The future is Mr Fusion!

 

I'm not a mechanical engineer. Electric driven cars are certainly the next wave. How long they remain, I don't know. We all know petrol driven cars will be dinosaurs in 25 years. Future energy technologies will develop to replace petrol.

 

I've been looking for one of those. I thought they went back to the future. I think Santa has one.

 

I'm just chiming in here since I don't own a newer generation XK, I hae a 2002 xk8 and 2010 XF, but I can add something to the stock vs value issue. I've modified both of my Jaguars extensively, and been through contemplating selling/trading both over the last few months. As for the XF, I have totally black packed the chrome, added blade drl, among many other things, and when I went to trade for newer XF, they actually offered me 2000.00 over a stock one, and I also listed for owner sale, and was offered 4200.00 over book, but decided to keep at the end of the day. The dealer said usually any modifications don't factor in to the value but in some instances, properly upgrade examples can sell faster and give them more room to negotiate.
As for my XK8, similar experience. I added the arden kit, new paint color, totally custom interior, new wheels, and customized badging, and when I had tried to trade it before I did anything to it, I was offered 7850.00 (it had some issues) I just toyed with trading for a 98 DB7 and they offered me 16500.00. They said they've never seen a XK8 as nice as mine and without my modifications, the said theyed offer around 9000.00. Decided against the DB7 due to maintainance professionals locally or lack ther of!!
So my point is, at least in my experience, this stock thing is over rated. Unless we're talking a true, rare, limited classic. There's just too many jaguars out there since the XKE to really make them super car status. That being said, possibly some of the special editions stand a chance but as for the rest, not so sure.

 

VERY WELL SAiD!!!!!!!!! CHEERS

 

Too bad most people are unaware of it, as you are 100% right.

About 80% of the electricity is still provided by burning fossil fuels. Having all those cars plugged in is only going to cause a significant increase in burning coal etc.

 

Executive,
You are so right, but there is another issue looming that states like Washington, have tried to address. Electric cars don't pay gas taxes! So every other driver is subsidizing an electric vehicle's owner's ability to use the roads. The federal government also takes a big chunk of change out of every gallon of gasoline sold as this represents a large source of revenue (to both the states and the federal government). In California, well over $.40/gallon goes to taxes. You will see state after state as well as the feds pass legislation that adds very steep fees to the registration of electric vehicles to make up for the lost revenue. I believe Washington State has already done so or is considering it now.

Sorry to change the subject of the original thread.

 

The question I have always had since acquiring a 2000 XKR Drophead was this. Was it an idiot at Ford or an idiot at Jaguar that approved the use of cheap fake Ford gauges, plastic engine parts like tensioners, waterpump, "sealed for life" transmission and a rear end it takes 4 hours to top off with no way to drain? $80K Are you kidding? What real car designer would have done these things. Has Tata continued the idiocy?

 

No they haven't...cars are top quality. You might want to consider upgrading to one before collectors snap them all up

 

These cars most have come along way since your 2000 XKR. There is nothing cheap about my 2013 XKR. Without a doubt the best GT made at a fantastic price. A know a member in LA I met has had a long history of Jaguar's and has said repeatedly the current line up is so much better than the pre 2010's. I'd put my 2013 XKR against any BMW, Mercedes, or Audi GT out there. I also have a 2013 SLK 55 AMG and my 2013 XKR is so sweet.

 

Many of these issues can be found on a LOT of cars from that time. The idiot gages were on tons of cars, and plastics were the choice of the day back then. Since, they've upgraded and come up with new options.
Ford saved Jaguar. Simple as that. Without Ford pouring millions into the factories and FINALLY getting some quality control injected into Jaguar, and allowing them to jump light years into technology, they would likely have folded.
And the Current XF, XJ, XK were all designed while still under ford ownership. And the CX16 was also conceived in the last years of ford.
Tata has actually done for jaguar what ford started. It bought when jaguar was in limbo,(due to fords dinancial issues in the states) and pumped $$$$$ into it when it needed it.

