What is about Jaguar for you?
Discussion
I've always loved Jags.
My old man had an XK120 before I was born and always harped on about it in later years (I think he blamed me for his need to get rid of it
)
But I've only had my car licence for about 12 years and in that time have gone through the gammut of Yank tanks, MG's and so on but until recently have never had a Jag.
Mrs Nige had an X type last year which we liked but she wanted a Merc instead in the end...sigh
But now I have my own X308 and am planning on outing my Monaro for an XK as well.
There's just something about their sheer...Britishness (despite being foreign owned) and...Jaguaryness.
People always remark on the XJ8 to me but never ever mention the E class...ever.
I love it.
You?
My old man had an XK120 before I was born and always harped on about it in later years (I think he blamed me for his need to get rid of it
)But I've only had my car licence for about 12 years and in that time have gone through the gammut of Yank tanks, MG's and so on but until recently have never had a Jag.
Mrs Nige had an X type last year which we liked but she wanted a Merc instead in the end...sigh
But now I have my own X308 and am planning on outing my Monaro for an XK as well.
There's just something about their sheer...Britishness (despite being foreign owned) and...Jaguaryness.
People always remark on the XJ8 to me but never ever mention the E class...ever.
I love it.
You?
1) Elegance.
Nobody does it better, actually, nobody does it at all anymore. I'm not too keen on the direction Jag are currently going in though, the overall shapes are still elegant, but the detailing is jumping on the aggressive bandwagon IMO.
2) Ride quality.
In todays era of ever stiffer suspension and run-flat tyres, the ride quality of a Jag stands out as something special.
Nobody does it better, actually, nobody does it at all anymore. I'm not too keen on the direction Jag are currently going in though, the overall shapes are still elegant, but the detailing is jumping on the aggressive bandwagon IMO.
2) Ride quality.
In todays era of ever stiffer suspension and run-flat tyres, the ride quality of a Jag stands out as something special.
BigNige said:
Which is the model with the Pepperpot alloys?
Wasn't that supposed to have the best quality ride of any car ever?
Pepperpots were on the Series 3 XJ, but IMHO the XJ40 had the ultimate ride. It also had wheels many described as pepperpots, but I think they're more like roulette wheels.Wasn't that supposed to have the best quality ride of any car ever?
I was born in 1962, Jaguars were the height of style, desirability and elegance (BMW made bubble cars). A friends parents went from a S Type to a 420 in metalic gold flec paint, which I guess wasn't standard - I didn't like that.
When the XJ6 came out, one of my uncles got one. It made everything else on the road look out of date.
A mate at secondary school was into custom cars, not my scene even then, but we used to go to a lot of car shows, mostly at Ali Pali as I remember. At one such show was an XK150 in Old English White - it was love.
I bought my first Jag, an X300, in 96, I still have it and I'm yet to drive a car that I would prefer to own as an everyday car - or at least prefer enough to justify selling the X300 (which would be worth peanuts or less) and shelling out a fortune for a new/ nearly new replacement. I've tried loads of other things, up to an Aston Martin Virage. Sorry I'd rather have the Jag thanks. So I gave up trying to find a replacement and bought myself an XK150 as a toy.
Jags to me are:
In practice it has been much better than I ever expected.
When the XJ6 came out, one of my uncles got one. It made everything else on the road look out of date.
A mate at secondary school was into custom cars, not my scene even then, but we used to go to a lot of car shows, mostly at Ali Pali as I remember. At one such show was an XK150 in Old English White - it was love.
I bought my first Jag, an X300, in 96, I still have it and I'm yet to drive a car that I would prefer to own as an everyday car - or at least prefer enough to justify selling the X300 (which would be worth peanuts or less) and shelling out a fortune for a new/ nearly new replacement. I've tried loads of other things, up to an Aston Martin Virage. Sorry I'd rather have the Jag thanks. So I gave up trying to find a replacement and bought myself an XK150 as a toy.
Jags to me are:
- ) Elegant, graceful, sleek, ... you should know it's a Jag!
- ) Effortlessly powerful. This is about torque profiles, a mate had a 735Beamer, I always found it needed far too many revs to move, why have a luxo barge that needs to have it's neck rung.
- ) Comfortable, the waft factor, When the X300 was launched, I think it was Top Gear, and they were comparing the then new 5 series, E-Class and Jag. There was a discussion between about the bump handling between the 5 and E, I think JC then commented "What Bumps in that road, I didn't notice any". In Car's review of the same three cars there was a comment about road noise. They explained away the fact that the MB wasn't too quiet by saying it was riding on a set of "sporty" P6000s, the Jag had the same tyres and was much the quietest. I tested the X300 against the then new Lexus LS420, on the UK's typical concrete motorways the Jag was much quieter. On really good surfaces the Lexus was a fraction quieter. It managed all that and was still able to go around steady state corners faster than my GT4.
