For anyone that has read my New Member Introduction ( Hello From Edmonton, Alberta, Canada - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum ), you will know that my Series 3 daily driver for 15 years met an unfortunate demise in January of this year.

Shortly after that event, I agreed to purchase a 2001 XJR from the same gentleman (and I do not use that term loosely or lightly) from whom I had purchased that Series 3 VDP and one other which I still own.

We arrived in Victoria BC on Sunday afternoon to pick up this very special beast and will be taking a leisurely - although probably not too slow - 1,250 km plus road trip home starting with a ferry ride to and followed by a week in Vancouver. In the meantime, we decided a few photos before she spend time on the road and in the rain would be in order.

The first one is our first view of the car in person as she was bought sight unseen. The others were taken in the underground parking lot of the Fairmont Empress. Over the next week and half, we will see if we can find an angle to photograph her that does not show the car off well but I'm not hopeful we'll find one. We will also try and add some interior photographs from a location with lighting better suited to that as the opportunities arise.

In the meantime, we have been getting our feet wet familiarizing ourselves with her and quickly concluded that it's a good thing the cruise control works flawlessly or this could be a very expensive vehicle to own.

 

What a lovely looking car. As someone from the Blue side of Liverpool, it's the wrong colour for me, but even I have to admit that it looks beautiful in that shade.

Enjoy your trip (even if you don't enjoy the fuel bill)!

 

Took the ferry over from Victoria to Vancouver yesterday afternoon.


Did a few errands this afternoon in the rain thinking that with her ownership history this might be the first time in years this car has experienced rain.

 

Stunning

 

All these x308's are the same ... Still, some stand out gorgeously ... This surely is one of them.
What a beautiful ride you got there!

 

Holy X%&?=)(/&%%¤#### what a lovely car!!!! It is stunning!!! Just WOW!!!

 

Wait a minute….you are going to drive this gorgeous beast in the rain???…

 

No waiting required..

You have been looking at photos of what is now a daily driver. Her predecessor was also a daily driver for 15 years. Living in Edmonton, she is destined to see rain, sleet and snow and for half the year she will wear a spare set of Asteroids shod with dedicated snow tires. She will also experience temperature peaking at both plus and minus 40C.

She will, however, also be garage kept and pampered and she will bring much joy to her driver, her passengers and all who lay eyes on her. And throughout it all, she won't be tasked with performing anything she wasn't designed for and built for and capable of performing with pace and grace. The only thing these gorgeous beasts weren't designed and built for is to be parked in storage.

Of course I think you already knew that...

 

Collecting some pleasant memories on the way home to help get through the long cold winter days to come...

 

After a week relaxing in Vancouver, it was time to start the trek home, starting of course with what ill be a popular place for the owner's XJR if not the owner's wallet.

From there it was off to Kamloops:

In addition to 340 km (211 miles) as the crow flies. elevations started at sea level and peaked at 1,244 metres (4,080 feet) above sea level.

We covered those 340 km at an average of 103 kph at 11.1 l/100 km (211 miles at an average of 62 mph at 25.3 m/gallon). For the most part, cruise control was set at 10 kph over the posted limits (which were as high as 120) but the XJR quickly and effortlessly reached 160 kph when not wanting to spend time beside a couple of semis and a travel van or when wanting to put some distance between the back bumper and the occasional pick-up that wanted to show how close he could follow. She is clearly more than just another pretty face as she is equally adept at keeping driver and passenger comfortable - grace, space and pace personified.

The XJR is currently resting in a parking stall that is highly visible from the hotel lobby and the corridor from the hotel to the adjacent restaurant. as anxious for tomorrow's leg to Jasper as we are.


From the lobby vestibule.


From the corridor.

 

Enjoy the ride and trip!

 

The second leg of the trek home was from Kamloops to Jasper. By the end of this leg, we had covered a cumulative 792 km at an average of 90 kph at 11.2 l/100 km (492 miles at an average of 56 mph at 25.1 m/gallon. The slightly slower pace was a result of considerable construction delays, all of which where traversed at no more than the posted construction limits, typically 70 kph but often as low as 50 kph:



With the construction delays, this leg warranted a quick coffee break at Valemount which is the heart of snow-mobile country (amongst other things).


We crossed from British Columbia into Alberta just before 3:00 in the afternoon with the mileage on the XJR now reading 97,422 km:


Not long afterwards, we turned off Highway 16 for a couple of nights at the Jasper Park Lodge. This was one of the welcoming committee just before JPL's gate.



