I didn't even know Jaguar made a wagon. If you're considering one, I think it's quite a beauty. I had an F-type with the same engine and in that car it had an incredible amount of power. Of course very different body. Give it a ride, love to hear your thoughts.

 

The choices in wagons are few: The Sportbrake, Volvo's 90 or 60 series, and the Audi 4/6 series. I've driven all of them. The Audi A6 Allroad is the king, but it starts around $65k and you need to get that up to around $72k for it to be properly equipped. The Volvo's have the horrid UI that was light years ahead of the competition 5 years ago, but now is just a constant drilling through menus to accomplish mundane tasks.

I opted for a Buick Regal TourX, which is really an Opel Insignia in disguise. 32-34 highway mpg at 75mph, great handling, excellent comfort, but certainly not in the opulent league of the other cars. For my needs the next 3-5 years, I'm going to pile about 60-75,000 mile son it, then get the Audi.Buick only brought these over for 2017,18 and 19 model years. I'd put the Buick and Sportbrake about even mechanically. The Sportbtake is nicer on the inside.

 

that buick was actually top of my list most recently! i haven't test driven anything yet but i had half a mind to go do that one first. what's the worst thing about it, so far?

 

Not all Sportbrakes were AWD in some markets.

This is the one to own. I wonder how many were made?

 

that’s the old x250 sportbrake

obviously a much better car

 

So, I drove it. Thoughts in a minute, but first a little background:

My XKR recently crossed the 100,000 mile threshold, and my Miracle Warranty came to an end. So I've decided the days of loading up bags of topsoil in the passenger seat of the XKR are over. Would rather not keep using it as my daily driver.

PLUS... I spend a lot of time at my little place in the mountains (ok, hills) of western New England, and it's time I kept a car there. And If I'm going to buy used, better to buy in the southwest, where I currently am. No winters, no dampness, no salt. I'll just drive it across and leave it there.

So: I need AWD (Non-negotiable). I need to be able to throw all kinds of crap in the back and not worry about it. At the same time, I'd rather not drive a boat. And contrary to what people think, a pickup, even with AWD, is tough on snow and ice. the weight ratio between the front and the back is just off. And I've been trying to like SUV's, I really have, just can't warm up to them.

So I started thinking Station Wagon. And here I am.

The XF Sportbrake....

Saw it, drove it, spent some time with it. I kind of love it.

- it checks all the boxes for me: AWD; that supercharged V6; cooled seats!; love the color; even like the black wheels which I'm not usually a fan of.
- it's much more cool-looking in person. It really is. It doesn't photograph well, compared to an XK, but in person it's great.
- I really like the low level. Easy to get stuff in and out. And you could fit a surprising amount of stuff in that car. (And the original owner sprung for the OEM all-weather rubber cargo mat, which is great.)
- it drives surprisingly well for what it is. I expected it to me more "floaty", and it's not, at all.

FYI: some posters here said "what about the six previous owners...?" ...I have no idea what you're talking about. I've seen the build sheet, the carfax, the service history. This is a one-owner car (recently came off lease) that has been faithfully serviced at the dealership. (The get-it-to-CPO-level shop work included new rear pads, and replacing some hoses and lines for the A/C system, and replacing a module or something that controlled the rear gate.) The car is CPO'd for another four years, to 2025. It's got 37K miles on it now and I don't think I'd hit 100K before the time runs out.

ONLY downside that I see - which is the only one that matters, really - is price. Not that it's overpriced, except that ALL used cars these days are way overpriced. Given how crazy car buying is right now, they openly said there's little if any wiggle room in their price.

And then.... I drove a Mercedes E-450 wagon.

On the one hand, it's simply a better car. I've not owned and E-class so I don't know long term, but it's solid, significantly better (and quieter) interior, drives great. Just a terrific car. I was impressed.
On the other hand... it's about $10-15 K more. And there was something about the color (black), the lines, the overall appearance, that looked familiar... oh, yeah. It looks like a Hearse. The Sportbrake is a MUCH sexier-looking car.
Think I'm out on the E450.

Anyway, I'm thinking about the sportbrake. Just not ready to pull the trigger quite yet. If I lose it, I lose it.

Thoughts?

 

Photos:

 

The Merc will blow up, guaranteed. Then the fix will be hugely expensive. Plus, the 'brake looks a ton better and you won't get the stigma of being another 'jerk in a MB'.

