Edit: In short, it's a 2004 Jaguar XJ8 Sport, in black, if you want to know more, read on.
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So I finally made a decision, it didn’t come quickly though, and I checked out a lot of very different cars, but let me outline all this a bit before I get to the point.
Well for a start I am so very glad I didn't do the dumb-ass thing and buy that Porsche Boxster some time back, that would have been stupid. After my various threads about various cars and me hankering after a convertible etc I have actually done something possibly slightly unexpected. I guess that depends how well you know me though I suppose. I did not buy a convertible, I could not find a decent E39 540i, I think I'm just going to give up on that endeavour, I looked at 2 that seemed ok from the advert, none of them were particularly good though, none of them screamed buy me, quite the opposite actually.
I looked at a Volvo S60R for the hell of it, quite liked it actually, but didn't really do it for me. I looked at an E38 BMW 740il, that was a very nice car, I really liked that, but, I didn't want a lwb version and it was over priced anyway. Nice car though, great engine, great looks, handles surprisingly well too for such a large car.
I looked at a Jaguar S Type R, Jesus H Christ with knobs on, it went like a bullet, just a mountain of power and torque with a car bolted to it
..but, I decided that I just couldn't come around to how it looks, I don't like the front, the back is not offensive but it's very anonymous. Also, I felt that jumping from a 3.0 V6 with 220-240 odd bhp to a 400bhp 4.2 V8, while having it's plus points, would leave me with nowhere to go in a couple of years time when I inevitably want a change again. So I left the S Type.
This then got me seriously looking at what else Jaguar has to offer, I've always liked Jags, I remember when I first saw the X350 XJ when it launched in 2003, I thought at the time that I would rather have it than a 7 series or an S class, beautiful car, with a beautiful interior.
So I brace myself and turn to auto trader/pistonheads. What do I find, much to my surprise I can actually afford a 2003/2004 example, nice ones too, one owner fsh examples. So I start looking. Actually looked at 5 in total.
I didn't bother seriously considering the XJR as that would have pushed my budget a bit and I wanted to stick to it, but I did drive one (of course), also, what I said earlier about leaving me nowhere to upgrade to turned me away from this awsome car, in a few years I might well have one, but not just now, I could, but I want to start with an NA V8, besides as much as I love the R Jags, I do find the super-charger whine a bit irritating at times, and there is nothing you can do about that, except maybe put a really obnoxious exhaust on it to drown it out with V8 thunder ...there's a thought. At this point I was pretty sure I wanted the big Jag though, just in a more modest spec than an R.
Anyway, I then drove an XJ8 4.2 V8 SE, an XJ6 3.0 V6 Sport and thought, hell I want the V8, I'm sure about that. But, I'm not really a fan of all the chrome you get on the SE and I don't like the SE radiator grill, the sport on the other hand without all the chrome and with a different grill and usually nicer wheels looks fantastic to me. Could I find a 4.2 V8 Sport, in budget, in the right colour (I wanted black or green, black is my 1st choice though with cream leather, sat nav and phone) and I wasn't prepared to compromise and buy a red one or a silver one with black leather or not have satnav etc, I've been down this road before and it always annoys me in the end.
I was sure of one thing at this point though, I really wanted an XJ8, I loved driving one, I loved looking at them, I loved simply sitting in them and it just all felt so special and I dunno, just 'right' I suppose. Reminded me of 6 years ago when I was sitting in one at the Birmingham Motorshow and thought, wow, you've nailed it this time Jaguar.
Anyway, on the saga goes, I initially dismissed the 3.5 V8 version of the car which I had seen quite a few of in budget, including Sport versions, simply because it wasn't the 4.2 and wasn't nearly 300bhp, but 262bhp with 254lb/s of torque. However, the car being aluminium only weighs 1615kg with the 3.5V8, this is very light for a car of it's size and I know plenty of other stuff of similar weight in the smaller executive class are usually hauled around by V6's, indeed the 3.0 V6 in the Jag was actually very good, not exactly a rocket ship but it was fine to be fair.
So as luck would have it the day before yesterday a 2004 black Jaguar XJ8 3.5V8 Sport appears quite close to where I live, with all the right spec, minus Xenons, but I'm not overly fussed about those, I'd like them but I wouldn't not buy a good car because it didn't have them. And I thought, why not go and have a look at it, I'd not driven the 3.5V8 at this stage and wasn't expecting to like it after driving the 4.2V8, but I had nothing to lose and an after to kill yesterday.