- ) Connectiveness, The feel of the car to drive. The Lexus was very capable, very impressive but there was zero involvement. It was a soafer on wheels, you got in at one end and out at the other. What happened on the journey was not your business. With the Jag you feel very connected, it feels very responsive. But it doesn't seem to be too "busy" it's not constantly feeding you information that you don't need. It is an ideal compromise.
In practice it has been much better than I ever expected.
My old man had a mark II, which I loved. I loved the look, I loved the smell of it, I loved being itn it. I still remember the day it was towed away.
After that a freind of te family alway had XJ40's, I guess I just fell in love with the badge and everything that wnet with it.
I bought an XJ40 a couple of years ago, I loved it, the ride was sublime, just crusing was fun. The OH hated it, as it was an old man's car.
Sold the old XJ40 and bought an XKR. The OH much prefers this. I love it too, the power, the pace, the comfort.
After that a freind of te family alway had XJ40's, I guess I just fell in love with the badge and everything that wnet with it.
I bought an XJ40 a couple of years ago, I loved it, the ride was sublime, just crusing was fun. The OH hated it, as it was an old man's car.
Sold the old XJ40 and bought an XKR. The OH much prefers this. I love it too, the power, the pace, the comfort.
-pace and grace.
-people strike up conversations in car parks/petrol stations
-people let you out of junctions!
-i love the big GT feel, but yet it can still be threaded down a b road at speed.
-but the best bit for me is the ease of driving, it may have lots of power, but you wouldn't now it. i could let my Gran drive it and she wouldn't done the wiser of the what happens if you bury the throttle into the carpet.
I have always been facinated by cars. When I was small I won a competition on a cerial pack to identify several dozen different cars by the shape of the radiator grille. I can remember asking my Mum to help me spell our address - that's how young I was. I had literally hundreds of Dinky toys and apart from using them to stage spectacular multipile pile-ups I knew all the engine capacities, makes, how fast they went and so on - a kind of 3d Top Trumps.
In a blatent attempt to put me off any trace of car enthusiam my Dad had a sucession of bloody Volvos
Every two years or so he'd buy himself a brand new one - usually in the same colour FFS. I begged, pleaded and attempted bribery in the form of free washing and polishing for life to try to get him to buy somthing a bit more interesting.
And that somthing more interesting would have been a Jaguar. Several of my school friends Dads had Mk2s. I just loved the shape, the smell of leather, the wood and the soft night-time glow of the instruments on the dashboard. I remember long sunday night deserted road journeys cruising in overdrive at over 100MPH down the A12 in the Mk2 on our way back to school in Surrey from our home in north Essex - in those days you drove straight through the middle of London too and I can still feel the pull and hear the multi cylinder growl of the 3.8 engine forcing you hard back in the seat as the rev counter surged round the dial as we raced away from the lights along the Embankment.
I remeber my first ride in an XJ6. A school friends dad had a dog poo brown one and he took us out to lunch one weekend in it. I wanted one badly after that and increased parental pressure. No chance, this was the Leyland years after all and there was no way my Dad would even discuss it. Remember the 1970s advertising poster of the little boy with his bike gazing into a Leyland garage at a green Series 2, with the caption "some day, some day?" That was me.
I also remember a ride in a Primrose yellow E Type (which had five teenage boys squezed in it, three in the back and two on the passenger seat) doing 130MPH on the St Osyth bypass. All the parents had been to the pub and there was an impromptu race organised home between several interesting cars.
Vintage Jaguars and the whole series of XJ saloons are beautiful cars - not without problems, often badly made and unreliable, heavily compromised on practicalities, expensive to run, but just beautiful. And classless too which I really like - you don't know if it's a Duke or Dustman behind the wheel - but you do know whoever's driving appreciates the beauty and Jaguarness enough to tollerate all the imperfections.