 

@pk4144 "It doesn't photograph well" - My wife says the same thing about me:-)

At any rate, you said it checked all the boxes but not yet ready to pull the trigger. What's holding you back? The CPO has a huge upside imo.

 

Money, plain and simple. When I step away I'm like: "maybe I should just spend half the price and buy an old Ridgeline...."

(Honestly, if it weren't for that one issue I'd have bought it today. Just gonna sleep on it and see if taking that on feels right.)

 

And they are going to set up a "24-hour test drive" thing for me tomorrow if I want it. But I know if I do that I'm gonna buy it, so...

 

I have an oRidgelinal for truck duties and bad weather that I bought new in 2007. It goes to Home Depot, fetches car parts from the salvage yards, occasionally pulls an open trailer with my vintage Corvette, goes down the unpaved road to some family rural property and fills in when the Jags are offline. I have barely put 80K miles on it in 14 years. While with the independent rear suspension it does ride marginally better than the full-sized Fords and GMCs that I had prior, it is not quite the Pilot that its based on, but rather, it still rides like a truck. Another downside is that the 3.5L is underpowered for the weight and awd system and, at least to a power hungry gearhead like me, sometimes feels like it can hardly get out of its own way.

I was talked into buying it because my cousin is a Honda tech and bought one of the first to come out in 2006. He was pulling a sizeable trailer with three ATV's and camping gear on it and so it appeared that it would do the job for me too (his is at 270K last I checked). Two reasons I keep it is that 1) I don't ever have to fix anything, its just always ready to go when I am and 2) being able to swing the tailgate sideways means I can place heavy items directly in the bed without having to lean over and lift them past the tailgate, thus helping save my back. I don't really like driving the Ridge but it does the occasional job when needed. Sometimes when the weather is lousy for days on end like last February, I can really feel the Ridgeline wearing on me after a week. If you aren't accustomed to daily driving a pickup, I think you'd probably find yourself trading again within six months to a year.

 

I almost leased a sportbrake, was over 10K off new at the time (3 years ago). Wife did not like color combo. I like them. All well spec'd. A few cars later and we bought a Volvo V60 Cross Country currently.

 

Might be a mistake, but.... I think I have to pass.
I was with a friend who's not a car type, they saw the car, loved it (it's a looker), but then asked: "fifty thousand dollars, for a three-year-old station wagon?"
And I really didn't have an answer for that.
And I remembered when I bought my XKR: it was four years old yet only had 7500 miles on it. And it was $40,000 from an original sticker price of $105,000.
This car: three years old, 38,000 miles. Asking $48,000 from an original sticker of $76,000. And the XKR is a convertible (resells well), while this is a station wagon.
I just feel like the strike zone for this car is $35-40K.

Don't get me wrong: I really like the car. But I won't need it for a few months, at least, and it just feels like this is the wrong time to buy a used car. And I used to tell people to buy a used Jag all the time because their sticker price is high, but their used price is a steal for what you get. Maybe no longer, at least for now...

 

Pdupler, re the Ridgeline:
Yeah my ex gf had a Ridgeline so I know the car pretty well. Oh, and I drove it across the country for her, so there's that.
+1 on all your observations: what I like is that the car seems bulletproof, and the swing-out gate that you mention is a plus. And I love that i can throw any damn thing in the back, and the high ground clearance might come in handy.
But, yeah, it's a bouncy ride, and kind of a nightmare to park. It's a bigger vehicle than I realized. And it's woefully underpowered. So you might be right.

 

Two years ago I was in a similar position. I was shopping for a wagon and looked at Audi, Jag, MB, Volvo. At the end, MB E450 won hands down. Jag was my choice for exterior looks, but interior design, materials, and space were inferior to Merc. MB is the most expensive of the bunch, but they tend to sit on the lots for a long time and you can get one for 8-10k off the sticker.

 

Agreed across the board. I guess I'm still hung up on the looks thing, and I like Jags. But agreed that the E450 is a better car.

 

"better" is very, very debatable.

 

between the XF’s fisher price interior and laughable recent JLR quality it’s not very debatable

 

Yeah, go ahead and drive that Merc for more than 20,000 miles and pay for whatever it needs to fix it. It will break and it will be very expensive.
Sure, new TATA Jags and LRs suck ***. Mercs have sucked *** for decades.