Many have a higher centre of gravity without being extra wide to compensate so are more prone to tip over.

 

The big body on frame SUVs have been so softened up in the name of luxury that they are now useless for the sort of offroad driving I want to do in the SW deserts. They also come with stupid wheels and tyres for desert use, too.

My fiance has a Cadillac SRX, a crossover, because the seat height makes ingress and egress easier on her back. I'll bet that's the case for a lot of older, former big car buyers. The luxury crossover has put the biggest dent in the luxury 4-door market, IMHO.

 

Yes the SUV phase is in vogue at this time. Remember at one time there were "station wagons" on the road for hauling all of your stuff and all family members. My wife has the Buick Enclave and this vehicle is great for traveling as well as hauling our two Golden Retrievers and all of our other stuff. I am an old man and I love my XJL, and I'm not interested in following what all others are doing.
I see so many, many BMWs and MBs SUVs on the roads in my community--not criticizing this but if that's what people want to do that's their right. However, that's why I like this XJL saloon because there aren't many around and that's my preference. Of course Jaguar has now gotten into the SUV thing because that's where the market has been going these past few years and this Jag SUV is really increasing their sales. Since I'm a retired old man now I have all bases covered--Jag, wife has the SUV, trucks, and cycle. People should get what they want and can afford and enjoy because none of us know how long we're going to be on this planet.

 

The E-Pace pricing's just been announced for Oz, with the base model coming in under $40K. & the bells & whistles model under $55K. Which makes it the first Jag in years not to attract our luxury car tax, & also the first Jag I could seriously consider buying new. I'm not saying I will. But I'll be following their forum with extreme interest, to see how high the satisfaction levels are. & if I hear the right rumblings, I may well find myself in a Jaguar Showroom, with more than just envy & drool.

 

Suppose I'll add my 2 cents to the discussion. I would guess I'm an outlier. 25 years old, and my daily driver is a 2008 LR3. However, I seem to be moving in the opposite direction from most as it is moving out to make room for a 2013 XJ 3.0 AWD I'm picking up this weekend/early next week.

The LR3 was great when I was in college and for my first year at work. Lots of moving and long road trips, towing trailers. But now I find myself using it simply to commute to and from work and ask myself why? The high vantage point is nice, but when I drive that after a few days in the XKR or XJS, I miss the dynamics and feel of a car.

The other problem with luxury SUVs (and maybe this is just me) is that I don't really want to take a $60k+ vehicle off road, or load it up at Home Depot, even if that's what it was designed to do. I will most likely pick up an early 1990s Range Rover later this year, because I can actually use it for what it was meant to do and not worry about the paint, interior etc.

So for those fortunate enough to keep multiple vehicles, I would never choose an SUV as a daily driver again. But they are nice to have around for what they're really meant to do.

But, I am an outlier. All of my coworkers think I'm nuts for giving up the LR3 for an "old mans sedan" and they all drive crossovers. Oh well...

 

Really? I always think of SUV drivers to be soccer moms or something.

 

Not just you. Many, many years ago after always having a pickup, I traded for a 97 Landcruiser. I really did like it, except for one thing. Every time I needed to haul something, which was frequently, I would have to remove the 3rd row seats, find someplace to stow them and then carefully wrap whatever I was loading to prevent damage to the the luxury interior. I sold it in 05 and bought another pickup. Currently have a Honda Ridgeline which does the Home Depot runs and lets the Jaguars stay home in the garage when it rains.

 

I recently purchased a new Lincoln Navigator to replace the Ram 1500 pickup I had before. I seldom haul anything that won't fit in it (my third seat stows flat and the second row seats fold down to an almost flat position) and, if the need arises, I can always hitch up a trailer. The Navigator rides more smoothly than the pickup and is easier for my wife to get in and out of (she is handicapped), plus provides more secure storage of her wheelchair. I had a first generation Navigator seventeen years ago that had the same problem with the third seat arrangement as your Landcruiser; I like the new one much better.
Dwayne

 

I restore old cars for a hobby and am always having to haul car parts. Fold down seats are convenient, but the ones I've seen, I would worry about carrying stuff as heavy as an engine block or transmission on top of folded seats.

Kind of wondering if the "conversion van" will ever come back. Those too were extremely popular when I was kid in the 70s but seemed to have died off. Pull a few "captains chairs" out and you had the capability of a pickup truck but the real beauty was that all 3.2 children could be separated on a trip. I guess today's average 2.3 kids can each have their own row in an SUV.

 

I do some car restoration as a hobby too, and you've got a point: I would never put an engine block in the back of my Navigator, although I've hauled a lot of other parts (including fenders, quarter panels, and hoods) in the back of an SUV. Personally, I was never a fan of conversion vans. My wife and I took a weekend road trip once with some friends who had one and I felt like I was riding in an oversized shoebox - couldn't see out if I was in the rear and very little space for my feet if I rode in the front unless I was in the driver's seat. As for driving it, I've never driven anything else that handled as sloppily as that. Felt like it was going to tip over with every turn!

Dwayne

 

Back in younger days, I drove a Dodge van for work, but it was sort of a 15 passenger church van spec, windows all around for great visibility but no seats. You kind of get used to the way vans pitch and roll and I loved how people would get out of my way if they saw me coming at a high rate of speed.

But visibility is one of my favorite features on my XJ8. With modern sedan styling, it makes having a rear-view camera an absolute necessity. I don't doubt that visibility is one of the factors pushing people from sedans into SUVs.

