Hi,

Here is my car:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...hp?albumid=479

I have had her for 5 years, I love the car but it has cost me serious $$ to keep her. I am planning on keeping her for many more years to come.

 

Nice (I am biased as I have a '00 XJR in the same colour combo)

God bless America that a 17 y.o. can insure and run a Jaguar ! This would basically have been impossible in the UK where you needed to have something less than 1.0 litre until you were 25 !

I've noticed the LWB car is very sensitive to colour..... some colours, especially white make it look really, really long, but your platinum seems to play down the stretch. I love the rear picnic tables and the extra room. I get constant complaints from anyone travelling in the rear of mine that they thought a Jag would be a lot more spacious

 

That is a gorgeous car. I'm curious about the wheels. Where did you get them ?

 

Thanks for the compliment!.....Driving in the car crazy America is much cheaper than the UK. Our inspections vs. MOT is a joke!.....as long as the check engine light is off, you almost pass the inspection. I wish repairs were cheaper.


The LWB is def. very sensitive to color. I notice dark exterior colors with dark tinted windows can make the car look too long and somewhat older looking. The chrome around the windows in my opinion clash too much with dark tinted windows. I also think the light interior color of your XJR and my VDP allows the interior to compliment the exterior, as the inside of the car seems to be more visible from the outside than many cars (ex. X350 XJ8)

I just found this forum and am a converter from jag-lovers. I got fed up with the conversations on jag-lovers that constantly got off topic and weren't always relevant to Jags. Detailed mechanical questions appear to be answered very often on this forum.

 

Thanks for the compliment!....I got the rims off ebay from a '01 XJR. I searched forever to find these rims for a good price. I found them for $595 for all 4 and bought them within mins of finding them. They were a nice upgrade to my factory rims (which were the 'crown' style rims from the '98-'00 VDP). The steering got more a direct feeling with more good road feel. The handling got sharper and the steering got somewhat heavier (both great improvements). I personally like the improvement in the ride. The VDP with stock rims felt too floaty and soft to me. Now the car is still very smooth but feels better. However, now that my bushings are very worn, my tires are beginning tramline more and more. My bushings were worn substantially when my car was shipped about 2000miles and the car was chained down on the truck.


I have autocrossed this car on the factory rims which was fun but not pretty as the Pirelli P6 tires were horrible. I would like to try again on these wheels.

 

NICE ride - I do think a mesh lower grille would add a lot to the front-end look - agree about the window tint/chrome issue. Also agree jag-lovers has degenerated to a few posters exchanging what they they regard as clever reparte'.....
oh yeah - WELCOME!
________

 

I too am 22 and own a 01 XJ Sovereign (Britain's Vanden Plas) which I've owned since Feb this year. I have insured it with one of Britains leading companies for less than it would cost to insure a new Fiesta or similar. My insurance is fully comp, and I have 5 years no claims bonus. I was made up when I got the quote because the XJ is my dream machine, and to be able to own one so soon is great! I love my XJ and I'll love it even more when I get the LPG conversion done! I'm pleased to learn there is another "Young Jag Driver" in the world, as I often have people telling me they're old men's cars but I don't agree! I hope she gives you many more years fun, I know mine will! By the way Mines a boy and is called Felix, though it was my girlfriend who chose his gender and name! Good Luck My Friend! S.

 

Always interesting to see young people in these kind of cars, refreshing really.

Car looks great, very classy.

I think the X308 is one of the few cars that can get away with a lot of different paint colours, and tends to look longer in lighter shades due to the low-slung shape. So it looks good in that colour, but it also pulls off black very well.

 

Yes, alot of people say it's a old man's car, but they are just jealous, haha. The car gets ALOT of compliments from pedestrians (I drive with my windows down.) It seems that women comment on the car the most. I'm surprised by the amount of people who know that it is a Jaguar and the model and the amount of people who have no clue what kind of car it is (some think its some sort of rolls royce). One random guy was jumping up and down yelling "its beautiful ,its so BEAUTIFUL" from about 25 feet away....that was somewhat weird.