Anyway, I really liked the car and the engine was very nice, much nicer than the V6, it made the right V8 noises and while I wouldn't say the car is hugely faster than with the 3.0 V6 once it's moving you certainly do notice the torque differance, it's much more effortless and unless you really nail it there isn't a whole lot between the 3.5 and the 4.2V8. The V8 was better than the V6 in every way except fuel economy (as you would expect really), indeed the main criticism of the 3.5V8 is that it's not massively faster than the V6 but it has the economy of the 4.2V8, much like BMW's 3.5V8 from a few years back compared to the 4.4 I suppose. It is faster though, you do notice it, it's just not night and day, it's got more oomph and you can feel it all the time, not to mention it's smoother and more refined. The engine suits the nature of the car better than a V6 in my opinion, very, very smooth but able to bite when you want.
I suspect I have rambled on for too long now and I should just come out with it, I put a deposit down for it from a main dealers
..got £5,300 for my ST220, so I've taken a fair loss on that, they initially offered me £5k for it, which I wasn't prepared to take, I was prepared to deal at £5.5k but after much haggling, which I'm rubish at and do not like doing, I managed to get them upto £5,300 so I shook his hand at that. I get a years tax, a full service done as it's due in about 5k miles anyway. Incidentally it's a 75,000 mile 1 owner from new car with a FSH, and it's great, every service at a main dealer and done on time, has a full set of damn near brand new Pirelli tyres on it too, no Ling-longs thankfully and of course drive beautifully. The gearbox is so smooth you don't even know it's changing gear, smooth as silk.
It wafts better than a 7 series, but it's still a lot of fun to drive, more than I expected in all honesty, the aluminium really helps with it's agility, it's lack of weight, quick steering and adaptive suspension actually endow it with driving dyanmics you would expect to find on a much smaller car. I knew this before I drove it, but too actually feel it is quite something, it did take me a bit by surprise, it doesn't feel at all boat like.
So, the black beauty will be mine next Friday, it's as I said, a Sport, with 18" alloys that have been fully refurbed actually so they look lovely, barely leather interior which is a few shades lighter than cream really, not white though, very nice anyway. With satnav, phone, parking sensors (only rear though) and electric everything, with wood and cow and carpet everywhere ...just beautiful. It also has the premium Alpine sound system, cruise, climate, auto lights/wipers etc, all the stuff you would expect to find on such a car really.
I am so exited this time (not nervous and feeling sick like I was about the Boxster) ...I'm buying it outright so no finance, I'm sticking to that hard and fast now. I don't like having taken a £1400 loss on the ST for the pleasure of 3 months driving, but it's down to a series of decisions I made, I can't get passed the fact that I am not 100% happy with the ST, as much as I like it, it's just not quite what I want if I'm honest, which I have said before several times. So I've raided my savings for the last time for a good while and moved upmarket.
I know full well that it wont be a cheap car to look after, but then again I haven't had a cheap to run car in years, if I was too bothered about that I wouldn't even have contemplated most of the cars I have talked about here, it's more than the ST220, bit more than the 330CI I had before I should think, but hardly a massive difference from what I can see, I've done a lot of reading on some good Jaguar forums anyway, so I've gone in with my eyes open.
All in all I feel it’s much more me than some of the radical (for me) ideas I’ve been spinning about the last few months, I’ve always liked big powerful saloon cars and grand tourers more than I have out and out sports cars. I like Muscle cars too, that’s no secret but for driving around Europe, most of it just plain boring motorway driving I’m not sure a manual muscle car is the right choice just now, as much as the idea makes me giggle like an 8 year old after too much Coke-a-Cola. I feel good about this one, very good.
When I started this I didn't see myself actually buying a car in the XJ/7 series class to be honest, I've always stopped at the 5 series S type before, but after actually looking and driving some, I preferred the next step up, better value for money too.
I will post pictures and such when I get the car of course, I just wanted to tell someone now ...I'm sure this decision will be dissected and questioned as usual, but feel free, go ahead. I'm quite sure I've done the right thing this time. Ok so the truly sensible thing would be to not buy anything and stick with the ST220 for 2 years, but, that's not going to work for me, once I had decided I wanted to change it and I wasn't happy, I wasn't going to rest until I had done something about it.
Also, after switching between auto and manual, I can honestly say that 75% of the time I do prefer an auto, no doubt the manual is better when I'm really driving just for the joy of driving, but I can't have it all. The gearbox in the ST is very good though, slick and precise and a joy to use.
/braces self for the onslaught.
Also, no Mercedes were included in this endevour, other than the old R129 SL, I do not care for them at all. I know I could have bought the SL, but I'd only run short of space if I did, I suppose it would have been fine 85-90% of the time, but there is still the 15-10%. Also, they are a bit old now really.
