I sold my xkr 2 years ago now, i just bought a gla mercedes that I like, no problems at all, no lights, signals etc...it has been repair free since i got it. you do not end up to be demanding with the atelier and therefor they are not tired at seeing you.
This is a message to Jaguar, twice i had problems major on 2 vehicules and it was not handle like it should, and i must say that dealers are those cooling me down with their attitude, I am now after an aston martin, i have not bought it yet, i kept wanting a better models and i beleive even if it is more expensive, that we have a better deal, respect, at the dealership. And i was tired seeing the xk, not to mention how i fell with s type xe etc...i just do not like how these cars looks. I am getting a rapide soon, a 2011. I do not care of speed, I want a car that is rare and hard to get, where i do not see lower models designed for i do not know who.....I have a dealership in france calling the cops on me, automotion lyon, after letting me down with a xj8, and i can tell you sometimes dealers are really piece of ....

 

How about buying a Lotus Evora 400 if you go back to a 2 door?

The Rapide is a fantastic car (on my lottery winning list), but make sure it is an "S" model. The first release had some issues that were fixed with the "S".

 

Thank you Mosesbotbol,

I do not think I can afford the depreciation of a S now or a model above 11, I am going to get it only this week finally, it has taken me a lot of time, from vantage, to db9, xkr, xkrs,even a xk portfolio after 11, but I am going with the rapide a 2010, with 14k miles.

I had to wait for the business and other things, I am driving less and speed is not my concern. I just want to have fun.

Jaguars cars has been real cool, specially my first one in the US....now that I can not go back to the us, I will appreciate the rapide here, i am not one of the 30000 a day, they deport today, it was well before...lol, good luck to you and I wish you the best.

 

Strange you should tout the quality control and dealership treatment of Mercedes - my ex-wife has been with Mercedes since the mid 80's which has given me great insight to how they are run as a business, she's still there today. Mercedes is fairly well known to have many issues with their cars, ranging from major problems with their brake systems on all the S-classes to electrical stuff being their cars are immensely technical. When we bought ours the fuel gauge didn't work, when she reported it they said the fix should arrive in 6 mo's! That was a rather important design flaw with a ridiculous time frame to address it.

Now when I brought a Lemon Law case against Porsche a few years ago one of the questions I asked my attorney was "which mfg's are the worst and which are the best" that you have seen... his answer was "without a doubt Lexus is the best, they go above and beyond to always please their customers", when asked who was the worst he quickly said "Mercedes... the Germans believe that there are no problems with product that all problems are the customers fault". That was my experience with Porsche when I ran into issues with my car.

As for desiring to own a car that is extremely "rare", keep in mind that with that will be an extreme rarity of mechanics who can wrench on it, part availability if/when you need them, and enormous costs that will be associated with both of those factors. When I am looking at cars my first priority is always "reliability", if it doesn't work well and often it doesn't interest me.

 

Can't go wrong with a Rapide! Are you getting the S or the first launch? The Lotus dealer near my house (6 miles away) is also an Aston Martin dealer. I have seen a few Rapide's and that would be my choice for a 4 door car. One of my first calls after the lottery ticket win will be for a Rapide S! When that engine starts, there's not much better than that.

You mention depreciation; Aston is pretty bad. Lotus is actually one of the least depreciating marques.

 

Leeper,

The warranty experience I had with my Lexus LS460 (bought new) was far from what was described by your attorney. As a result, I'll never buy another Toyota product. Your attorney was brainwashed by Lexus' "relentless pursuit of perfection" ad campaign. If you hear it often enough, you will subconsciously believe it.

Stuart

P.S. I decided to add more details, copied from my 9/14/2015 post #27 on the XJ Forum: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-135236/page2/