I have 245/45/18 Contiental Contiextreme contacts on my car. Has anyone else tired this size? I got slighly narrower tires to reduce tramlining and a slightly thicker side wall to protect the rims from pot holes. The rim/ tire combination gets very close to rubbing however (maybe its my worn suspension that is sagging front and back aka lowered performance suspension...haha. just kidding).

 

I'm pretty happy with the ride on mine as I have CATs Suspension so it does it's upmost to keep me comfortable. Saying that if you're sitting right, you can feel the car stiffen and lower slightly when you press the sport switch! As far as tyres go my wheels are 17 inch Jaguar Celtic ones which are meant to work with the CATs or something, so they offer good handling with the P6000s on.

 

I have always been curious about the ride with the CATS equipped cars. The US cars are a little too softly sprung in my opinion. The Vanden Plas in the USA is equivalent to the Diamler series of XJs in europe as the seats have the same leather design as the Diamler Super v8 (the middle of the seats have folded aka 'wrinkly' leather and the Diamler v8 have fluted leather.) Both the US Vanden Plas and the Diamlers have autolux leather and rear tray tables, lambswool floor mats and alpine sound system. But unfortantely in the USA we don't get alot of the options that Europe has like CATS is only on the Vanden Plas supercharged, and the later XJRs. I also think the 4 seat layout with power rear seats that some Daimlers have is very nice, much nicer than what the US gets. Can you get rear airsuspension in England? Mexico has it standard on the XJs, but the US cant get it at all.

Also it seems that the alarm system in the USA is more basic than in England. I've always wondered why. I think the USA is more dangerous than England?


Do you ever see young people in England with XJs? I saw one 20 something year old driving a 2000+ XJR and had conversation with him at a stop light. My 20 something year old friends get scared in my car and think they are going to break something in my car by just sitting in it...haha..This car is pretty delicate for us young people.I have to baby this car or it will cost me big $$ (I have had TWO transmissions replaced and the secondary tensioners replaced which were about to fail) I only have 89k miles on her. I have only let one friend ever drive my car (too much $$ at stake...lol).

 

As I mentioned earlier in this thred I myself am 22 in Britain. I've never seen another younger person in a XJ though I've seen one or two in X types & S Types. Mostly if younger people go for high end cars here, they swing more towards Ze Germans like the 3 Series BMW or Mercedes & Audis. A lot do go for Lexus though and Volvo seem to be attracting younger buyers. But this is what I've noticed in my local area I can't speak for the rest of Britain.
As for the ride with CATs I can't really fault it. It improves the ride and it adapts to how you drive. Switch to Sport and you may notice the car Hunker down and stiffen up slightly. I think the X350 XJs come with Air Ride but am not sure.

 

In the USA its still a pretty rare sight to see young people in Jags. Audi A4/A5 Mercedes C-class, and BMW 3-series are the most popular for younger high end drivers. Those are pretty nice cars but the Jag XJ is the real jaw dropper. The BMW/Merc/Audi drivers really pay attention to the XJ. It's crazy how little a XJ is worth and still gets this type of respect!

 

Ah yes, many years ago I worked in the UK and the girls in the factory said, "Charles, we can see you driving a Jag and smoking a pipe!" My first Jag was an XJ6-Eexecutive from South Africa in about 1985 - nice car until some meat-pie makers masquerading a mechanics destroyed it

I changed the engine they had destroyed (for an E-type motor) with my left leg in plaster after an accident in a 7-series BMW in 1977. A hard job!

Just bought a '98 XJ-8 - a SMOOTH vehicle, and yes it does turn heads even though 11 years old. A few noises to sort out, but a reat vehicle

Charles
Canterbury
UK

 

My $.02
When I was younger, my body could withstand the vibrations, shocks and general abuse from Mustangs. Then I migrated to "sports" T-birds. Now that I am an old geezer, I still want performance, but as much as I drive, the old skeleton can't tolerate the abuse, so the XJR suits me fine. And, I believe, the more you run one, the better it runs.