For those that are golfers (we are not), JPL is quite a summer destination (noting that there were two black bears on the course the morning after we arrived):




For those like us looking for a bit more relaxing experience, the lake and its surroundings are quite lovely to walk through or bike or hike around:




After recharging our batteries (the XJR's was fine), it was time to head for home to hopefully watch the Edmonton Oilers win game 7 of their first round series against the Los Angeles Kings (we were not disappointed). This was the third and final leg of the trek home:


This is a typical view coming out of the mountains headed east into the prairies where the views are decidedly less majestic but which can be equally spectacular in their own way:


Not long after leaving JPL, we were once again reminded of how important it is to pay attention to who we're sharing the road with with this fine specimen being clearly intimidated by the leaper even though we were stopped at the time.:


As he made his way past, he continued to eye us directly while keeping an eye on the rest of the herd in front of him which we estimate to have been about 30 in total:



At the of the journey, the XJR had travelled a cumulative and extremely comfortable 1,150 km at an average of 92 kph at 11.0 l/100 km (714 miles at an average of 57 mph at 25.6 m/gallon without a single untoward incident (except as noted below) and her odometer now registers 97,832 km. Here she is inspecting her new home:


Here she is settling in to her new home:


and here she is proudly displaying her only battle scar from the entire trip (a lost leaper from the left front wing that is now making itself at home somewhere between Kamloops and Valemount where we first noticed it missing). Given this cat doesn't otherwise mark her territory and didn't consume even a single litre of oil since being picked up who can blame her?

 

For some reason I neglected to include this one in my last post:


And, for the record, I did not take this photo, my passenger did.

Also for the record, this is the same passenger who - for the first time in 50 years of assorted automobile ownership that includes three previous Jaguars - went from saying "don't you think you should slow down" to "are you sure you're going fast enough?"

 

What a fantastic thread!!

That car is a real stunner, the colour is dazzling. What a great car to have as a daily driver!

 

Thanks Chris! We’ve been home for a week now and trying to get caught up on everything from work to the yard to grocery shopping and she is indeed proving herself to be a great car to have as a daily driver.

She got a really quick wash to get rid of the road grime and bugs.

The extra fob was successfully programmed.

Homelink was successfully synced to the garage doors (Homelink’s instructions on line were more successful than Jaguar’s sequence in the Owner’s Manual as they were specific to our garage opener - the generic instructions didn’t pair).

She passed her “Out of Province” mechanical inspection with flying colours and is now registered in Alberta. Got a chance to take some not very good photos while she was on the lift:

















There’s a pair of rear bushings that will need replacing in the medium but not immediate future and one of the power steering lines is starting to seep a bit (likely from the crimp at the end and not the hose itself which still looks decent).

We transferred the plate from her predecessor car and successfully ordered an appropriate vanity plate. Those take 4-6 weeks to be delivered so I’ll share it once she’s wearing it;
Alberta doesn’t require a front plate so the VDP plate she carried home has been delivered and the front license plate holder have been removed.



Also not the greatest photo but it shows how much better she looks without the extra tin plate in her face.

The fit between the top of the grill and the front edge of the hood was off a bit so removed the grill on one side and added a spacer at the mounting bracket to being it back into proper alignment.

Like her predecessor, she attracts her share of admiring glances and unsolicited compliments and conversations wherever she happens to be.

Not too bad for week one.

 

Congratulations on getting all that admin licensing stuff sorted out!

Looking good underneath, wonderful condition; car has clearly been looked after. Those spring pans look lovely and solid, as does the rest underneath. If you are so inclined, I might be tempted to give it a coating of something to protect it. Perhaps a splash of Hydrate 80 and a coat of thick rust proofing paint on the key areas.

I wish my Daimler was that tidy, and even more... I wish I could take the front plate off like you have too!

 

There’s something about fluorescent lighting in a parkade…





Took these quickly on the way to a meeting this morning thinking that “I remember when Porsches were quite small”. For that matter I also remember when Mini’s were quite mini.

When I got back, there was a woman and her son taking each other’s picture standing in front of the XJR. We chatted for a few minutes and she couldn’t believe it was 21 years old. She said Jaguars have always been her favourite cars and leapers her favourite hood ornament. I replied “mine too” on both counts. It was similar to a conversation in Home Depot’s parking lot on the weekend that took more time than popping in for the plumbing part I was there for.

Pace, space and grace. Just be prepared to spend the time saved courtesy of pace courteously discussing space and grace with total strangers.

 

Was at a corporate event yesterday evening and returned to see this pretty little Sunbeam Alpine in the parking lot.


Interesting to see the similarity between its wheels and the XJR’s Asteroids.


Also interesting to see some respect shown by those who parked on either side of the XJR.

 

Wow. I would truly like to make that drive in my 06 str. And i do play golf so an extra stay at that locale. Thanks for the stunning write up

 

Glad you enjoyed the narrative so far.

We had some time constraints and there were some road closures on some of the alternate routes but if you do have a chance and you’re a golfer, I would take 1 to Hope; 3 to Osoyoos; 97 to Penticton and Kelowna and then 97 north back to 1; 1 to Lake Louise (and Banff if you want); and then 93 to Jasper.

Alternatively, staying on 3 from Osoyoos to Castlegar and Trail and Cranbrook and then 93 north to Lake Louise and Banff is also pretty spectacular.

You’ll find lots of golf courses at just about every skill level in almost every town but mechanics and parts will be harder to come by (I travel with a full set of hoses and a few select bits and pieces in the Series 3VDP’s).

Along the southern route, there’s also several options to cross down into Idaho and from Spokane it’s a nice run back to either Portland or Seattle.