It wasn't a question of " if " , but rather of "when".

When I bought the F-Type in 2018, it was a boyhood dream come through. Weeks after I still used to walk over to the car and say to myself ".. yes, its yours, it really is.." ..

I still love it, I do. Its the most stunning car I ever owned. Based on the expressions of amazement, thumbs-up and whole school classes waving when I drove by, its an amazing car not only to me !

But, its something I shared with my son. And we had some great trips with it. I could only convince my wife to come once. She doesn't like it, to sporty, to curvy, to much pulling attention..

But my son is really occupied with uni and I'm not going on roadtrips alone. The next few years would mean - at most - once a month a tour of the region, one week a year further a field.

That would be a waste of the car. Its as playfull as any cat : it wants to run free and wagg her tail and leap forward to overtake a " prey " ..

Given one of my other cars ( LR Discovery 5) is a diesel, proved to be a great car to travel, but diesel is getting expensive..

So I figured out if I got some solar panels, and a car that combined speed and comfort, with some extra weight like I did over the past decades, I'll be allright with a hybrid.

Now my favorite car is a Discovery, but it seems a hybrid will not be on offer, exept for the Freelander successor, now sold at Discovery prices, the Disco Sport P300e.

Combining the values of both cars leaving, gave me the chance to enter the next level. So my new car to be, is a Range Rover P400e Autobiography, from 2019.

I thank you all for your friendly remarks, replies and comments, and wish you all the best of fun and longlivety with your F-Type. Have fun boys & girls !

Daniël


Vilalara resort, Algarve Portugal, 2019.

 

Congrats on the next leg of your journey. Best of luck and hope there's an Electric F type in your future.

 

Best of luck, Daniël. It's been a pleasure having you on the forum. (And, you never know, you may be back.)

 

Take care Daniel, but please post up some pictures of your Autobiography before you go. I'm a car guy. I like them all.

 

Sounds like you need a new wife, not a new car

Enjoy the new motor.

 

@ Datriani --- I'm not an EV lover, just is a series problems leading to this as the "best solution" .

@ Uncheel--- maybe if I divorce, and find a petrolhead wife..

@ JacksonvilleJag -- stil will keep you your offer to visit you when I do get in the States eventually

@ SC4-- I actually considered it.. .. but I have a friend who did and he now pays 60% of his income as alimony..

 

Always welcome!

 

Daniël,

Not only you moving on from F-Type but JLR also going entirely electric. It was the right time to own it because this type of two door coupe and convertible will never again be seen from Jaguar and you will treasure the memories forever.

Graham

 

@GGG I've a lot of memories on video, so I can watch it anytime.. .. but that feeling will not be there. Its not the same.

 

Daniel, we all deal with life changes and I can feel your pain as my wife too stopped wanting to drive in my F-Type with me at the wheel. Trips and rallies are much more fun when shared. Have owned several RR, I am sure that you will enjoy it. The memories will last forever and any regret will fade away quickly. Congrats on the new ride and all the best in your new 4 wheel adventures.

 

@FType17 I can see your driving (helmet) and speed (700hp) are on a level I begin to understand your wife..

Thanks for the moral support anyway !

 

Sad to see the F-Type go! But if you don't use it a lot, it's the right decision. The Range Rover P400e Autobiography isn't that bad either..
Hybrid or electric is definitely the best choice for The Netherlands.
If you are a big fan of the Discovery, was the Defender P400e not on your list?
Enjoy your new car!

 

@giomgio
The RR P400e is a sensible decision mostly. Reducing costs, reducing exposure to exorbitant petrol prices.
For me ICE stays the best, and this way I still have the ICE option. I hoped for a Discovery 5 P400e, more a P300e,
but that will never come apparently.

The Defender has terrible seats for a tall person, and a Mercedes style / chinese steering wheel, eek buttons...

I will get it on friday, I will enjoy it as long as I don't miss the F-Type and/or D5.

 

I sympathize all too well about solo road trips, and also on practicality/sensibility. I'm glad to hear it's a conscious decision and not something you've been forced to do by circumstances. Enjoy the memories of the old car, and the good times you'll have with the new one.

 

@lizzardo
I hear it in many replies, but never from a female forum member. But there aren't that many I guess.

Actually I considered it a year earlier also, with the lockdowns. But honestly I realise from my own dashcam recordings that I feel uncomfortable when my son drives

whith a dead drop next to me and no raillings.. .. and I guess one cannot keep on pushing luck forever. If we ever go on an Alpine roadtrip again it might me more

sedately due to the " steadyness " of the - oiltanker - like steering of a Range. Luckily I have plenty memories of the F-Type.

I realise I didn't post the video's this time on this forum, only on the other !

 

On this links you can find the other video's .

I didn't even post all since its an immense task to work through a day of recordings, find parts that are worth posting and
then linking it all to a smooth video. And in the end there were almost no views, and nobody asked for more.

But surely, no new will come after this from me. Enjoy if you want, we were lucky with the weather since the

forecasts had been 7 days of rain and thunder, what came a few days after we returned home and it ended with
massive floodings mostly in Germany.

https://www.ftypeforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=5631

 

I'm preparing to go motorcycling in Portugal and northern Spain in mid-October, and am not even sure I'll bring a video camera. Maybe? They're small but the time to deal with it can get in the way of fun. My last M/C trip was in Norway, and other than video of Trollstigen I found it too much trouble to do the editing. I've ridden Stelvio, but a ten minute video of someone else there just isn't the same.

 

@lizzardo
For me its simple : the dashcam records anyway. It's just transferring it all to a SSD, since a card is full in about 6 hours driving.
Then ist mostly for my own value I keep it. For example a drive-by off the house in the Algarve we sold in 2019.

Ofcourse its not the same, but imagine the hordes of people who were there once and now are to old, of can not afford to go anymore.

And Stelvio was unique this time with the weather. I've been in the Alps with my parents for many years in the '70/'80-ties and we

always had rain for most part of the holidays. And this goes for many people. They've been there, but it rained.

And for me its mostly that there were not enough views to bother anymore, but I look them back almost every year and

every time you see something you missed before. But maybe its because I'm getting older, hitting 60 this december.

We've just been to Spain and Portugal with the Discovery 5. Drove there in 4 days, spend two weeks and drove back.

If you're not vaxxed, the biggest issue is getting into France. In Spain test results take 24h and to enter France they

need to be less then 24h.. So we did an antigen-test in Portugal (15 mins), valid for 24h to get into France and

then another day to travel and eat without hassle.

Enjoy your trip !

 

Sad the Defender doesn't have comfortable seats for a tall person.
I agree, the steering wheel is the one thing I don't like about the new Defender.
But overall I really like it, cool design. I have never driven one, so I can't say anything about how it will drive.

The Stelvio Pass is high on my list, although the roads look really narrow.
it must be a great experience to drive there with the F-Type, especially in that kind of weather.

 

I love the new Defender, but I, like you all, hate the steering wheel.