My issues were with fit and finish details that you just should not see in jaguar. First thing I noticed was the "break me" design of the rear cupholders that pop out from the front edge of the seat. Then there were the sharp edges under the dash that could have been used to slice fine sushi. Call me picky, but those things alone were enough to put me off.

I'm happy for you that your wife's car has been a good one. My late wife rather fancied one of those Thunderbirds but it was our understanding that it shared the motor with the Lincoln LS, a vehicle renowned in this city for eating coil packs 3-4 at a time. On that basis we passed.

 

Making cars for the lower end of the luxury/executive market, in terms of size of car doesn't seem to be hurting BMW or Mercedes. Both get huge revenues from their quite expensive 3 series and C class. In fact in Europe, they outsell Ford heavily. Without these ranges they would be in trouble. To compete, Jaguar has to cover more of the market for up-market cars so dealers get more sales. Lack of an SUV means its OK for JLR, they can sell Land Rover vehicles, but no good for a Jaguar dealer who gets fewer people coming into his showroom. A smaller 3-series competitor is needed too. It is the dealers who need market coverage, or they cannot support the expensive facilities JLR demand they have.

 

We can all make insulting comments about the Jag models we don't care for, like the XJ series of land yachts because they look like a Ford Crown Victoria wannabe, or the new XF series that look just like another faceless Volvo, or the older XKs for frequently being mistaken for a Chrysler Sebring, but what's point?

Honestly, I though most owners and participants on this site were above this kind of stuff.

 

Took the words out of my mouth. I am in southern California and for as long as I can recall 3-series BMW's are so ubiquitous you would think they sell a dime-a-dozen. Since Mercedes did the recent facelift to their C-class these have been selling like hotcakes around here.

There is no reason that Jaguar shouldn't be able to provide entry level offerings of decent quality as well.

Doug

 

You are correct about the COPs, but Ford put a 10 year 100,000 mile warranty on them and came out with an updated version that seemed to solve the problem. I wished Ford had used the Jag COPs, but they did use Ford tensioners and steel cylinder linings which prevented the catastrophic failures the Jag 4.0L was having.

 

Some more on the XS
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/07/23/j...o-be-aluminum/

 

The COPs were an easy fix, but most didn't know that Ford actually had updated the coil on plugs.
Instead of having the updated coils installed, they would try out different brands, which would also get cooked within a months to a year.

The worse part of it all, if a coil went out or was on it's way out, it would give CEL for something completely unrelated. The reliability on them started going down, when in reality they needed to be fitted with the proper/updated coils on plugs.

Anways, back to you XS.

 

Mikey - don't take this stuff so personally. Some things are what they are no matter what...

Honestly I haven't heard those comments (you posted) until I read this post...those are kind of funny; but I have to admit since getting the XKR and the XJL the only people that approach my wife or myself are people who like the car(s) so we are not privy to conversations from people that don't like them. I do understand there are people that don't like Jags, and some insecure people who criticize something because they don't have it.

XJ looks like a Ford Crown Vic??? That made me laugh out loud!!!

Well, I wonder if the spyshots listed under Exec's post are accurate? The side gill looks like something I have definitely seen on a Ford...not cool. They definitely need to change that...

 

The Ford COPs (DG529) are the updated ones that virtually nobody on the Thunderbird internet sites has had to replace once they were installed.

 

I took nothing personally- if anything it caused me to again wonder why people feel the need to make critical and unsolicited remarks about fellow site users' cars.

We've all been somewhere sometime in public with one of our specialty vehicles (Jag or not) and had some stuffed shirt come up and tell us what idiots we are for buying it, backed up by inaccurate stories about their uncle's friends' cousin who blah blah blah. Pretty tiresome.

 

I find many of the posts on this thread highly offensive. Do you not realize that many of us start with the new threads section regardless of what section they are under? There are hundreds of users here who own and love their "Ford era" Jaguars. Even if you believe your vehicle is superior, do you think an open forum is the proper platform? To quote a valued member and moderator, and then call his car a Taurus, is unforgivable. I counted at least 4 members whose comments were elitist. Is this typical of this part of the forum? I hope you gentlemen don't need help from anyone else on this forum as those of us with lesser cars might not be inclined to reply. I originally clicked on this thread for information about possible new jaguar models. If they decide to make a 3 series type vehicle I will probably buy one. Gee then I can have two fake jaguars! yippee

 

I am on my second Ford LaJaguar and I'm loving it!

