i love my 2005 VDP!
One of his posts asked about a car “under $16,000. for a 16 year old”, and while I think that he was trying to imply that this was for his 16 year old son, my interpretation was that this was like the letters to Dear Abby asking about a problem that “a friend” has. You know, asking for yourself, but trying to phrase the question so that it appears to refer to someone else.
Yes, I could be wrong, but then again, I could be correct about him being 16 years old. Craig 58 came up with the theory that Ruben is a high school student, and the more that I read the wildly varying “should I buy a __________?” posts, I began to agree with Craig that this was a kid who was fantasizing about cars, rather than an adult who was seriously inquiring about possible cars to purchase.
Yes, I could be wrong, but it is interesting to note that Ruben never attempted to contradict any of the responses that theorized that he was a high school kid. Every time that anyone posted a statement about him being a high school kid, Ruben just created a new thread with a question about a different vehicle.
A strange question. It would be like asking whether you should go out with either the pretty girl with her own job and car, or the pretty girl with no job or car. Always buy the best car you can afford; since at some point, you will probably trade that car in for something else down the road. Higher residual values always go to the higher specification model, regardless of manufacture. The real question should be whether to purchase the brand-new, redesigned 2008 XJ, or whether you should saved some bucks by buying a dealer certified, used 2007 model. Again, buy the best you can afford.
Don’t worry about the uninformed comments in this string about Jaguar build quality. The perception of poor build quality stems from the meteoric demise of the British auto manufacturing during the 1970s-80s. However, Jaguar has done a complete turn-around and most of the comments below lack factual research. For example, nobody bothered to mention that Jaguar won the 2007 J.D Power & Associates award for being first among all auto manufacturers in customer satisfaction with dealer services. Nobody mentioned that the Jag XJ was listed on the Forbes 2007 list of safest cars to operate. Similarly, you see no mention that MotorWeek cited the Jag XK-R as the 2007 “Best Dream Machine”, nor that Kelley Blue Book listed the Jag on their 2007 Best Road Trip Car list. Nor do you see any discussion about Jaguar now testing all their cars at their new, full-time facility at the renowned Nurburgring in Germany. Crap cars don’t win awards.
Allusions to the regrettable X-Type are also outdated. Jaguar’s model line no longer includes the X-Type, a car foisted upon Jaguar by Ford’s piss-poor strategic planners as some sort of crude, entry level Jaguar. Indeed, the S-Type will also be dropped for 2009. Now that Jaguar has been granted its freedom to return to its roots (high-performance autos), it looks poised to win big with the recent release of the stunning, Jag XF. This new coupe has the press raving… from Jeremy Clarkson’s review on Top Gear to Jay Leno (see his video review on You Tube) - they all love this car.
Similarly, fears that new ownership by Tata will ruin Jaguar’s desirability are also unfounded. Tata knows exactly what makes Jaguar-Land Rover so special - exclusivity. Moving production to India would kill that very aspect. Tata has formally agreed to retain production at the Halewood plant (for Jaguar and Land Rover Freelander), as well as Solihull (for the rest of the Land Rover models). Tata knows exactly what it wants, entry into the world of premier, luxury automobiles. It is not about to mess with the formula that is producing record Land Rover sales, and creating the reemergence of much more dynamic Jaguar. (Land Rover recorded a healthy profit of $1.2 billion in 2007. Even Jaguar has made a startling turnaround - from losing $500m in 2006 to just $100m in 2007.) With freedom from the bad strategy decisions of Ford, the launch of the redesigned 2008 XJ, and the launch of the 2009 XF in this model year, Jaguar is in a prime position to make profit. How ironic that Ford should decide to sell Aston-Martin (now making good profit), Land Rover, and Jaguar when it needs cash now more than anything else. Poor American auto industry - so focused on the short-term, it fails to see the opportunities over the long-term.
That’s encouraging for those of us who love Jaguars. Thanks for the info.
And, it may help our friend Ruben’s fantasies, which, after all were the driving force behind this thread that he created. By the way, after his flurry of “what should I buy?” threads, has Ruben disappeared?
I miss him.
Me too, he’s probably busy studying for a math test or something (unlike my kids).