Just a few random remarks....


Maybe 7 or 8 years ago I read an interesting article (in Autoweek, I think) about high end luxury cars....Cad, Lincoln, MB, Jaguar, etc....about a dozen makes in all.

I can't remember every details but in a very brief nutshell NONE of them were as reliable as owners thought they should be. On average 5-6 visits to the dealer were made during the warranty period to correct problems...new problems, that is...not repeat visits for the same problem (although repeat visits for the same problem most certainly DO occur).

"Ordinary" family-type cars on average visited the dealer only about half as often. Go figure. Maybe it's because the have about "half as much" to go wrong? :-)



As far as Jags go my experience is that they are generally high quality but some disappointments in materials, build quality, and engineering are not too hard to find. Premium grade bearings, u-joints, leather, wood, and brake pads, for instance,.....in a car with 79-cent window switches and crumble-to-dust shock bushings. That sort of thing :-)



Cheers
DD

 

And that's it in a nutshell. I bought a wheelbarrow in 1978ish with a 5 year guarantee and NEVER had to take it back to the dealer. My only complaint was that the owners manual gave no wheel alignment specs...........

 

HA!!! lol

 

I've owned 3 Jags and this has by far been the worst. It came with a 2 year select edition and I also purchased an aftermarket warranty that expired about a year and a half ago and I continue to pour loads of money into this car. Coolant leaks, Trans issues, A/C problems, Major elec. shorts and maybe one of my biggest complaints is that 2 different dealers so many times only guess and cannot pinpoint many problems. It's like well lets start with this and see if it works and then go from there. Or my favorite is ...we can't find anything wrong.
Love the car, hate the afraid something else is going to break feeling.

 

Well your moniker is appropriate.

 

Hey guys, lets remember that we love and cherish these vehicles of ours too!

 

My X Type for the most part was a disaster from the quality perspective. I still enjoyed the car though. My STR has been a rock (knock on wood), no real issues or complaints.

 

Forums attract people with issues, problems and complaints. Those who are happy usually never even join.

BTW, is almost everyone a Moderator now? There are 3 or 4 per page it seems.

I guess we've all been very, very naughty of late ...

 

While I still love our S-Type, it is very easy to make the argument that this is the quirkiest vehicle I've ever owned in more than 40 years of driving. It has by far the longest "Things To Watch Out For" list I've ever had to compile. That said, ours has been pretty solid once I got it through the factory warranty period taking full advantage of it (throttle body replaced due to limp mode, rear stabilizer link assembly replaced due to crushed bushings, etc.). With a car like this, you have to stay on potential maintenance alert, and you have to be able to DIY most issues, otherwise you'll wind up spending far more than it's worth it to me to keep the car in our stable....

But when they're running right and all is well, it's hard to beat the overall value these cars deliver as long-distance highway cruisers. My wife is once again headed to visit her elderly parents in Tampa today, the primary reason I purchased our S-Type back in December 2008. I'm happy to say that the car continues to serve that purpose flawlessly for us....

 

Haha, yeah and that's also my license plates!

 

Tires are as Brutal said: car is wrongly aligned. (Good alignment thread with details if you look.)

The rest? The last car with so many faults (not the same ones as yours) was fixed when the aftermarket bad work was fixed. Anything non-factory on yours (even if now removed)?

You can search on things like seat belt and see for yourself there are few fails and probably no single car with all the ones yours has had. The rest will probably be on cars far older than your car.

Something weird about your car. Maybe you're just very unlucky.

 

Compared to other cars I've owned, my 03 S Type is the worst I've had in terms of needing repairs. I inherited the car so I don't have that expense, but Jag could learn a lot from Toyota or Honda.

 

Only if they sell 10x or 100x as many. Probably impossible.

Still, at least jag designed out the problem which caused runaway acceleration

 

Jag designed out idiot drivers? D*mn they're good!

 

I suppose I can't speak for yor country but here the safety recalls were due to accelerators which stuck on, commanding excessive speed. The drivers were not asking for that speed. Did these design errors not affect cars in your country?

You can read technical analyses explaining the design errors if you wish. Jaguar designed out these inherent, potentially fatal, flaws.

There were other recalls for braking faults in e.g. the Prius I think you'll find. I am happy to point you at our government site regarding vehicle recalls if you're interested.

 

True enough, I suppose....unfortunately, they seem to have learnt "styling" from them first....seen the XF?

Haven't owned a Japanese brand, but my father had an 89 Toyota Cressida and now has an 04 Infinity QX56. Both nice vehicles....even so, I'm VERY happy with the Jags.....

 

Honestly, the Mod count is the same as it's been for a while. Rick and I simply replaced Gus and John. But, yes, there are more presence on the threads. Even a free job has a boss and the boss wants more presence I think...

Interesting point John, but what Mike jokingly referred to was after many tests in the US involving NASA no faults in the electronics were found.. In fact a few of the "Grand Stand" cases were busted when the "black boxes" were read and the "My Prius is out of control" idiots never applied the brakes!

But the very sad story of the mat sticking the gas pedal on the Lexus that killed the officer and his family did expose Toyota to the need for a brake over ride system.

This is a very interesting debate that would make for a good off topic thread of its own. Oh, and BTW the NASA and NHTSA results are out there...

About Jaguar quality... I had one of the "dark Ford owned" Jaguars and it was a fantastic car. Minor issues cropped up during my drive from 34k to 70k. But the major components served me flawlessly. The other thing is from used car to trade in there were never any squeaks creaks or rattles... The same cannot be said about my Chrysler. I love it, but I will be spending hours getting creative to quiet down that thing... It is not built to the same quality standard as the "Lowly" S Type.

 

You appear to be overlooking the many cars recalled recently where the accelerator pedal was demanding acceleration despite the driver not pushing the pedal. No doubt these were originally blamed on the driver - wrongly. The electronics (as in: modules, computers etc) were indeed fine. Design fault, and recall, because the pedal itself did not have the kind of safety feature in the way its position was read (*) that the S-Type does have.

(*) essentially two overlapping potentiometers with different scales / transfer functions IIRC

Yes, in other cases the driver was at fault. Not in these.

The brakes were also actually faulty. Maybe some legal cases failed in your country but either different issue or similar in kind to the above - maybe no way to blame the car maker when the case was tried. I don't know the ins and outs of the specific legal cases in your country. We hardly ever issue recalls (i.e. nothing like as often as we should, or indeed as your country does); these weren't done lightly.

 

Sorry to chop down your post in the quote, but would really like to talk about this in another thread in the "off topic" section..I will start it.. So I shrunk it only for space, not to diminish content.

No, I am not being sarcastic. This stuff really interests me..I know, I'm strange. It is rare that a discussion can be brought forward across international lines... Man I love this forum!

 

No worries. Just wanted to make people aware that Toyota, for example, are by no means as perfect as some say.