I needed an SUV for the loadspace and last year went for a one owner, full dealer history 2014 Porsche Cayenne Diesel 3.0 with over 12K of options on its original 42K base cost. Good specification, comfortable and nice to drive but a pain to own.





Trading for my Bentley Continental GT, it was always going to be a very different driving experience but I wasn't prepared for the idiosycratic design. We all know modern vehicles need a well charged battery but the Workshop Manual procedure of removing the front passenger seat and cutting (!) the carpet to get to it is madness. A fuel gauge that drops left to right instead of right to left should have warned me these design engineers only have a tenuous grasp of reality. The final straw was a failed rear suspension unit and naturally these just have to be fitted in matched pairs.

I found a 2017 F-Pace 2.0 AWD on Jaguar Approved a few weeks ago. The usual one owner and full dealer service history to qualify for Approved. It took longer than expected to complete the trade because the dealer and I had a fundamental divergence of opinion of over what constitutes paint rectification. They ended up painting the tailgate for me last week as they were very keen to get this sale in their November figures and understood I would walk away from the deal.




The vast majority of used F-Pace in the UK are 2.0 diesel with a very few 3.0 diesel. Petrol 2.0 and 3.0 are both scarce. I definitely didn't want another diesel and wasn't intending to throw an SUV around like an XK so settled for the 2.0 petrol. We'll see how it works out.

Graham

 

Welcome to the fold Graham, hopefully the F Pace treats you better than the Porsche did.

 

Graham - Welcome to the camp ("you all know why we're here"). The 2.0 is a solid engine, so I think you'll be pleased. Nice color, BTW.

 

From my personal experience, I find the German marques to be over engineered and needlessly complex, difficult to work on, and unreliable. The Audi A4 Quattro (B5) I owned for a few years left me stranded at the side of the road on several occasions, something none of the more than twenty Jaguars I've owned never did. The whole 'German Engineering' myth is nothing more than marketing hype.

Congratulations Graham, you made the right choice.