer for GM lives. (CTSV Wagons and CTSV Coupes aplenty) There were a handful of Solstice Coupes built but their roofline was very unfriendly for someone in the 6-ft region. I saw a couple of them and talked with the owner/engineers who snatched them up when they were produced. They all loved them, even though one of them had a very hard time fitting in it.
If you ever wanted a Crossfire SRT-6 take comfort in knowing that it was never offered with a 6 speed manual transmission. You can get a 6 speed Crossfire you just won't be getting it in the form of an SRT-6.