Because of issues with my 2016, they let me re-order my build updated to 2019 standards... AND SENT PHOTOS ON THE LINE: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZXcNtzXto5kfuH4F8
They're doing great stuff out there. =)

 

Who mentioned Aston? I'm wavering if it's actually a good stock to pick now. If you'd invested previously, you'd have lost less with depreciation on an Aston vs losses on the stock. wow
Losses at Aston Martin almost quadruple as Covid cuts sales Luxury sports carmaker reports £466m pre-tax loss just as firm embarks on major turnaround plan https://www.theguardian.com/business...vid-cuts-sales

 

I bought Aston right around when they announced the new CEO and the DBX was getting good reviews. It was 61 cents a share at the time. They have had a reverse 20 to 1 stock split since then.

 

There was a guy on here about 10 months ago harping on about how Aston was going bankrupt in a week, F-Types would be given away for under $20K, and generally engaging in fear-mongering before he got banned.

 

You mean the stock trader who come on here to talk about his Corvette all the time? Let's keep him dead and buried please!

 

interestingly (to me at least), Jaguar is running a radio ad, right now in the UK that is promoting the I-Pace. The opening few seconds of the ad.....The sound of the AJ-V8 being started. I guess when it comes to invoking passion and stirring the senses, the V8 beats out the sound of a laptop being switched on. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against coal powered cars, but for right now, I don't see me using one for anything else but the daily slog in traffic to work.

I'm conscious that everybody has a different reason for buying a Jaguar. For some it's the luxury brand name. They may not care what the powertrain is, so long as they have butt massagers. For others it's the history, and that doesn't get scrubbed out by replacing the pump nozzle with a power cord. Harry Metcalfe (YT:Harry's Garage) has a theory, that Jaguar doesn't always get the recognition it deserves when being compared with other prestige auto makers, because it doesn't have a racing program. Well they do for EV's.

I think, the way I feel about the inevitable march towards EV's, is probably like that of the train guys watching the transition from steam loco's to diesel. Yeah it's probably an improvement, but something will always be missing.

 

I was sorry to hear this as I have zero emotional interest in EV sportscars - about the same as a toaster or new washing machine! I have friends with Tesla's and I've been in them....yes they are fast but no, they stir no emotions in me whatsoever. I'm not anti-EV, but I'm not going to pay a premium for a luxury/high end EV sportscar. When/if we reach the point where ICE's are unavailable or unafordable, I will simply buy the cheapest KIA EV egg and tell it to haul my butt from A-Z.....

Hybrids, I can stand - just bought a new Range Rover Sport HST P400 MHEV on Saturday.

Cheers,
Dave

 

It is great that you are happy and I did let them know you feel they are doing a good job. When times are uncertain, people really can use some positivity and I know that the production staff really do have their hearts in the cars they build there.

 

I mean the car looks good! Thank you for posting the sound videos. I kinda like the sounds!

Having said that, I'm getting a 2021 F-Type delivered on Saturday so it's all gasoline power for the time being!

 

Have you driven a performance version of the Tesla? I am currently test driving every EV crossover with my wife as we will be looking to lease/subscribe a daily driver. Makes sense to look at EV as range is not an issue for our duty and prices are dropping. I am reading incentives will also be increasing in the US. Many more on the list but Mustang Mach-e and Tesla Y have been our only test drives so far. I own several ICE cars, my Jag XKR being one of them. Awaiting a test drive for the Mustang Mach-e GT, but in driving the Tesla Model Y performance version, I can tell you I have never felt that type of acceleration from any ICE vehicle. My guess is that if I needed to it would take hundreds of thousands of $ to do so. Minimalist by nature, I can agree that the design is quite pedestrian and minimalist, but does not bother me.
One pedal driving and a single info tablet/screen for all functions would take some getting used to..but the performance trumps it all. If this is where we are going in the industry, I'm sold.

I fear the I-pace could have a early advantage in this space as luxury prices and buyers are at the forefront of this technology re-emergence. If anything, the time was years ago to ramp up and heavily promote it. Two weeks ago my wife visited our Jag dealer on other business and asked if she could test drive the i-pace, they said they did not have any to test. Pretty big regional dealer and the model was announced a while back. Buyers are ready, the manufacturers and infrastructure is not yet there. Like any disruption, some will survive others will meet their demise. I am hoping JLR makes it.

 

You might want to use another example. The latest KIA EV6 has 577 HP and will do 0-60 in about 3 seconds.

 

I'm definitely not ashamed to admit I've been noticing Kia design on the road, but I didn't know what was under some of the hoods. I will say I'm very surprised by it.

Not just EV, but it does look like jaguar is positioning itself as an extreme luxury brand and they are going to start competing with Bentley, Aston, and Ferrari. It's a huge maneuver, but looking at the future of automotive industry, it's a pretty bold and intelligent one.

https://www.motor1.com/news/490413/j...ving-upmarket/

Also, is this the thread we talked about the polestar? I realize somebody was speaking somewhat negatively about the polestar based off of the model being built around a Volvo, but everything's new... Volvo body, but an ev. I imagine any Volvo concerns would be rendered moot, unless it's about actual styling and design?

Older article but I've been seen newer ones in recent days confirming this. By older I mean February.

 

This morning I saw a striking-looking black SUV - very handsome. As I got closer I realized that it was a Jaguar I-Pace! I had seen photos, of course, but this was the first time I had seen one "in the wild". Much, much better looking than I thought. I was also able to look at the interior once it was parked...in tan, beautiful leather, very nice indeed. Hmmmmmmm......

