Well, for the second year running we have recently returned from a wonderful holiday in Germany beside the Rhine near Bacharach. This time in a small village called Oberdiebach in a side valley off the main Rhine gorge. Our holiday accommodation was a house built in 1748, and modernised in 1994. All very clean and neat just like the village. The two weeks of very warm weather was most pleasant after our disastrous summer in England - the first week was over 30C with one day at 40 !. I am attaching a couple of pics of the trip. Around 2400 miles there and back @ 28.4 mpg (UK gallon). Not bad.

Down to earth today with a bump ! Had booked car in for service, and they recommended a transmission fluid change with the car on 61k miles, so I had this done, and also an air con check and regas. Front pads were needed too, so the final bill came to £970 with our UK VAT at 20%. This workshop is an independent, so labour charges worked out at £242.50 @ £48.50 an hour. I hate to think what a main agent would have charged, even so it is a large sum for me, but then I shouldn't complain if I drive a Jaguar. My Nissan Note waiting for me somewhere in a garage in England can stay there !!

 

@Fraser

Looks like fun. I recently spent a week back in Scotland where we had freak weather (It was great)...... now my fiance thinks I was lying to her about how crap UK weather is and that we should go live there, doh !

One thing I did notice when back was that the cars have definitely become much, much smaller..... We had frequent discussions about how the Jag would probably not fit into a lot of places we went to. It feels special driving a Jag here in the US, but it must feel extra special driving one in the UK amongst all of the other toy cars on the road... !

 

Hi Sarc

Well, cars have always been smaller here than in the US, but the big SUVs from the big manufacturers are now very common here. What has caused a lot of really small cars to be introduced recently is the taxation element. Under our Labour government, our Road Tax was made CO2 dependent, so if your car put out a lot, you paid a lot. My Jaguar of 2003 is £260 a year, whereas my daughter's Fiat 500 is £30, plus it does 50 mpg. If I had bought a 2007 X350, I'dbe paying £460 per annum.

We are overtaxed, basically.

 

Nice pics glad you had a great holiday

 

Fraser,as a matter of interest was there any discussion with your mechanic about weather to change the filter/pan on your transmission?

I have bought 10 litres of Millers DM ATF from H Kong and I think I will just change the fluid and not bother with removing the pan.

I can get the kit (pan, filter and bolts) for 65 GBP from Bristol (no VAT he he)
but the shipping is 100 GBP.

It's not just a matter of cost-I just don't think it is realy necessary at 54,000 miles.

BTW like Germany-love Austria (wife born there)

 

Great holiday - nasty sting in the tail with the service bill.

Graham

 

Chap who owns the company advised replacing pan and filter, (its one piece, I believe), plus the fluid. Also the seal around where the electric plug goes in was also replaced. I defer to their expertise, I don't think they are trying to rip me off, company is highly recommended around here. They even get cars in that are still under Jaguar warranty, yet the main agent is only 2 miles away.

Car is running beautifully, BTW