Well I took possession this morning and drove it from Christchurch to Picton, on the ferry now crossing to Wellington.

OMG...what a ride, so many miles of smiles, just a perfect tourer.

For the first hour left her in drive and just cruised while I got a feel for her.

But then I reached the Kaikoura to Picton stage and into sports and paddles all the way, for those of you who know it will understand just how great those roads are, stunning scenery lots of long straights followed by big sweepers and a handful of tight turns, just awesome...

Felt it get a bit light in the front end on the big sweepers a coupe of times and thought bigger and better feet might have helped the cause.

Anyway heres a few pics of the beast..

Just north of Cheviot, 1st hour of ownership....



Kaikoura Coast road.....


Tucked up in the Interislander ferry for the 3.5 hour trip across the Cook Strait...

 

About to drop our lines and make the 3.5 hour passage...



On the move through the Marlborough Sounds...




Next five hours driving is through the night so thats it for pics for a while...hope you all enjoyed the cruise...

 

Now that I have the registration number, I think I have found your car.

It was originally sold by Vision Auto Sales and was advertised for $59,995 in May 2015. It dropped to $56,995 in Jun 2015 then $53,995 from Aug 2015 and that was the last time I saw it.

I made a note at the time that it was a 2009MY car and I have just checked the VIN in Topix and it is!

 

GREAT THREAD

One of the best things about the forum is reading about Jaguar trips I'll never be able to make myself and seeing the photos.

Graham

 

^ ^ DITTO! ^ ^
I wish we all did this more on the forum!

 

Pleased you enjoyed the journey guys, 15 hours travelling and 500 miles later and I have set up camp at Taupo for the night.

Only talked to two people on my journey today.

Stopping in at a gas station an hour into my journey, attendant says "nice car mate".

Getting out of car once parked in car ferry, deckhand approaches me and says "beautiful car bro".

Been 10 years since someone has complimented my ride so kinda took me by surprise.

 

Thats very cool to know thanks for looking it up.

Yes it was sold by Vision Autos as a grade 4.5 on the 25th August 2015, with 58 K's on the clock and advertised as a 2009 spec.

I only found that out today as the owner gave me the paper trail of records and services since he bought the car and drove it to Christchurch.

He only did 12 k's since he bought it as it sat in his garaged highly polished and was just taken out for Jaguar car club meetings.

I am very happy with the deal, the car is in really nice condition and he even went to the trouble of getting a full service and new tyres for the front the day before I took ownership.

Didn't ask for those extras but he wanted me to have the car in perfect condition with no maintenance required in the immediate future, so he spent 1 K of his own bat.

Nice guy for sure.

The singular fault I can find in the car is the Cig lighter socket does not work which is a problem as I cannot power up my radar detector.

Result,.... pretty sure I got pinged with speed camera while giving her the message a couple of miles south of Waiouru.

 

Isn't there an additional socket in the glove compartment on your MY?



Graham

 

I love NZ roads, and wish I could bring the 75 over. The nearest I've come to, in terms of the Kiwi driving experience, is Ireland - similarly wide roads and low traffic volumes, though they do have hedges, which means you don't get that "I can line up the next 3 corners" experience. Still, I made good time over there.

These days, with speed cameras, laser guns and mobile radar, 'pressing on' up SH1 through the Desert Road is likely to evaporate your license. It's one of my favourites, along with the Parapara from Whanganui to Ohakune. in the 80s, I once did Wellington to Auckland door-to-door in 6.5 hours - on New Year's Day, when all the traffic cops were in bed after chasing drunks all night. The road has been improved since, especially through the centre of the island and Hamilton to Auckland, but the traffic has increased.

By the way, Graham is right, according to my MY09 user guide - there should be a socket in the glovebox. The fuse for the lighter socket is F9 in the engine compartment fuse box (under the plastic cover in the engine bay, LH side)

 

Checked fuse 9 this morning, 15 amp and its blown, awesome thankyou.

Was happy that all the screw clips were there on all the underhood panels , something I looked for when looking for a loved a car , bugger..fumbled and dropped one where I think its landed on the bottom engine cover...no chance retrieving it I reckon.

I was surprised how little traffic I encountered over the journey, I guess the summer tourist traffic is gone now so very few rental cars and camper vans on the road and almost all cars were travelling at a very good speed with great confidence in their cornering so things moved very fast.

Kaikoura was very slow going as there was maybe six separate road works with stop/ go folks working as the rebuild on that coast road is ongoing since the earthquake destroyed the roads, seawalls and rail lines. Really impressive construction project going on down there.

Hehe...the Auckland to Wellington for a milkshake right of passage in the eighties, forgotten about those...6.5 hours is good going, mostly the roads are pretty damn good on SH1, Desert road was tough last night, at altitude visibility was down to 100 mt for a long stretch due to fog, very few cars along the way so quite eerie!!

Who knew mate, thankyou, checked this morning and yes it has that sneaky socket right where you said it would be, and it works, yay!!!

Was this socket an upgrade introduced into the 09 MY?

 

Think they all have it, as my ‘07 (built in ‘06) has it.
Take the belly pan off when you get home, the fastener may still be there.

 

Taupo this morning, 240 km's to get home and rain forecast all the way.

Mist and light rain came down around 10.00 am so my pics are a bit gloomy sorry.

Lake Taupo is the largest lake in NZ and is in fact a dormant caldera, they say when it blows again it will cut NZ in half for a very long time.



The nearby Wairakei geothermal power plant just up the road from the lake, built around 60 years ago it was a world first when built, this pic is just a small section of the plant, it is huge.

 

The mighty Waikato river drains Lake Taupo and enters the sea close enough to my house I can see the river mouth from my top floor

The longest river in NZ at around 400 km's, these pics are taken where it enters the Karapiro lake...

Just 100km's to get home...

 

Cambridge, adjacent to Karapiro is one of my top five favourite towns in NZ, broad leafy streets and a old English feel to the township.

Stopped in for a coffee to go and a leg stretch...

 

Home, felt great to be back on my driveway, car performed flawlessly and I am amazed how clean it still is...still will wash her tomorrow..pouring down here and I am buggered.

I promise this is the last of the pics of the same car over and over....

 

Final note...heres the journey undertaken...

 

That's exactly what I was thinking as I caught up on your posts this morning.

Graham

 

Wow, thanks for sharing this adventure with us! The pix all give context to the story.

 

Great and thanks for the ride. Welcome and enjoy.

 

Must not be any dust, dirt, or bugs down there! And that’s a pretty cool driveway too!