Not surprisingly, it runs like a Mercedes. No Mercedes looks as stylish as the Crossfire, however. Chrysler says the Crossfire is not a red-blooded sports car and is intended to be more of a boulevard cruiser, but we think it's somewhere in between. The Mercedes engine isn't up to the output of that of the BMW Z4 roadster or Nissan Z or Infiniti G35 coupe. But the Crossfire's rear tires are bigger than those seen on some race cars, and its performance is thrilling because the car is acceptably light at just 3060 pounds.

The Crossfire originally appeared as a show car at the 2001 Detroit auto show, and Chrysler decided enough folks liked the design then. We think it's still fun to look at even after its conversion to a real production car. It is being built at the Karmann factory in Germany, which is the same place the Mercedes SLK and CLK are built, at a rate of nearly 20,000 per year worldwide.