Any other Northeners a bit down in the dumps these days?!

I'm putting the XKR to bed this weekend (end of season wash/wax, plugging in to the CTEK, Dust Cover wrap in the garage) and am now feeling the horribly familiar, no Jag for 6 months, withdrawal pain.

Anyone else feeling the pain?!

On the plus side, for us Northeners, at least our mileage stays low!

I realize I am totally Reaching...

 

I feel your pain, however... It just means it's time to get out the other cats... Arctic Cat! We are entering the best time of the year. If you think 0-60 in 4.4 seconds is fast in an XKR you need to strap on an 800RR and hang on. If you like acceleration it's soon to be our time. Folks out west have the best of both worlds. Drive your XKR up to the mountains and rent a M-800 for the day and then drive home in your XKR. Heaven.

 

6 months, I didnt realise it was that long. I assume you load up with winter distractions?

 

Good luck and we know you'll make it. We're not to far away but I hold out until the 1st snow hits just like I do with golf. Hopefully I'll make it into December but it will be a crap shoot. Last year we made it into Dec. and still had a good amount of top down drives. I like the heated steering wheel and seats so 30* days aren't to bad for open cruising. For some of you youngsters you may have extra time but when you are in the red zone you need to make the best of it.

 

Sadly we put ours away last weekend to hibernate till April. Put dryer sheets inside and mothballs in a container under the engine to keep the chipmunks and other varmints from making a nest.

 

I'm not growing fond of having a garage full of cars I can't use for 5 months. My XKR and MB 55 AMG are for sale and I'm going to get one of these:

 

Run that thing ragged brother!

 

Same thing here, I wait til first snow...then it goes into the heated shop to do the winter tinker time

 

In the 90's today in Los Angeles. Trick or treaters will have a very warm evening. Happy Halloween!

 

I really wonder if winter lay up is necessary to preserve our Jaguars? We live in OR and drive year around, but no snow - only rain.
Back in the 60s when I had an Austin Healey, with aluminum center sections and steel fenders, I drove year around in Minnesota, including winter-salted roads. Electrolysis between the aluminum and steel, aided by road salt, was killing the car. I removed fenders and "insulated" them from contact with aluminum centers with household caulk. That stopped the electrolysis.
I am really impressed by the thoroughness of corrosion protection in my '07 XK. Were I living in Ontario I would drive in winter, BUT would install winter tires. Modern winter tires are "magic."
Nevertheless, I still wonder if anyone has directly experience corrosion from winter driving on salted roads?

 

Actually I am not so worried about the salt or corrosion as I have never heard of an XK experiencing rust (unlike the Mazda 3 for example). Its the sheer number of people up here who can't drive in winter that scare me!

We actually have a very diverse population in Toronto (4Million Plus)with many people coming here who have never seen snow and go about driving like they always did before. They learn soon enough the hard way but i would prefer that my XKR stays well removed from their 'education process'.

 

It must be more common in Europe then although these are corrosion not rust:

Potential rust

XK Corrosion

Body corrosion / oxydisation

Rusty XK.

Rust spot

Corrosion - how common is it?

XK Corrosion

Corrosion on your XK? Repaired under warranty?

 

Used to live in the north east. Put the motorcycle up every winter. Moved to Atlanta 25 years ago. Never looked back!

Thank you to all in the north who put your cars away in the winter! I bought mine in Chicago with 34k miles on it! Never driven in winter! Bless you all.

 

We have a favorable forecast this week in Omaha (global warming rocks!), and I'll be cruising with the top down for a few more days. I put on a set of the Continental DWS tires on September 1, so I'll try and stretch the driving horizon as long as possible. But no snow driving. Nope, nope, nope. Way too many idiots to risk my Jag while they learn to drive again in the snow.

 

All of my Jags are put away for the winter now, I usually do it at the end of October. Although I could probably drive the in the winter, the downside is a lot greater.

For instance, have you ever driven in 2ft of snow on I-94 around the tip of lake Michigan, behind a double-wide plow that's throwing salt and sand out the back at 60mph? I make this drive often, and it's done a number on the front of my Land Rover LR3- I've had the bumper and hood repainted twice. There's a reason why Indiana State Police have a fleet of Wranglers.

Beyond that, as others have said, too many people around here don't know how to drive in the snow. I've seen too many accidents and don't want to risk the Jags getting whacked.

Add to that the corrosion issues from the road salt, and its just not worth it. Plus, I can't have the top down, and the visibility in snow would not be good.. so why bother?

And it does keep the miles low

(XKR is in a different garage- that's the XJSC and the XKR-S below. You can tell the XJS is on the left from all the stains on the concrete... lol)

 

Winter here in Florida means daily driving. Sorry Northeners. Ctek chargers are on regardless all of the time.

 

I wait until around Christmas to put away my car for the season (Boston). We hardly ever get snow before the New Year.

 

There are a number of people here in the GTA that are challenged to drive well in any month of the year. A simple drive through Markham will drain the blood from your brain in a few minutes.

I actually golfed yesterday afternoon in a short sleeved shirt. Needless to say, that won't last long. I purchased a bottle of fuel stabilizer on the weekend and will be preparing the car for hybernation in the next couple of weeks. I try to take a spin or two during the winter if the roads are dry. Last winter, we didn't have many of those days, however, this year, thanks to El Niņo, we're supposed to have a very mild winter.

 

We know that it won't last, but 2 hours N of Toronto and we have just burnt another tank of premium and enjoyed lunch sitting outside our favourite country inn!! The XK only goes out on roof down days, so it will not get to go S with us when we seek warmer weather after Christmas for a few weeks..
One of our winter drives is another 4.2 V8, a 2000 Audi A8, in Florida until 2010, so only 5 in the snow and salt, the body and paint is amazing, but there are plenty of steel bits underneath, brake and fuel lines, crossmembers/subframes, oilpans, brake discs and all of the nuts and bolts..
Our XK will not be going out to play when there is snow and salt around..
Time to do battle with leaves now...
Cheers

 

So very true.

When in the XKR I try to avoid Markham, shopping malls, parking lots, 400 series highways, basically humanity in general... Lol.