Having lived with a Merccedes Benz for some time, I am quite unimpressed with the "over engineering" as they advertise. I drove a relative's Honda Insight mk1 for an extended pereiod of time, and decided I want an aluminum chassis. For me, that leaves the 2000-03 Audi A8, or the 2003-07 Jaguar X350. As an engineer who does all my repairs, I am quite concerned with the advertised "German Engineering" and the fact that Audi is really Volkswagen.

I understand that influence from Ford ownership of Jaguar dramatically improved design for quality, and build quality control. I would appreciate some feedback about long term reliability of the X350 (e.g., greater than 200K miles), and design for repairability.

For example, I have found that Mercedes and Volkswagen engineers have a habit of obstructing screwdriver/tool access by mere millimeters, thus requiring complete removal of several layers of obstructing components. Is there a similar problem with the X350?

Or, should I really be looking for a Lexus if I want high long term reliability and top-notch design for repair?

Thank you in advance for your comments.

 

Welcome to the forum,

This is the welcome area, you should head over to the tech boards if you want to have a discussion on the merits of Jag versus MB, Audi etc.

 

Welcome to the forum, plus one on Norri's advise.

Best of luck.

 

Don't buy one!!!!!! BUY TWO!!!!

 

Welcome to the forum and i wish you luck in your search for a car.

 

Vishvamata:

You are right about the build quality and reliability improving under Ford's ownership. Unfortunately, it took from 1996 until 2005 to replace their accountants with engineers. If you decide go Jag, a 2005 or later model year would be best.

Mercedes used to also be an automobile without compromise. Their accountants have now returned from Ann Arbor (Chrysler), and they're now winning the corporate infighting. Many non-Mercedes dealers are hesitant to trade for their cars due to something being wrong with every car--and they're terribly expensive to fix.

We have seen on BMW, Mercedes and Audi owners' forums that there are often reliability issues at most every European car company. With CAN/BUS modules all over every automobile currently built, the days of VW bug reliability is a thing of the past. There again, we never could get 25 mpg and 175 mph out of a 1964 Corvette.

I understand that the Tata owned New Jaguar has ex-Mercedes excecutives at the top--and R.L. Polk has them rated #3 in the whole industry in initial quality. Now that's something to be proud of.

It's too bad that Jaguar won't redesign those damned ABS modules (dating back to 1996) that keep giving us owners fits.