 

I'm with you Ross. I never used to think about those bone-jarring muscle cars and sports cars back in the day. Now I enjoy riding in comfort and luxury in my VDP - I guess I must be more of an old geezer than you !

 

I totally understand the thread that is going here. I am thirty and just recently aquired my first jaguar, and I was not prepared for the reaction that it gets from people. It actually made me uncomfortable at first how people I knew responded. I have always before this driven a Cadillac or a Lincoln and no one ever gave them a second look. I get a lot of people who feel the need to comment that it is beautiful but they would never drive such an "old man's car", which I think is excaserbated by the boring color of mine. I also get the "i'm afraid to sit in it" reaction a lot, which seems rediculous(sp) because of how high quality the materials are and how resistant they are to wear. I do have a group of freinds with a "it's just a car, why do you baby it" attitude when I won't let them smoke or drink in it. I don't see many XJ's in my area at all, but the few I do see are usually older women. There are a lot of X types around, mostly assorted age men. There seems to be an oddly high proportion of xjs in my area, all drive by older men alone and all with wire wheels(?)! must have been the local dealer installed them when they were new maybe? Almost no S types. I don't feel that they are old men's cars so much as only certain people have the maturity to appreciate the elegance of the understated design, the high quality materials, and the sophisticated engineering over something more "look at me" flashy like a dodge nitro, a mustang or a hummer.

 

I think Jaguar ownership always tends to be more of a relationship than a simple transaction :-)

I grew up in the UK, and had worked in a garage pumping gas since I was 14. The owner of the garage (who over 10 years became my surrogate father) ran the workshop and did servicing on any type of cars, but specialised in Jaguars. He himself had around 10 Jaguars at any one time in various states of repair, from "parts cars" to show cars. So I grew up around these cars and they made a very big impression on me that never went away. I could never afford a Jaguar while I was in the UK for various reasons, then I emigrated to Singapore in 2000 where I didn't need or have a car. When I decided to move to the US in Jan 2008 I probably spent more time researching the possibility to own a Jaguar than I spent looking for houses !

I arrived in the US on a Thursday, and by Saturday I had bought my XJR. I bought it for cash as I had no credit history. I didn't have a US driving license or a permanent address, so insurance was "interesting" but I was determined and eventually I got it sorted out so I could drive it home from the dealer. It was a foul rainy day and by the time I had driven the 70 miles home the car was filthy but it was the most memorable drive of my life. (Buying the XJS a year or so later was a similar experience, even though the first drive was on 9 cylinders!)

On any day I can go downstairs into the garage and be cheered up just by the sight of them sitting there. I doubt if I would feel that way about any other car (and I've had Mercs, BMs, 300ZX TTs, etc, etc) and I still feel that way even though ownership (particularly with the XJS) has not been trouble free.

I agree about peoples first impressions (old mans cars) and preconceptions (unreliable and expensive to fix) but the more you expose people to the cars, the more the start to "get it". Even non car people like my girlfriend agree that there is something special about the Jags, even to the point where they were both given names :-)

 

I agree with what SARC says about Jaguars and their owners have relationships. I must have run my eye over 6 XJs before I noticed mine in the dealer in Sheffield but there was something abouth that one. There were some issues to begin with that presented themselves but now he runs great! I say he because my Girl says he looks like a boy. When I drove him back home 80 miles it was in deep snow of Febuary, and more fell as I tackled Snake Pass in a car which had been mine for only 3 hours and only driven for 15 mins! But since then its been the best car in the world, ever!
It is greatly comfortable too, because even though I'm only 22 I suffer from Sciatica and the XJ's wonderful comfort and soothing ride helps that, even more so after a day of driving Coaches & Buses!
That said he still has enough grunt to show a couple of Blurts in a Diesel VW Golf that they weren't the fastest on the road tonight! Hee Hee!

 

Old men´s cars i wouldn´t say that

OK i´m 30 right now but i bought my first Jag when i was 23 and i just reasently bought my third one

Check the first 2 ones out here http://www.garaget.org/JaggaChafen

And you can say that they are modified