-----------------
So I finally made a decision, it didn’t come quickly though, and I checked out a lot of very different cars, but let me outline all this a bit before I get to the point.
Well for a start I am so very glad I didn't do the dumb-ass thing and buy that Porsche Boxster some time back, that would have been stupid. After my various threads about various cars and me hankering after a convertible etc I have actually done something possibly slightly unexpected. I guess that depends how well you know me though I suppose. I did not buy a convertible, I could not find a decent E39 540i, I think I'm just going to give up on that endeavour, I looked at 2 that seemed ok from the advert, none of them were particularly good though, none of them screamed buy me, quite the opposite actually.
I looked at a Volvo S60R for the hell of it, quite liked it actually, but didn't really do it for me. I looked at an E38 BMW 740il, that was a very nice car, I really liked that, but, I didn't want a lwb version and it was over priced anyway. Nice car though, great engine, great looks, handles surprisingly well too for such a large car.
I looked at a Jaguar S Type R, Jesus H Christ with knobs on, it went like a bullet, just a mountain of power and torque with a car bolted to it
..but, I decided that I just couldn't come around to how it looks, I don't like the front, the back is not offensive but it's very anonymous. Also, I felt that jumping from a 3.0 V6 with 220-240 odd bhp to a 400bhp 4.2 V8, while having it's plus points, would leave me with nowhere to go in a couple of years time when I inevitably want a change again. So I left the S Type.This then got me seriously looking at what else Jaguar has to offer, I've always liked Jags, I remember when I first saw the X350 XJ when it launched in 2003, I thought at the time that I would rather have it than a 7 series or an S class, beautiful car, with a beautiful interior.
So I brace myself and turn to auto trader/pistonheads. What do I find, much to my surprise I can actually afford a 2003/2004 example, nice ones too, one owner fsh examples. So I start looking. Actually looked at 5 in total.
I didn't bother seriously considering the XJR as that would have pushed my budget a bit and I wanted to stick to it, but I did drive one (of course), also, what I said earlier about leaving me nowhere to upgrade to turned me away from this awsome car, in a few years I might well have one, but not just now, I could, but I want to start with an NA V8, besides as much as I love the R Jags, I do find the super-charger whine a bit irritating at times, and there is nothing you can do about that, except maybe put a really obnoxious exhaust on it to drown it out with V8 thunder
...there's a thought. At this point I was pretty sure I wanted the big Jag though, just in a more modest spec than an R.Anyway, I then drove an XJ8 4.2 V8 SE, an XJ6 3.0 V6 Sport and thought, hell I want the V8, I'm sure about that. But, I'm not really a fan of all the chrome you get on the SE and I don't like the SE radiator grill, the sport on the other hand without all the chrome and with a different grill and usually nicer wheels looks fantastic to me. Could I find a 4.2 V8 Sport, in budget, in the right colour (I wanted black or green, black is my 1st choice though with cream leather, sat nav and phone) and I wasn't prepared to compromise and buy a red one or a silver one with black leather or not have satnav etc, I've been down this road before and it always annoys me in the end.
I was sure of one thing at this point though, I really wanted an XJ8, I loved driving one, I loved looking at them, I loved simply sitting in them and it just all felt so special and I dunno, just 'right' I suppose. Reminded me of 6 years ago when I was sitting in one at the Birmingham Motorshow and thought, wow, you've nailed it this time Jaguar.
Anyway, on the saga goes, I initially dismissed the 3.5 V8 version of the car which I had seen quite a few of in budget, including Sport versions, simply because it wasn't the 4.2 and wasn't nearly 300bhp, but 262bhp with 254lb/s of torque. However, the car being aluminium only weighs 1615kg with the 3.5V8, this is very light for a car of it's size and I know plenty of other stuff of similar weight in the smaller executive class are usually hauled around by V6's, indeed the 3.0 V6 in the Jag was actually very good, not exactly a rocket ship but it was fine to be fair.
So as luck would have it the day before yesterday a 2004 black Jaguar XJ8 3.5V8 Sport appears quite close to where I live, with all the right spec, minus Xenons, but I'm not overly fussed about those, I'd like them but I wouldn't not buy a good car because it didn't have them. And I thought, why not go and have a look at it, I'd not driven the 3.5V8 at this stage and wasn't expecting to like it after driving the 4.2V8, but I had nothing to lose and an after to kill yesterday.
