Yreah, u get s sense of pride and guidence, if i ever buy the xf, im diffinetly getting a hood ornament for it.

 

The more I think about it, Jaguar is one of the few manufacturers that still use a hood ornament (Mercedes, Bentley, Rolls come to mind quickly). To me they can be such a beautiful visual cue, but probably due to cost, aerodynamic concerns(?) theft, etc. they are all but gone. Looking back to cars from early-mid 29th century there were so many absolutely gorgeous hood ornamnets that differentiated each marque. Such a shame works of art like that that immediately identify a car are all but gone today.

 

it is a shame, but the worl must change, and we as drivers must tooo

 

2007 was the last year of the Jaguar leaper I think. And I don't think european models ever had it, looking at euro model pics online. And only the "luxury" benz models have it now (C-class luxury, e-class, s-class). Their coupes and sport versions all have it in the grill. And its optional only on the traditional bentleys (arnage, azure, brooklands), not the continentals. Rolls still has it of course. And they have that trick motorized one that hides the ornament inside the hood when you lock the doors.

But its sad. One of the defining things to me was seeing the leaper. It was just part of Jaguar. I don't know why they took it off the 2008 and 09 XJ's. They would look great with a leaper. But I don't think it would look good on the XF. The hood just slopes down too much in the front. I can understand a XK w/o a leaper though. That is ok.

 

BTW the lack of hood ornaments is the least of my concerns right now. I'm more worried about the whole world starting to build electric cars, hybrids, and going from big naturally aspirated engines down to smaller forced induction ones. No more naturally aspirated soundtracks it seems. Turboed cars just don't sound the same. Nor do they rev as high.

 

agreed, thats why my next car ( i hope ) is going to be a aston martin DBS, i like the engineuty that went into it.