 

Ford did put some reliability into Jaguars, but at the same time they held them back - as stated due to Ford's insufficient budget.

Tata has sank more money into Jaguar in the last 3-4 years than Ford did in 10. Which is why Jaguar has been on it's way to prominent future.

And, to address the quality issue every BMW and Merc was filled with plastic 13 years ago.

 

The big difference between Tata & Ford is integration.

Ford tried to improve economies of scale by merging elements of the companies it bought into its existing operations. That meant shared platforms (e.g. the S-Type/Lincoln floorpan), shared components and shared IT processes. While it reduced costs, it forced compromises on design & component quality - there is a tendency in theses circumstances to end up with the lowest common denominator.

Tata appears to have taken a different approach, treating Jaguar Land Rover as an investment into which it puts money and from which it receives profit. It hasn't tried to integrate JLR into its other operations or kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. I'm sure other parts of the Tata group are benefiting from JLR expertise, but Tata did not have an equivalent stable of existing products that could be shoehorned into JLR production.

 

Great responses from everyone and true. My problem is that at my age, I'm still a wood and leather guy who likes simple white on black gauges. Can't stand "carbon fiber" as trim or a car that looks like it should come with a feathered wide brim white hat. The new Jags are appealing to the Gen X and Millennial not me. I paid less than 8 grand for my 2000 XKR because I could not afford $50K-70K for an XKE. It spends it's time running around the country roads near Elkhart Lake, WI, out to Road America for races and into the village for evening dinner and a beer. If I upgraded it would be to an 05 4.2 litre car. Until then I'll do some work on tensioners, real gauge and put on about 1000 miles each summer.
By the way what does a 2013 Tata XKR cost?

 

BTW...have owned about 50 cars now, including BMW, 5 MB, Porches, 4 Audi's and did all my own work. Have never had plastic fail in any of them and never once saw a "Restricted Performance" light on any of them.

 

Base price $97.5k, though I expect there's sales tax on top. It's £79k on this side of the pond - that's $128k, but it includes tax and may be slightly higher spec.

 

If I drove the 13 hours back to Elkhart Lake it would be to track my Tata at Road America for 2-3 days straight and then drive it 13 hours back home. The modern XKR is not only gorgeous, but bullet-proof, which is a good improvement over my XKE.

Bruce

 

Yes. It continues, and in some respects is worse than ever.

My 2008 XKR still has a "sealed for life" tranny with a rear end with no drain plug. It didn't even come with a limited slip diff, which on a car like this is a very unforgiveable cheapskate saving. It has one now though :-) The use of soft clear plastic instead of proper glass on the headlights is also beyond retarded in a suspiciously planned way. After 40k miles of mostly city driving my headlights are already chipped and micro-pitted to hell and surprise surprise you can't just buy a new "glass" separately from Jag you have to buy a whole new headlight assembly to get it, which are around $2500 each.

Tata are apparently continuing down the cheap plastic road too. When I first saw an F-Type, the use of VERY cheap plastic in the interior, especially around the center console lid and rear cubby between the seats stood out immediately and A LOT to me as being totally inappropriate and unacceptable. I'm surprised, no, make that suspicious, that no review I've seen/read of the F-Type EVER mentions it, because it really is that obviously nasty and inappropriate especially for a car so expensive. Honestly my friends $15k Kia has much better quality plastic than the F-Type's rear center cubby especially.

Obviously cheap quality is a key reason I for one wouldn't ever buy an F-Type. I'd always be worried that if they would cheap out so much in highly visible places in the interior, then there must be some REALLY bad stuff going on under the covers where no one can see but it matters more.

 

Don't despair. I had my 20 year old Supra with plastic light covers and more than double you mileage detailed for the first and the lights came up so beautifully I might just have them do it again in another 20 years!

It's also really weird that our members buy and love them...something's definitely not right here!

 

Interesting article on the future of the Jaguar range with a good looking mock up of the XJ saloon plus the new XR (XK replacement).