Anyway, I really liked the car and the engine was very nice, much nicer than the V6, it made the right V8 noises and while I wouldn't say the car is hugely faster than with the 3.0 V6 once it's moving you certainly do notice the torque differance, it's much more effortless and unless you really nail it there isn't a whole lot between the 3.5 and the 4.2V8. The V8 was better than the V6 in every way except fuel economy (as you would expect really), indeed the main criticism of the 3.5V8 is that it's not massively faster than the V6 but it has the economy of the 4.2V8, much like BMW's 3.5V8 from a few years back compared to the 4.4 I suppose. It is faster though, you do notice it, it's just not night and day, it's got more oomph and you can feel it all the time, not to mention it's smoother and more refined. The engine suits the nature of the car better than a V6 in my opinion, very, very smooth but able to bite when you want.
I suspect I have rambled on for too long now and I should just come out with it, I put a deposit down for it from a main dealers
..got £5,300 for my ST220, so I've taken a fair loss on that, they initially offered me £5k for it, which I wasn't prepared to take, I was prepared to deal at £5.5k but after much haggling, which I'm rubish at and do not like doing, I managed to get them upto £5,300 so I shook his hand at that. I get a years tax, a full service done as it's due in about 5k miles anyway. Incidentally it's a 75,000 mile 1 owner from new car with a FSH, and it's great, every service at a main dealer and done on time, has a full set of damn near brand new Pirelli tyres on it too, no Ling-longs thankfully and of course drive beautifully. The gearbox is so smooth you don't even know it's changing gear, smooth as silk.It wafts better than a 7 series, but it's still a lot of fun to drive, more than I expected in all honesty, the aluminium really helps with it's agility, it's lack of weight, quick steering and adaptive suspension actually endow it with driving dyanmics you would expect to find on a much smaller car. I knew this before I drove it, but too actually feel it is quite something, it did take me a bit by surprise, it doesn't feel at all boat like.
So, the black beauty will be mine next Friday, it's as I said, a Sport, with 18" alloys that have been fully refurbed actually so they look lovely, barely leather interior which is a few shades lighter than cream really, not white though, very nice anyway. With satnav, phone, parking sensors (only rear though) and electric everything, with wood and cow and carpet everywhere
...just beautiful. It also has the premium Alpine sound system, cruise, climate, auto lights/wipers etc, all the stuff you would expect to find on such a car really. I am so exited this time (not nervous and feeling sick like I was about the Boxster)
...I'm buying it outright so no finance, I'm sticking to that hard and fast now. I don't like having taken a £1400 loss on the ST for the pleasure of 3 months driving, but it's down to a series of decisions I made, I can't get passed the fact that I am not 100% happy with the ST, as much as I like it, it's just not quite what I want if I'm honest, which I have said before several times. So I've raided my savings for the last time for a good while and moved upmarket.I know full well that it wont be a cheap car to look after, but then again I haven't had a cheap to run car in years, if I was too bothered about that I wouldn't even have contemplated most of the cars I have talked about here, it's more than the ST220, bit more than the 330CI I had before I should think, but hardly a massive difference from what I can see, I've done a lot of reading on some good Jaguar forums anyway, so I've gone in with my eyes open.
All in all I feel it’s much more me than some of the radical (for me) ideas I’ve been spinning about the last few months, I’ve always liked big powerful saloon cars and grand tourers more than I have out and out sports cars. I like Muscle cars too, that’s no secret but for driving around Europe, most of it just plain boring motorway driving I’m not sure a manual muscle car is the right choice just now, as much as the idea makes me giggle like an 8 year old after too much Coke-a-Cola. I feel good about this one, very good.
When I started this I didn't see myself actually buying a car in the XJ/7 series class to be honest, I've always stopped at the 5 series S type before, but after actually looking and driving some, I preferred the next step up, better value for money too.
I will post pictures and such when I get the car of course, I just wanted to tell someone now
...I'm sure this decision will be dissected and questioned as usual, but feel free, go ahead. I'm quite sure I've done the right thing this time. Ok so the truly sensible thing would be to not buy anything and stick with the ST220 for 2 years, but, that's not going to work for me, once I had decided I wanted to change it and I wasn't happy, I wasn't going to rest until I had done something about it.Also, after switching between auto and manual, I can honestly say that 75% of the time I do prefer an auto, no doubt the manual is better when I'm really driving just for the joy of driving, but I can't have it all. The gearbox in the ST is very good though, slick and precise and a joy to use.
/braces self for the onslaught.
Also, no Mercedes were included in this endevour, other than the old R129 SL, I do not care for them at all. I know I could have bought the SL, but I'd only run short of space if I did, I suppose it would have been fine 85-90% of the time, but there is still the 15-10%. Also, they are a bit old now really.
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