One thing is obvious from your post. You missed (charm)-school when they discussed the subject of good-manners in Poland. I thought, in general, Europeans would be more polite ans sensitive towards others.

 

The problem is: physical parts aren't the whole car anymore. For older classics, with enough time and/or money, you can re-create pretty much any part, and as you say, there's a thriving industry servicing that demand. But our cars are software-driven, and that's where my concern lies - history gives us few clues about how those aspects of the car will be maintainable.

In some cases, you can't even swap a control module without the right diagnostic tool to authenticate the replacement part and allow the rest of the car to talk to it. So, that means going to a wrecker for used parts becomes more difficult.

I hope I'm wrong, and that the diagnostic software will end up in the public domain and be easily available to indy specialists and DIY tinkerers. But the impression I get at the moment is that anything that's available via eBay and other 'grey' markets is not fully featured and can be risky to use for some functions.

 

'cuse me, but where does my post say anything bout prostate cancer. Try looking up "Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy".

My father had it. That is where the "my prostate exploded' comment came from. If you read the disease process etiology of BPH you will understand it gets enormous in size.

The comment was directed at the older individuals who buy this car. The first day I drove my car in Oceanside, an elderly man, in his 80's asked me after me and my friends got out of my car, 'How do you like driving your grandads car?"

When I told him it was my car and that I also worked on cars he laughed and said, "Sure you do, It is a lot of car for a girl to drive" . I cant post my reply to him on this site cause I will get banned. Needless to say he should have been more careful before he opened his mouth.

I am glad you beat your cancer and hope you are doing better. The administrator of this site, Jim, is aware, and has been for a long time that my mom has terminal cancer and I am taking care of her.

I dont find any cancer, whether prostate cancer or pancreatic cancer funny. I will say a prayer for you, so that it stays in remission

 

Speaking as a previous G35 Coupe owner for almost 11 years, I can say there certainly is a difference compared to the XK. Fit and finish was probably the weakest link in G35 ownership. Vinyl cracking, door seals disintegrating,dashboard cracking, etc. And then there were rattles. Oh my god were there rattles, a symphony of rattles. In addition, the G35 should not be considered a low maintenance car once it gets on in years. Yes it was a great value for the money, and it did hold it's value as I got almost 40% of it's original MSRP when I sold it a decade later. But I'm a fanatic and the car was literally a museum piece. Engine and transmission (automatic) as well as a/c were absolutely bulletproof. It was a fun car and very fast. But no comparison to the XK in build quality and ride. Both good cars, but the XK is significantly superior. The Infiniti does have the edge in holding it's value, especially the first series Coupes, and of course reliability, but anything is better than Jaguars with their steep depreciation.

 

Depends on the perspective; I've been on both sides of the depreciation issue.

For my $83K sticker-priced, 18-months-from-new 2012 XJL with 14K miles I was recently offered only $47K by 3 different dealerships. Terrible depreciation.

On the other hand, I paid half the sticker price for my 2010 XKR with less than 6K original miles, in like-new condition.

So, one guys loss is an other's gain. Just depends which guy you are...

 

AXR6....I'm 100% in agreement with you. I too just recently purchased my 2010 XK Coupe with only 4,800 miles for about 50% off MSRP. The original owner paid cash for the car. That's some big hit for 3 years of ownership.

 

Car prices in Canada are almost always considerably higher than in the US. So bearing that in mind, my '10 XKR vert listed for $119,500 as equipped. I bought it 2 years old for $84500, and traded it in for $66,000 at an SRT dealer against a car that isn't discounted. He originally offered me $60,000, and I then negotiated it up to the $66000. Another SRT dealer called a Jaguar dealer for a valuation and was only able to offer me $45,000. Even he thought that seemed like a very low price. Would the Jaguar dealer have offered me more if I was trading it into him, and on another Jaguar...I'll never know.


Assuming my XKR could have been bought for a little less than the $119,500 MSRP when new, I still saved over $30,000 (25%) buying it two years old as a Jaguar demo, and incurred a depreciation of just $18,500 (<10% of MSRP) for my two years. The next owner will probably pay about $72,000 for it, with the car having retained 60% of its MSRP value.


While that may not be the norm, it was my experience, and extremely low depreciation on a $120k current model car. While you always have to pay sales tax on top of the purchase price, by trading it in to a dealer on my next car I had to pay tax only on the difference after discount, saving 13% sales tax on the $66,000 trade-in value, or $8,580.


And that reduced my cost of ownership to just under $10k for a little over 2 years. The new car I bought was MSRP $120, 780, and I hope it will do similarly well.

 

A depreciation amount of $18,500 over a 2 year period equates to a cost of $770 per month to own the car. By American standards that is a very high amount. We all know that within the 1st 3 years of Jaguar ownership the depreciation is very high.

Here in the USA, a monthly cost of owning a car amounts to about $300 per month or lower.

If your inital of cost $ 84,500 included the 13% sales tax, then your cost would be lower to about $73,500. If the $84,500 did not include your sales tax the cost ws substanially higher at your sales tax rate. There are allot of ways to calculate the math on a car purchase and "spin" the numbers.

All car buyers need to keep in mind, if a dealer gives you a higher than average trade-in price, they will make up the difference in the new ride.

Car dealers are not in business to lose money. Paying sales tax, registration, license and insurance is all part of owning the car.

