A post in another thread reminded me that I hadn't told you guys of what happened to me on 6th September.

As I've shared, I don't drive my XJ that much, but on this day, the car had been well-used. We were away with the family attending a christening service just outside Newcastle. Because of the "Great North Run", the nearest my wife could get us a hotel was in Penrith, which is some 60 miles away, the other side of a fairly serious ridge of hills called the Pennines. The single road from Penrith to Newcastle has been voted the 4th best driving road in the UK, so it wasn't much of a drama.

I very much enjoyed the drive across to Newcastle. There were many opportunities to deploy the car's performance with sparse traffic and clear sight lines.

The christening was a fun event enjoyed by all. And for the return journey to Edinburgh (some 210 miles) one could take the lightly-trafficked, twisty A68, or the longer but smoother A1. I opted for the A1. Even so, the SuperSport's immense torque meant that I was able to get up the road safely but at a reasonable clip.

I went to bed tired, but having enjoyed the day's drive.

Cut to 4AM on the Monday. Doorbell goes. Police car outside.

"Are you Mr Guthrie?" (eek!)
"Yes"
"Do you own a Jaguar XJ?" (ohmygod, what did I get reported for???)
"Yes"
"Well, obviously it's been stolen then..."

Not only was the Jaguar not on the driveway any more, but neither was my wife's Mercedes A250. A broken window frame in the conservatory told its own story.

Cutting a reasonably long story short, we were able to recover the Jaguar. The police thought they knew where it was, and I was able to confirm its location through the tracker. My wife's car had been left just a few metres from the house, but its key was found inside the Jaguar, so the thieves obviously intended to come back for it.

The Jaguar had been used as transport for a number of other burglaries. Around 5 or so. According to its journey log, it had been all over the city, sometimes at great speed. Probably what saved it was the 280 miles I'd done the previous day, so it didn't have much fuel in it. Most of the stolen goods were still in the car when the police recovered it. I probably shouldn't say too much more about that.

The car was remarkably undamaged. Some interior trim had been broken off, and the leather on the steering wheel had been damaged. Externally, a weird mark on the boot, and it had been fairly significantly kerbed on all four wheels.

Everything was repaired by the insurance, including four new 20" Mataivia wheels and tyres. It took 7 weeks, which I was starting to get annoyed about. But I have my car back, and I think it's fairly remarkable that the car hadn't been comprehensively smashed up.

But it's made me think. I've been so fixated on looking after the car that I've not really spent much time enjoying it. I need to get out more. Do big road trips. Get up before dawn for a thrash just for the sake of it. It was why I did doughnuts in the snow on the way home from picking the children up from one of their inevitable evening activities.

We have great cars. We owe it to ourselves to enjoy them, rather than being frightened of spare parts and fuel bills.

 

As a postscript to the above, listening to the second police officer interviewing my wife about her Mercedes was hilarious. For at least three of the questions she had to say "You'll have to ask my husband."

 

Quite a story, and it worked out surprisingly well in the end Giles.
Enjoy driving the car now.

 

crazy story

 

So the SuperSport is so quick and agile that the robbing crew was able to accomplish more than 5 burglaries in 4 or 5 hours. A true test of the Jags superiority So glad you got your Cat back and she is in good condition and ready enjoy.

 

Only two hours!

(Fortunately, the 02:06 start for the car meant I didn't have to share the preceding day's journey logs )

 

Wow, crazy story, man, but happy that it all worked out in the end and you got your Cat back. I don't know what I would do if I had to come out to a parking lot or home and find my car missing...would go nuts!


Btw, the journey logs you referring to, was that taken from the built-in Nav system?

 

is this logack?

factory?

 

Yeah, similar idea to LoJack, but a different product.

Cost about £300 to install, then £120 per annum, although if you buy years in advance, you can bring the cost down considerably.

But it got me my car back, so I owe them big!