 

You are tremendously over-reacting. Nobody here has been doing anything but discussing obvious facts about cars. I have owned three (what you call) Ford era Jaguar cars, and was screwed over by Jaguar to the tune of $7K on my 1998 VDP. I was a victim of the famed tensioner issue which was compounded by the Nikasil liner issue; I had to replace the engine (paid for it myself). The 4L engines Jag put out like this had serious issues and I know for a fact that Jaguar did not handle that situation very well. I also know that some people still own those cars and have fixed the issue. In my opinion, those 4L engines suck. Is anyone trying to insult those owners by discussing that? Absolutely not.

If you are driving a less-expensive Jaguar there is nothing wrong with that. Pointing out that a car is made less expensively (to be delicate) is not insulting anyone. The S Type and X Type cars were made to sell at a lower price point. Why is someone insulted by that *fact*????? Moreover, to be able to sell the S Types and the X Types at lower price points they had to be manufactured in less expensive ways, with less expensive materials. That's just a fact. Why is that insulting?????

I have been involved with my idie Jag mechanic when he has gone off on X Types. You want to be insulted? You should listen to him talk about the S Types and the X Types build quality.

The thing comes to mind here is "thin skinned". Nobody's trying to insult anyone. When Aston owners say our cars are Aston wannabe's does anybody really care? Hell no...

Hopefully the new Jaguars that will be made less expensively will be made with good quality and materials. Given the advances in manufacturing and computer design I suspect they will be.

 

This is unsolicited advice...you shouldn't let those kinds or people bother you with what they say. You should drive what you want to drive and not worry about what somebody else says about it. If you like a horse and a buggy that's fine. If someone says you are stupid for driving a horse and buggy what difference does that make in any way?????

Now if they try to physically accost you in some way because of what you are driving that's a different story.

I can't tell you how many times I've gotten the "so it's in the shop, huh" response when they learn I drive a Jaguar. While I defend that stereotype it does not get under my skin.

 

I am hoping this does not come across sexist ,but my feeling for the SUV venture will clearly be for the female market share. If I had a buck for every white ,blonde ,5'5" female I seen driving one of those humdinger of a ride Hummer 3 ,Tahoe, Excursion ,Denali, Equinox , Suburban, Merc 450 , etc etc I would be quite wealthy .in fact I could probably by one of those soon to be on the market in cash by then most likely.

It would only be fair to assume that TATA & Callum want a piece of this market.

Just saying could be wrong however

 

Being born in Jagland and watching my Dad finally get the car of his dreams XJ along with my brother 2004 XJR V12 x350 Supercharged and them myself ,2005 x351 V8 XJ Supercharged Portfolio . It's my own opinion that when one is in the position to own one of these finally crafted vehicles after years of salivating while others drive by in them , you get a true appreciation for it when eventually you have ONE many .

Jaguar needs to hold its head up and learn form the debacle in design and quality of the Contour oops I mean S-type and let the BMW AUDI INFINITI MERCEDES GM and others I may have forgotten so that Jaguar stays above the junk which we will see in salvage yards across many countries in decades to come.

Cheers.

 

Frankly Jaguar's current customer base is literally dying off. Younger customers (with presumably a little bit less money) are IMO a big market for potential growth.

Weren't Jags in the 1960s relatively affordable?

 

You and several others have missed the basic point. You may think that somebody's baby is the most hideous looking child you've ever seen. That doesn't mean that you need to go up to the parents to express your opinion, not does it infer that pulling out scads of research to prove that you're right will make it OK and the parents will thank you.

We all try to get along nicely here, if you get the drift.

 

Ahh, I think I understand now. We should be following your standards.

You may think I have a closed mind...



Edit: BTW, just how ugly a baby are we talking about?

 

Looks, from some angles, similar to a late '90s Chrysler Sebring convertible. Eye of the beholder, some say.