Purchased new 2007 LS460, most options, $72K MSRP December 2007, good deal at end of model year (or so I thought ). Beautiful car, but...
1. Dashboard rattling. R&R dashboard, replaced clips at base of windshield with slightly thicker ones under warranty.
2. Excessive wind noise. Replaced F&R, R&L single-pane glass with double-pane glass under warranty. Better, but still noisy when windy outside. Tried to fix 3 times, finally gave up and lived with that minor annoyance.
3. Defective engine valve recall. 48 valves replaced under warranty. Less than 15K miles when done.
4. Defective fuel rail safety recall, fire hazard. Aluminum rail replaced with stainless steel rail under warranty.
5. Driver's side view mirror stopped folding. Out of warranty cost to replace $950. No thanks.
6. Airbag warning light, intermittent at 35K miles. Safety hazard because when light comes on the airbags are disabled. Dealer diagnosed bad wiring harness under dash, initially refused to cover under warranty because 4 years and 9 months old but relented because I had also previously bought a new RX350 for my wife from them. Dealer said they'd pay for the parts ($2,400) if I'd pay for the labor. Charged me for 18 hours labor at discounted rate of $90/hr., $1,620 that I paid with my AmEx. Shortly thereafter, I got the TSB on that "non-recall" that called for repair time of 7 hours. I informed the General Manager that unless I received their refund check for overbilling me 11 hours ($990) within 24 hours they would leave me no choice but to dispute that charge with AmEx and pursue my legal remedies. They FedEx'd their check to me the next day. I subsequently traded that LS460 for my CPO 2013 XJ SC and am glad I did. No Takata for me. And no more unscrupulous Lexus dealer for me, ever again.

I might have forgotten a few other problems. The airbag defect was the last straw.

 

[QUOTE=Leeper;1389412]Strange you should tout the quality control and dealership treatment of Mercedes - my ex-wife has been with Mercedes since the mid 80's which has given me great insight to how they are run as a business, she's still there today. Mercedes is fairly well known to have many issues with their cars, ranging from major problems with their brake systems on all the S-classes to electrical stuff being their cars are immensely technical. When we bought ours the fuel gauge didn't work, when she reported it they said the fix should arrive in 6 mo's! That was a rather important design flaw with a ridiculous time frame to address it.

Now when I brought a Lemon Law case against Porsche a few years ago one of the questions I asked my attorney was "which mfg's are the worst and which are the best" that you have seen... his answer was "without a doubt Lexus is the best, they go above and beyond to always please their customers", when asked who was the worst he quickly said "Mercedes... the Germans believe that there are no problems with product that all problems are the customers fault". That was my experience with Porsche when I ran into issues with my car.

As for desiring to own a car that is extremely "rare", keep in mind that with that will be an extreme rarity of mechanics who can wrench on it, part availability if/when you need them, and enormous costs that will be associated with both of those factors. When I am looking at cars my first priority is always "reliability", if it doesn't work well and often it doesn't interest me.[/QUOTE

I have always felt that any car is only as good as the service available.

 

I've owned 2 MB GLs and I've really enjoyed them. The 2011 gl450 was new and i thought both sales and service were top notch although when having service done in OKC they gave me a honda rental car rather than an MB loaner. In Pensacola the service dept was great and even paid half of some repairs after I was out of warranty. As far as repairs go I had all four wheel speed sensors go out, which was weird, but other than that it was a great car. I replaced it with a CPO GL550 and haven't had its first service yet, but I don't expect any issues. I actually bought a prepaid service plan.

My jag was bought with a little warranty left and I only had it at the dealer in Mobile, AL once but they replaced the steering column because it squeaked and were very friendly and professional.

 

There's no debate for me that Lexus does go over the top to satisfy their customers and for the most part they succeed. There is a reason they sell the number of cars they do. They make a good product and stand behind it. Right before I purchased my XK, I was going back and forth between the a new F Type and a Cayman. The F Type was just too expensive as I would like it equipped, but the Cayman was rejected because of not only all the issues with the new car, but how the owners were being treated by Porsche when going in for warranty work. So far, in my 2 years of ownerhsip, my XK had all the rotors replaced under warranty, and the trunk seal and some interior trim pieces replaced. My car isn't driven much so naturally there are no issues. If it were to be my daily driver, I probably would have chosen an Asian car as I too look for reliability. Most Jaguar owners lease their cars and after 3 years move on. My decision of using the XK for weekend drives and my 16 year old work horse LS430 works for me. FWIW when I have taken my car to Lexus for repairs, they have always taken car of me, and when I wasn't happy with the work, it went back and all was well. I guess I have the best of both worlds with my 2 cars.

 

I had a Lexus gx470 prior to the Mercedes and I totally agree that it was hands down the best mechanically built, fit and finish, best electronics, best serviced car I have experienced. I just didn't really like the new styling on the gx460 when I got the gl450. It was really close between getting an LX and the GL550 with my latest purchase. Basically I just found a really good deal on a 2015 GL550 that was CPO with a 100K mile warranty. The Lexus dealership was fantastic. I really didn't have any major problems with the vehicle at all and the dealership went over and above on all repairs.