 

I would add that the slow painful death of the large luxury sedan to the SUV is due in large part to US government imposed "Corporate Average Fuel Economy" (CAFE) standards that apply to passenger cars but not to "trucks." Large sedans with big, thirsty V8 engines hurt the manufacturer's CAFE status while SUV's do not.


We happen to own a 2017 Ram 1500 Crew Cab pickup truck that is fantastically roomy and comfortable and has a big Hemi V8. We love it but I'm pining badly for an XJ-L to replace our BMW.

 

The Ram pickups are hard not to love. The one I had was a 2013 Laramie Longhorn Edition and, as you said, it was fantastically roomy and comfortable and that 5.7 liter Hemi is a great power plant. Before purchasing the Jag we (four adults) took a couple of road trips in it and were completely comfortable, even for long distances. I considered hanging on to it when we bought the Lincoln Navigator but really couldn't justify it. In 3 1/2 years of ownership, I drove it only 24000 miles - and that includes the first two years when it would have been considered the primary vehicle! The last year I owned it, it was driven 1300 miles between annual state inspections; just a hair over 100 miles per month. I can only believe that would have decreased even further with the addition of the SUV. If my needs ever change again, I would buy another one in a heartbeat.

Dwayne

 

The American obsession with ridiculously large Pick-ups leaves the rest of the World shaking our heads in disbelief. Do you actually take those leviathans to Walmart? How do you park them? Even in a big country like Oz they don't make much sense, though many still do import them. But they soon find that they're near useless in the Bush, as all our tracks are made to suit Landcruisers & Landrovers, with a narrower wheel track. So the big Yankee Trucks don't sit in the ruts & are always getting bashed by vegetation. A mate of mine bought a Chevy C20, which had panel damage on every panel within months of him getting it. I love the big motors those big trucks have. But since Toyota put a turbo diesel V8 in the Landcruiser, I reckon they've got all the power to weight a 4x4 Pick-up needs.

 

I can understand the head shaking Scatcat but America is perhaps unique in both its need for and love affair with large pickups. I can say with certainty that the full size pickups here in America support so many things that we need to do for our work, to maintain our homes and also to do so many things that we love to do. In any given week, our Ram 1500 crew cab tows our 6000lb+ boat/trailer, my work utility trailer, fetches dirt and mulch for the Mrs' gardens, hauls lumber for my woodworking projects, takes us shopping, takes us and our dog to dog parks and events etc. etc.. It blasts through mud and snow with ease. It can seat 5 comfortably, is comfortable and quiet on long road trips and even delivers about 22MPG on those long road trips. The parking lots here are designed to handle big vehicles like this and I can't see living without one.

 

I can't do nearly as good a justification as that because, as I mentioned a post or two back, I only put 24,000 miles on my Ram 1500 in 3 1/2 years! I live in an area without garbage collection so I have to haul my own to the landfill. I also tend to be a do-it-yourselfer when it comes to home maintenance, repairs, and renovations so the capacity to haul lumber, drywall, etc. is important. Because I work in the healthcare profession, four-wheel-drive is an absolute necessity because foul weather is not accepted as a reason for missing work. As Mplstim said, the roads and parking lots here are designed to accommodate large vehicles so that's just not ever a problem.

Dwayne

 

Ha! I don't think Europeans will ever understand us Yanks. Just reading something like what you wrote would make a lot of us go out and buy one just to spite you. It is that freedom streak that your departed ancestors took with them undoubtedly!

 

Just got back from a family holiday to the lake where i used my old '96 Ford Explorer. Mine is a two row seat model with the split rear seat. My Wife up front, grown daughter in back, two thirds of the seat folded down for all the cargo. Then after we arrived I carried my adult son and his girlfriend for a total of five, on several local trips. All the load was safely enclosed. These are just very versatile, flexible, useful vehicles. Last year I used my XJ6, for the trip. it was more comfortable, better handling, and just more fun to drive on the curvy mountain roads. The old Explorer just doesn't handle like the Jag or my F150, for that matter.

I will admit that a crew cab pick up would have been almost as good, except that I don't like trucks with camper shells, and they leave your cargo exposed and vulnerable to theft. When I took the Jag, we just cut back on the stuff, mostly food and kitchen stuff, and just bought what we needed when we arrived. While the trunk in my XJ6 is shallow the backseat is huge, and my daughter got to share it with luggage and supplies.

When we were chauffeuring three younger kids the vehicle of choice was a minivan which was very practical. Our '90 and later '96 vans would have the third seat removed at times, this was before stow and go, which was genius. When we were down to two kids, we added a Cadillac Seville, which we took on a lot of trips. I really liked driving the Seville, much like the Jag. Now that it's mostly myself and the Wife, we can do our traveling in anything, the Mustang, Pick Up, or the Jag. If I had to limit myself to only one vehicle I would have to pick something with more overall versatility. Luckily that day hasn't arrived yet.

 

If I ever found myself in that position, it would probably have to be a luxury crossover but, like you, that day hasn't arrived yet... and I hope it never does!

Dwayne

P.S. - I bought a new Lincoln MKT crossover in 2012 and only kept it about a year. I guess, with a little imagination, it fulfilled all the necessities (decent ride/comfort, twin turbos for decent power, AWD for foul weather, decent cargo space when the third seat was stowed away, and a panoramic sunroof to sort of compensate for the lack of a convertible top; all decent, but like most things that involve compromise, I also found it somewhat lacking in all areas). Can't say that I miss it at all.

 

Read an interesting article a couple of days ago about BMWs Spartenberg SC assembly plant. First it is BMWs largest assembly plant in the world and second, it ships 75% of it's production out of the country. BTW it is BMWs only SUV plant in the world. As they said in The Producers, when you got it baby flaunt it flaunt it!