In a blatent attempt to put me off any trace of car enthusiam my Dad had a sucession of bloody Volvos
Every two years or so he'd buy himself a brand new one - usually in the same colour FFS. I begged, pleaded and attempted bribery in the form of free washing and polishing for life to try to get him to buy somthing a bit more interesting.And that somthing more interesting would have been a Jaguar. Several of my school friends Dads had Mk2s. I just loved the shape, the smell of leather, the wood and the soft night-time glow of the instruments on the dashboard. I remember long sunday night deserted road journeys cruising in overdrive at over 100MPH down the A12 in the Mk2 on our way back to school in Surrey from our home in north Essex - in those days you drove straight through the middle of London too and I can still feel the pull and hear the multi cylinder growl of the 3.8 engine forcing you hard back in the seat as the rev counter surged round the dial as we raced away from the lights along the Embankment.
I remeber my first ride in an XJ6. A school friends dad had a dog poo brown one and he took us out to lunch one weekend in it. I wanted one badly after that and increased parental pressure. No chance, this was the Leyland years after all and there was no way my Dad would even discuss it. Remember the 1970s advertising poster of the little boy with his bike gazing into a Leyland garage at a green Series 2, with the caption "some day, some day?" That was me.
I also remember a ride in a Primrose yellow E Type (which had five teenage boys squezed in it, three in the back and two on the passenger seat) doing 130MPH on the St Osyth bypass. All the parents had been to the pub and there was an impromptu race organised home between several interesting cars.
Vintage Jaguars and the whole series of XJ saloons are beautiful cars - not without problems, often badly made and unreliable, heavily compromised on practicalities, expensive to run, but just beautiful. And classless too which I really like - you don't know if it's a Duke or Dustman behind the wheel - but you do know whoever's driving appreciates the beauty and Jaguarness enough to tollerate all the imperfections.
I've always liked Jaguars. From their style and grace to their comfort and ride. They're all different, all exude that Britishness. Always wanted to own one, especially an XK since I first saw one in 1996. Now own an XK8 and an X type estate. Hopefully, one day I'll get my hands on an XFR or new shape XKR.
All the above, and with the XJS these days, individuality, nothing lese on the road looks like it.
Alwayd wanted a Jag since, when as a teenager, the bloke in my cricket club took us to matches in XJ6 series 2 (I htink it must've been a 2, definitelt not a 3).
XJ40/X300 - difficult to decide which I prefer.
Alwayd wanted a Jag since, when as a teenager, the bloke in my cricket club took us to matches in XJ6 series 2 (I htink it must've been a 2, definitelt not a 3).
XJ40/X300 - difficult to decide which I prefer.
groomi said:
There seems to be a running theme that we all as kids/teenagers saw a Jag on the road or had a ride in one and fell in love with them. Then, promised ourselves we'd have one in the future.
So do the current crop of Jags have that effect on todays kids?
I don't really think so.So do the current crop of Jags have that effect on todays kids?
When we were nippers, Jags were up against Fords like Zephyrs and Consuls and Vauxhall Victors as well as BL Princesses and the like.
To be frank there wasn't much in the way of aspirational competition.
Sure there were things like Stags and MG's and TR6's but they weren't terribly exciting, lets be honest.
Nowadays there are cars like Imprezzas, Evo's, Supras as well as a million and one hot hatches... all of which can be had for well under 10k and give an awful lot of reliable bang for the buck.
And that's the image problem that Jaguar is up against - the older generation image.
The new XFR will go a hell of a long way to redress that for the new buyer but until it reaches the lower echelon of the price ranges then the young lasses and lads that only have up to £10k to spend will continue to go with their Scoobies. Evos and 318i's.
BigNige said:
groomi said:
There seems to be a running theme that we all as kids/teenagers saw a Jag on the road or had a ride in one and fell in love with them. Then, promised ourselves we'd have one in the future.
So do the current crop of Jags have that effect on todays kids?
I don't really think so.So do the current crop of Jags have that effect on todays kids?
When we were nippers, Jags were up against Fords like Zephyrs and Consuls and Vauxhall Victors as well as BL Princesses and the like.
To be frank there wasn't much in the way of aspirational competition.
Sure there were things like Stags and MG's and TR6's but they weren't terribly exciting, lets be honest.
Nowadays there are cars like Imprezzas, Evo's, Supras as well as a million and one hot hatches... all of which can be had for well under 10k and give an awful lot of reliable bang for the buck.
And that's the image problem that Jaguar is up against - the older generation image.
The new XFR will go a hell of a long way to redress that for the new buyer but until it reaches the lower echelon of the price ranges then the young lasses and lads that only have up to £10k to spend will continue to go with their Scoobies. Evos and 318i's.
Edited by groomi on Friday 27th February 22:49
.
