It’s worth it, although it doesn’t always seem that way.
Now that the OP has revealed himself (in another of his myriad “which one should I buy” posts) to be 16 years old, I somehow doubt that he is in the financial position to buy a new XJ8, whether of the Vanden Plas variety or not.
And, wouldn’t it be interesting to know the cost of car insurance for a teenaged male driver as the primary driver of a luxury car like that? In the northern NJ/NYC metro area, I believe that it would be somewhere above $3,500. per yr for that insurance.
You are right; Ford improved Jaguar’s dismal reliability by first cracking down on suppliers and subcontactors, as well as udating some of Jag’s electronics with Ford’s. On the whole they deserve some credit for leaving the overall character of the car alone, and not turning it into a commodity item. However, the gap between Jag and upcoming luxury brrands for Japan and elsewhere was so large, that they never closed it.
Car and Driver magazine did a 5 car test with Jag, Mercedes, Audi, Infiniti and Lexus comaparison. Jag came up dead last, but they did say that Jag had the most “mystique”, whatever that meant.
A friend of mine used to be a faithful Jag owner, buy he’s getting older and tired of the fussing necessary to keep it on the road; he just bought a new Lexus.
“On the whole they deserve some credit for leaving the overall character of the car alone, and not turning it into a commodity item.”
I have to disagree, I can’t even tell the difference between some (cheap) jags and their ford clones without reading the badge. I believe they did leave some of the high end models alone. I’m not really a big british car fan, but I am relieved to see them safe from ford’s “influence.”
The most expensive Jag models (the XJs, I think) are still essentially Jaguar, albeit with some improvements and updates. That means that Ford managed to move that model from 1970 technology right up to 1990 technology. Unfortunately for Jaguar, all of the other luxury marques are firmly in the 21st Century with their technology. And, when they did a total redesign of that model a few years ago, they did update many things except for the styling that, while handsome, looks too much like the older models.
The middle level model (can’t recall the model designation) is mechanically identical to the newer (discontinued) Ford Thunderbird and to the small Lincoln RWD sedan that was discontinued last year or the year before. Again, better in quality than previous Jags, but…
And, then we have the cheapest Jags–namely the X series. This one is essentially a rebodied Ford Mondeo, the European equivalent of the late, unlamented American Ford Contour. If anyone thought they they were buying a luxury car when they purchased one of these, they quickly learned otherwise. Yes, it does have a decent AWD system, but that is not nearly enough to overcome the very poor reliability and the very tight interior accomodations. It is just a very overpriced Ford Mondeo, and as soon as UK consumers figured this out, the sales of the X series dropped sharply.
I really like the styling of Jaguars, and I think that the interiors are really, really nice. However, when all other factors are considered, they are overpriced, unreliable, outdated vehicles.
“I really like the styling of Jaguars, and I think that the interiors are really, really nice. However, when all other factors are considered, they are overpriced, unreliable, outdated vehicles.”
That’s probably fair. To me, any car newer than about 20 years old is uninteresting, so “outdated” is OK with me. " Overpriced," depends what you are comparing it to. I don’t know if “unreliable” is a big deal to their target market, but it might bother some people (who don’t understand that cars are just expensive toys).
Hopefully, the new owners will dump all the low-end ford crap and get back to their “core” market. If they can include newer, more “reliable” electronics, that will help with the consumer reports crowd (who only want to buy appliances anyway). Basically, they just need to get out of the low-end market and stop selling re-badged rental cars. Hopefully, in 5 or 10 years they will be back in the high-end car business.
This shrinking has been going on for some years now. When I went highschool (I’m dating myself)in a town of 2400 people, we had a Hudson, Ford, Mercury, Dodge/DeSoto, Plymouth/Chrysler, Chevrolet/Oldsmobile, Pontiac/Buick and Willys/Overland dealer. How they all suvived I don’t know, but the customer had lots of choice.
The daughter of the Hudson dealer was the best-looking girl in the school and an great cheerleader.
My very quick two-cents:
If it was me, and I was faced with the “dilemma” of XJ8 or Vanden Plas, I’d flip a coin, and no matter which side it landed on, I’d get an Acura RL.
But you seem to be fishing for a lot of different opinions on a lot of different vehicles and vehicle-types. Why is that?
And the Ford Excursion.
I have to agree with you guys, especially Craig. I’d rather have the young fella hanging out with us and quizzing us about vehicles than hanging out in some of the predatory sites I’ve been hearing about. The explanation you guys offer makes all the posts make sense.
Ruben, I for one am more than happy to chat with you and answer questions. Just let us know if we’re right.
“Ruben, I for one am more than happy to chat with you and answer questions. Just let us know if we’re right.”
If he’s a teen, we’ll be wrong (I have teenage kids).
i have decided not to get one because of the reliability. i saw one at a stop light with smoke coming out of the exhaust. the year of this xj8 was 2002. the toyota truck whose year was 1994 was running better. hence, i sall not get one.
Glad to hear you’ve decided. (-;
i like the acura TL better.
you’ve really gotta stop making these lists.
This site certainly is more educational for him than “Cocktail Waitresses from Hell”".
“This site certainly is more educational for him than “Cocktail Waitresses from Hell””
Do you have a link for that site?
Actually it’s the favorite site of the teenage son in “Married with Children”.
“Hence” – nice wordage!
My oldest daughter was a teenager by age 5. She got me angry and I started to scold her. She wagged her index finger at me and said “Temper, temper, temper…”. I bit my cheeks and finished making my point. Then I went to my room, closed the door, and burst out laughing. Ohhh, what I was in for! She’s nineteen now and a delightful, mature adult. Most of the time. Don’t sweat it. they are al individuals and they will all have their moments. Enjoy the ride.
I never saw any post about him being 16 yrs old