 

I've just returned home from the Concourse de Elegance at Amelia Island. Jaguar was one of the sponsors and was giving test drives on some of it's cars. There were 4 F-Types, 3 XFR's and 3 XKR verts. Since I'm an XKR owner I was very interested in what kind of attention the XKR'S were getting. Although it appeared Jaguar reps were clearly interested in promoting the F-Type our cars were getting as much if not more of the attention. The XKR was always being test driven with a waiting line.

It was being held at the Ritz Carlton and was packed. I had to park about a 1/4 of mile away. When I was leaving yesterday I noticed a guy who turned out to be 22 making the 1/4 trek to the event. I had to drive back to the entrance to pick up my friend who didn't want to walk that far! So on the way back I pulled over and asked the guy if he wanted a ride. He was on the phone talking to one of his friends and he stopped looked over and his mouth fell open and screamed yes and jumped in the car while still talking on the phone. He said you won't believe this but this dude just asked me if I wanted a ride and he's driving a JAGUAR XKR! I didn't have to tell him what he was driving in. He knew! He gushed the whole way
back to the entrance. And on a side note when I was checking in to my hotel (The Villas at Amelia Island) the valet parked the car, without me asking, in the VIP section next to an Aston Martin and Ferrari California.

Our cars are real head turners no matter what age you are. Unfortunately most people can't afford them until a little later in life.

 

I always find these discussions about depreciation interesting. There are two different types of people that buy high end cars--those that have to be one of the first to have the latest and greatest, always buy new, and don't care how much they lose on the first few years of depreciation (who do you think buys all the new cars?) and those that don't care about being the first, will never pay the price for new or suffer the depreciation, and wait for a good deal on a used car after someone else takes the big hit, whether they can afford it or not. Unfortunately I fall in the former catagory (yes, it is an affliction) and I always feel that I get a decent deal if I can sell or trade the car after 3 years at 50% of MSRP, which is usually the case (except for a Maserati QP I had that I took a real bath on because it was considered an exotic and I put 12,000 miles a year on it and the market was flooded with really low mileage ones when I went to sell it). Any discount that I can negotiate off MSRP or what I have to pay in sales tax (depending on if or not I have a trade-in) is just over and above that.

I never keep a car more than 3 years and I just consider this the cost of the entertainment that I get from owning these cars--it's still less expensive than boating or flying, bugs that fortunately I've never been bit by! Thank goodness my motorcycle addiction is way less expensive.

 

Don't worry, not all "young professional women" are this way...

 

Wait a minute, you fit friends in the backseat of your XKR? Isn't yours a coupe?

 

That is also a significant point. I nearly bought an XJ-S V12 when I was in my mid-20s, but it was more than I really wanted to pay and I was worried about repair bills (it was a relatively high-mileage pre-HE car).

I think one of the mistakes in the XK was shrinking the back seats to such minuscule proportions. I could get 2, even 3 people into the back of my XJ-S - they wouldn't be comfortable for a long trip, but it was do-able. I've also had two people in the back of my XK8 for short trips across London, and putting one in was no trouble unless the front-seat passenger had particularly long legs. But I wouldn't even think about trying it with the XKR, unless the extra passengers were kids.

Which then begs the question: If it's only really a 2-seater, what's the advantage over an F-Type?

 

silky smooth sexual lust appeal with a smack dab of lingerie madness!!

 

It might be time. Current XK has been in production for 9 years since 2006 (in the UK). Can't wait to see what the new car will be with a more modern interior and newer tech.

 

New tech SHOULD include the upcoming apple system going into alot of cars. There is no timetable for a new XK according to major car sites. If they plan to introduce the XE sedan come 2016 in the US, maybe it is safe to say we are at least looking at summer 2017 before a new XK????

 

Extra carrying capacity. If you compare the F-Type Coupe with the XKR Coupe there is a lot of difference in the amount of stuff you can carry--there is no room behind the seats in the F-Type and the area under the hatch is considerably smaller and less functional than the XKR. Two people can actually go on an extended road trip in an XKR and carry adequate luggage--you can't do that in an F-Type, much less go to the grocery store or do any major shopping for that matter (and unlike the XKR with a spare tire that does not impede in the space, if you opt for a spare tire in the F-Type there is almost no room left). That is why the F-Type Coupe is off my short list for replacing my XKR when the time comes.

 

Originally Posted by Lothar52 View Post
I have mixed feelings... the main feeling I get is... "what now?". Most cars I owned never got cancelled...just a new version. This is sad though to me. I feel like ive lost something... YET... I havent?!? HA!

Ryan:

I would think that most Jaguar XK/XKR/XKR-S owners will feel the same. You are not alone. It is not a good feeling knowing that the models we own will no longer exist. However, Jaguar will do, and needs to do whatever it takes to find the proper market and be profitable on the bottom line.

Car designs and advancements are ever changing, but to many of us all we want is to see is the XK/XKR/XKR-S models survive.
__________________

 

I would feel sadder if it was ending and they probably were never going to replace it. But I feel like this hiatus will be short lived.

Remember the days when people were unsure about whether the Jaguar brand as a whole would continue to exist? Thank goodness those days are over!

 

2013xkr convertible me drving, 1 friend in front and 1 friend in rear. xkr convert holds 3 girls under 135 lbs each with ease