I'm in the market for an '06 XJR. I used to own a '98 XJR and loved it.

I am moving from Texas to Boston and have little experience driving in the snow.

Is the XJR an appropriate car, or am i stuck driving something terrible like a subaru forrester?

Thanks-David

 

Can't speak to Boston's winters, but you should fear the ice more than the snow. Snow tires would be a must for a high hp RWD vehicle.

 

Funny...

I live in Boston and have a Subaru Forrester too. Well, you should really get dedicated snow tires or wheels with snow tires. You'll fare much better with them. I would not drive this car while it is really snowing and I would wait until the main roads are plowed. The Jag can be a bear to move out of it's spot in the snow even with snow tires. From a standstill is difficult in this car.

I worry about your snow driving sense since you are a Texan (go Long Horns). Like in rallying, sometimes driving slower is driving faster.

No car out there is going to compete with a Subaru Forrester in the snow, so that is an unfair comp. The other worry you have to think about is people hitting you or driving up or down steep hills. \

Ice, you're SOL in whatever car you are in.

 

get snow tire it will help alot. get blizzacks lm-60 awesome snow its. i use them too.

but it only snow 6 days out of the year so just drive you suby around in a snow storm. don't want your xjr to rust.

 

I would not drive my Jaguar XJR in the winter. The next time anyone looks my XJR it will be April 2010. My vehicle will remain in the garage.

 

My wife's '98 XJR and my '00 VDP drive just fine in our Ontario winters with quality winter tires.

 

You'll find the XJR is an extremely capable snow vehicle with good winter tyres. Give the car good traction and it will amaze you at how good it can be in the snow. I drive an 09 XKR now but my last car was an 05 XJR. Shortly after getting it and fitting the winters on it we had a fairly major snow fall in Providence. I remember being at work when a friend with a Cayenne asked me how I got into work because he couldn't get his Porsche out of his driveway. Good tyres combined with common sense and you'll get everywhere you want to go. I prefer driving my Jags in the snow over taking my wife's range rover.

 

You definitely want a different set of wheels and tires, though -- I'd go to Tire Rack (for example) and get one of their wheel and tire packages. They size the tires narrower to give better traction.

Once you actually have a good snow (we've already had two good ones thus far), take your Jag to an empty, unplowed parking lot and see how things feel, practice winter mode driving, starts, stops, turns, etc. You'll likely find that snow isn't too terrible, but the ice is atrocious!

Last tip -- back when I was a kid my friend's dad (owned a service station) would always rinse the chassis off before putting any of his drivers away, purportedly to get rid of the salt. I've done it whenever possible since, and it appears to have helped whatever I've owned last. Might help.

 

I've been here for a week now. there was a snow storm....err, well it was constantely snow but the roads were all well manicured. Nothing like a blizzard where I was literally driving on gobs of packed snow.

So far I'm been driving around in my summer tires. and i've been doing fine. I've ive accelerated fast and hit the brakes for fun on ice in parking lots and i was still fine.

I park in a garage and i don't have to go on any major hills.

Should I buy all-seasons (or will those suck year-round). also, I don't wanna pay to constantly wash the car, but i just want to hose it off. i'm in an apartment and don't wave a water hose. does anybody use just a normal gas station car was (do they even have those here? I'm from texas)

And thans to everybody who responds. i just saw that i've had a pile of pms...i never knew that was a function. also, i've always been the one asking questions and not really giving the good advice.

oh, one more. the potholes. i drive like an overly sensitive woman becuase there are potholes everywhere. some i still hit. i have the 19s. am i going to ruin my wheels/tires/car, or do i just need to relax and drive?

 

relax and drive the Jag with snow tires on it will be fine. If that fails do what I did and on bad days drive a Range Rover

 

I'd skip the all seasons and go with dedicated snow tires on seperate rims. Takes up space but there's nothing better than having AWESOME summer tires and AWESOME winter tires. Nothing inspires confidence the same, IMO.

 

Doug,
don't waste your money on an all season,buy wheels and snow tires for the winter and put your oem wheels with their preformance tires back on in the spring.

 

This is by far the worst place I have ever lived as far as potholes go... last winter I blew out both of my left tires at once on one pothole in Cambridge as I got off the highway....

 

There are some nasty pot holes there but they are way better in Boston then they are in Chicago

 

Enormous amount of torque + rear wheel drive + black Ice = Drifting lesson.




Having grown up outside of Boston I can firmly recommend AWD and Snow Tires.

If you go with the XJR get SNOW Tires and a spare set of rims. The winter rims will get F-ed up. Hell, with Bostons roads your summer rims will only fair slightly better. And get ready for some traffic, the likes of which you may not have experienced.

 

The winter pot holes are a good reason for going to a minus 1 rim size. You not only will get better snow performance but also a little more sidewall to absorb the pothole.
I blew out 2 new pilot sports the day I switched from my winters to my summers a couple of years ago and was pretty psyched I was able to get free wheel and tyre insurance thrown in with the car when I bought it.
I have been really impressed with my 09XKR this winter a new set of blizzak's and the car is down right fantastic in the snow the only problem will be if it gets real deep and the front starts plowing due to the low ground clearance. Otherwise it's as good as any awd i've driven

 

Subaru is the best. My wife has the Forester. I've lived in this area 63 years and all wheel drive works best when the snow and ice is on the roads. One thing that they use on the roads is rock salt which can rust your car. It doesn't snow that much anymore so you can bet on wet roads most of the time.

 

I live in NH and have an 04 XJ. I also have Bridgestone Blizzaks and it was pretty good last winter. I do have a 4x4 Ranger for really bad days but the Jag proved to pretty competent in the snow. The key is don't drive like and a-hole. After the first snow, find an empty parking lot and play around to see what your car wants to do.

 

I just finished my first winter in an STR and running on Blizzaks it was more sure-footed than some FWD cars I've driven with all-seasons on. Of course the STR will spin out on dry pavement without too much encouragement. Knowing that, I certainly had to show some restraint during the wet/icy months, but other than a nice set of snows and some moderate caution on the worst weather days everything was great.

There was one downside - got a nasty case of curb rash from a protruding corner that was invisible under some snow. Had I gone with a cheap set of wheels for the winter I'd be laughing it off. As-is, I'll probably be looking for a new OEM wheel at some point this year.

 

Sacrificial winter rims are a must. You can usually get a good low cost set from tirerack in the mid-late summer when the clear out their old inventory. It's also a wise mood to go with the smallest rim diameter possible for your car to give you a little more sidewall and better traction. Of course the dry traction is a little more awakening but it more than pays off when you can drive around the guy in the Escalade who can't make it up the hill with his 4WD and shinnny 22" rims and A/S tires..