In the early 80's, I was about 10 or 11 years old. My dad had his bright green Ford Granada nicked and had to buy a replacement car. He went to a motor auction a couple of days later. He bought a midnight blue Series II 4.2 Daimler Sovereign. I think he paid £1400 for it. It was an R reg and probably about 7 years old. The difference between it and the Granada was night and day. My mum started wearing her (fake) fur coat and my friend at school thought it was a Rolls Royce!
That is when I started getting interested in cars and Jaguars in general. Next came a BRG 3.4 Jaguar. P reg I think. Unfortunately, the price of fuel probably forced my dad to go for more econolical cars. The Jag was sold and he returned to a Granada (2.8i Ghia) again.
I think the Jaguar bug had caught him and he bought a Daimler 4.2 LWB(?) in silver which he 'dabbled' about on at weekends. It was an auction buy for £600, maybe an S plate and the year would be 1984 or 1985. I learned a lot about mechanics with these cars. Usually routine maintenance. He had the silver car totally resprayed and then sold it to fund his next project.
From 1986 until about 1990 he restored (with my assistance) a BRG MkII 3.4 auto that he bought for £800. It was a decent solid car which was bought at a good price. Some of the heaps he had went to see were berely more than a heap of rust. He still has that car. It was our wedding car and features in some of our wedding photos. It has also used as my friends wedding car.
My dad's love of cars has rubbed off on my brother and I. My bro has a Jensen Interceptor MkIII which he has taken great care of. I had a Triumph GT6 a few years ago but eventually sold due to it being garaged quite far from where I lived at the time.
My circumstances have changed and recently the prices of Jaguars have been affordable to me. When I realised just how much affordable they were I started to do a little research online as to which car might be best for me. After the Triumph, I knew an (impractical?) 2 seater was out of the question. The only car that really did it for me was the XJ. I wanted a 6 cylinder as that is what I felt Jaguars were all about and also a bit easier to work on. I also wanted the fastest 6 cylinder I could afford so kept an eye out for XJR.
I'm glad to say I bought the first one I went to see. I had to travel a bit though. Now I'm the delighted owner of a 1995 XJR6 in black. It has a high spec. with pretty much all added extras. Things have pretty much came around full circle, from the night my dad brought that Series II Daimler
home until now.
So, what is it about Jaguar for me? I think there is just something special in the marque. The history, the motorsport, the georgeous looks of cars like the E-Type and the fact that I learned so much about cars on Jaguars. Had my dad kept on buying Ford Granadas or even restored an old Zephyr, would I be into cars as much.........?
That is when I started getting interested in cars and Jaguars in general. Next came a BRG 3.4 Jaguar. P reg I think. Unfortunately, the price of fuel probably forced my dad to go for more econolical cars. The Jag was sold and he returned to a Granada (2.8i Ghia) again.
I think the Jaguar bug had caught him and he bought a Daimler 4.2 LWB(?) in silver which he 'dabbled' about on at weekends. It was an auction buy for £600, maybe an S plate and the year would be 1984 or 1985. I learned a lot about mechanics with these cars. Usually routine maintenance. He had the silver car totally resprayed and then sold it to fund his next project.
From 1986 until about 1990 he restored (with my assistance) a BRG MkII 3.4 auto that he bought for £800. It was a decent solid car which was bought at a good price. Some of the heaps he had went to see were berely more than a heap of rust. He still has that car. It was our wedding car and features in some of our wedding photos. It has also used as my friends wedding car.
My dad's love of cars has rubbed off on my brother and I. My bro has a Jensen Interceptor MkIII which he has taken great care of. I had a Triumph GT6 a few years ago but eventually sold due to it being garaged quite far from where I lived at the time.
My circumstances have changed and recently the prices of Jaguars have been affordable to me. When I realised just how much affordable they were I started to do a little research online as to which car might be best for me. After the Triumph, I knew an (impractical?) 2 seater was out of the question. The only car that really did it for me was the XJ. I wanted a 6 cylinder as that is what I felt Jaguars were all about and also a bit easier to work on. I also wanted the fastest 6 cylinder I could afford so kept an eye out for XJR.
I'm glad to say I bought the first one I went to see. I had to travel a bit though. Now I'm the delighted owner of a 1995 XJR6 in black. It has a high spec. with pretty much all added extras. Things have pretty much came around full circle, from the night my dad brought that Series II Daimler
home until now.
So, what is it about Jaguar for me? I think there is just something special in the marque. The history, the motorsport, the georgeous looks of cars like the E-Type and the fact that I learned so much about cars on Jaguars. Had my dad kept on buying Ford Granadas or even restored an old Zephyr, would I be into cars as much.........?
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