 

Uncle Fishbits,
My extreme distaste for Volvo products came from owning, driving, and servicing them, 3 different models, which is what led me to condemn the brand not one specific model. And it was not just engine problems, though there were plenty of those. In one model the 740 Turbo, five turbos replaced in one year of ownership. In another, 740, pieces of the interior falling off within the first weeks of ownership. In the third, the venerable 240GL, my wife's personal vehicle (because she wanted the "world's safest car" for transporting our young children), an engine rebuild at 22,000 miles the same day as we picked it up from Volvo servicing. So my opinion was based on experience not hypothetical situations. And it seems to me that Volvo built its reputation on selling a "safety first" pitch, trying to appeal to young mothers all over the globe. But the haphazard build quality of their cars was not good nor were their dealers well equipped to handle the problems. It's probably the same reasons many people who'd heard about Jaguar reliability shied away from purchasing Jaguars. I look at my daily driver 2010 XKR which just passed 182,000 miles and find it is one of the most reliable cars I've ever owned in 52 years of driving. So for me, since Polestar is a Volvo product, it will never see the inside of my garage based on my experience (which in speaking to many Volvo owners over the years was quite a common feeling, though they didn't publicly admit it).

 

I had a bunch of volvos:
760GLE - it had mechanical injection and was a disaster when the octane rating in fuel over here was reduced. Stereo was great, though;
s40 1.8 litre (pre 2004 gen) - had to turn the air cond off to merge on to a highway but other than that a nice little car, very safe too;
2001 (I think) c70T5 - very quick at the time, great looking, comfy in the back as well, beautiful sound system, quite understeerey, no trouble;
2004 s40T5 - good car, wife had it for 5 years - quick, handled well, some teething issues with software etc other than that very reliable;
2004 (from memory) s60R manual - gorgeous interior, looked good outside too, very quick at the time, sat on the road really well at high speed, quite understeerey, massive turning circle, no trouble;
2009 s40T5 - no trouble save rotors needed replacing at about 10,000km, gave it to my mum cheap, still being driven by my brother, still looks OK and no trouble;
2014 v40T5CC - looked great, quite quick, huge turning circle, had a build quality issue or two, unfortunately was given a death sentence on its first day home when my daughter said to my wife that it looked like a soccer mum car, traded it on the XE a year later.

I've driven a bunch as loaners as well, including the s60 polestar (the previous gen with the v6), I thought that was a fantastic car blighted by a massive turning circle, and the s80 v8 (loved that 4 litre yamaha v8) but none of them have been a patch on the Jags to drive. I doubt I'd buy another while they remain with a FWD bias, and I tend to find the Jags more reliable.

 

My first car was a Volvo and so was my last. The first was a well-used 122S and the last was a C30, bought new, ordered to my specs. The only real problem I had with the latter was a couple of clutch replacements under warranty. The issue with them seemed to be hydraulic but I never got an analysis from the dealer since they never got one from Volvo. That might have been the last model they developed before Ford sold to Geely, and it was a shared platform (Volvo/Ford/Mazda). It was fun, especially after a few well-chosen upgrades, funky-looking, and more practical than the F-Type. I only sold it after the F-Type came in.

As for the JLR electric offering, the dealer practically insisted I test drive one. they were doing all they could to get the pre-order numbers up. I didn't bother trying the maximum acceleration, but did take it on a short loop available near the dealer that has some good corners and interesting transitions. I thought it drove quite well.

 

While I like the idea of I-Pace, selling it at price point comparable to F-type is a joke. It is a mid-size electric SUV, it should be priced as such.

 

Well this is fantastic, because I'm a big believer of institutional knowledge. And it's disappearing everywhere around us.

First, we've done 4,000 mi over 3 weeks in the Jaguar and shorter 900 to 1200 mi trips, but for some damned reason this last 80-minute trip up to Napa from our house in Tiburon put my wife in the final grumpy mood about road tripping in this car. Typically I am a master puzzle worker in elegantly and efficiently organizing the trunk so it isn't a problem, but I didn't take great care and there was stuff in her foot well and now we have to buy a new car. 😂

Because I've got a 95 YJ Wrangler and a two-door 2011 mini Cooper, it might be time to dispatch them and then buy her something she can use as a daily that we can road trip in, and to make myself feel better, maybe I will buy an early '70s Aston Martin or late 60s Jensen interceptor lol.

The car markets are weird but logical, and my four-wheel drive w/ rebuilt engine and body work updated with new paint, and it's insane what basically stock older Jeeps are going for. The 2011 mini Cooper was the last model year before they became the size of Land rovers, so their gas mileage and their sporty feel has a lot of value, so we're sitting pretty on two cars to go have some fun. The Jeep was purchased new in 1995 (My first major purchase, and my second car after a hand me down Datsun 200SX), and I would have trouble letting it go. In fact with that car and my f-type, adding one or two other classics would make it a very efficient but contentedly complete garage. a '67 2000GT Toyota and a 1938 Phantom Corsair?😋😅 ??? I'd give up the Jeep for an unimog.

Second this clip is a delight to me of fantastic relevance, because it starts with Volvo and ends with Jaguar and it's hilarious. Daryl Hannah and Dudley Moore and Paul reiser in an underappreciated film about having crazy people literally write ad copy. Sort of hoping some of you haven't seen it, which would make it even more fun.