 

My Lexus dealer was most accommodating while my LS460 was under warranty, and there were way more warranty repairs than I expected based on Lexus' reputation for reliability. As explained in my post #6, above, it was only after that warranty expired that my dealer's dishonesty came out. Charging me for 18 hours labor when the TSB specified 7 hours was unethical and inexcusable.

Just my experience; yours may differ.

 

I do not like porsche. I will break the engine of a panamera i am sure, and the ay they sells cars without option, with so poor interior, its vulgar, I went a rapide to show off too. i got a GLA now mercedes had to get the car twice to find the repair, and then i waited 4 weeks, went to this service where there is thousands of cars, and many retired people...I almost freaked out, I do not like that. I burned a hose connected to the turbo.

like I said it is just a rapide, not a s model, it was last serviced in october 2012, at 12000 miles and it has now 13500 miles- then it was sold again by aston martin stutgart in april 2013, so i guess they checked out the car, but since no service, i have a cote for 1700 e to change oil filters etc..brake fluid. which is not much knowing it has not got any services for 3 years.

I am asking the dealer to pay for tires, they already kind of accepted and it was their idea, cheap indeed 1000 will get me 4 pirelli p zero? and i asked the owner to pay for the services long time due, their idea too, and i offer then 2700 e less and do it myself in valencia. and they may accept. it was very hard finding an insurance, took me 5 days, but i found one for a decent price. otherwise i will wait more time, my father sent me some money so since i have a better budget to buy.

I will buy it in paris next week and drive to valencia spain to have it serviced where i live, i do not have time to get killed in paris.
I have not find a problem online about a rapide. tecniciens says if you do a good maintenance nothing happens. "ca roule". I got a 100 tomtom gps to stick if the dumbass one in the rapide disturb me, m' gonna get a battery conditioner, any advice here from who knows will be apreciated.

 

The Panamera is a "polarizing" car. When I first saw it I had the same reaction that Top Gear had... not matter how fast it is it cannot outrun that ugliness! After hearing many friends with Porsches that hated it then drove it they said it was actually incredible. When I brought my Porsche in for service and sat in one I was surprisingly quite impressed with the interior but I have no need for 4 seat cars at this point.

As for $1700 Euros for oil filter and brake fluid change... I would laugh like hell for the maybe 1 - 1 1/2 labor charge. If they can get that good for them. Just today I was quoted $700 labor to have a water heater installed after a few minutes of "persuasion" I got the same guy down to $50. I changed the brake fluid in the Jag cost was $20 took less than an hour but maybe your dealership uses 100% pure unobtanium along with gold plated tools?

 

they said 4 hours and 45 mn for service. all filters. only oil is 540 e without tax.

 

If you can swing the Rapide I would certainly go for it. Definitely plan to own one in the future. Make sure to post some pictures to this thread if/when you get it. What color combos were you looking at?

 

I start to understand how dificult it is selectioning one,
i was after a 2010 but most of them come from germany stutgart available in france, as i need french plates, and they have service of 3 years old...some come with the am invoice so you can read what am as to say about the car and what's needed. i am not after a color, due to this, and insurance issues too,

you wnat one that was serviced every year, in time, you want look at what 's being said on the last am service invoice.

the one i am looking now is a december 2012, to get it perfect so I do not have to do anything. I noticed am service varies and in paris they charged you 23 e a liter of oil and need 11, while in valencia where i spend time, they 're asking 45 a liter and needs 12, without taxes at 21%.
my insurances is at 3300 e the best I could find,

i was looking at a 2010, I still waiting numbers, but last service said ,

- no tray under the motor ( you know the cache/platisc or alu stuff under the engine you need to remove under the car to work on)
- trace of overheating front discs
- valves of derivation "derivatives valves" broken, (dealer says it can be heard but lightly, dealer said also the disc are good, that am service is very....)
- tyres and geometrie to change

I am waiting to see what they can do to improve this car but a service manager told me it was bad buying a car without the tray underneath...

the dealer says he bought it as is at Tamsen aston martin.

service on this one is as follow:

Nov 2011 11000km
march 2013 21000km
dec 2016 28900km

its 31 months betwen last two services and many work to be done, despite a 1700 euros invoice this december , for all oil changes, rear end, brakes and motor.

Guys, what could lead someone to remove this tray underneath the car, for speed, to lighten the car, to cool down the engine?
I do not understand