Traction Inc.

To Drive or Not To Drive: Jaguar
My thoughts on the Jaguar Alive Driving Experience

The XJ, Jaguar’s flagship model, is simply a beautiful automobile. From the design, the materials choices, the fit and finish, the artistic use of wood and leather and polished metal – the feeling of luxury in the cockpit of the XJ surpasses the new BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S Class. While the XJ manages to feel both modern and classic, the German’s interior aesthetic is more austere, the controls overly-complicated, and technology seems over-emphasized.

The XF, however, is a harder car to sell. It’s hard to tell whether this Jaguar is competing against the 3 or 5 Series BMW, or the C or E Class Mercedes, but the fact is it just doesn’t outmatch any of them. Although the fit and finish is nice, the interior is comfortable, and the powertranes are solid (particularly that supercharged V8!), it’s just not very special. The XF is a competent car, sure, but I didn’t get the feeling that it was really a contender.

The XK coupe is an order of magnitude better to drive than the previous generation. Particularly in R trim with the supercharged V8, it is a fantastic automobile – beautiful, comfortable, focused and pleasing to drive. The XK offers nearly the experience of an Aston Martin Vantage, at 2/3 the price. It’s everything you would want a grand touring car to be.

The top of the line, 550 horsepower XKR-S is joy to drive, and drive hard. The aero-influenced styling may be a bit overwrought—not as clean as you might expect from Jaguar, maybe a bit too Boy Racer—but what an exciting car when behind the wheel. The engine is enormously capable, and the roar from the exhaust reminds me of an AMG Black Series. But at $125,000, you would really have to be a devotee of the marque to purchase one over its competition. Cars like the Audi R8, Aston Vantage or Porsche 911 Turbo that are even faster, or more dramatic, or carry more cachet.

Is a Jag for me? Not really, at least not until my kids are out of the house. But I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend one.

» Traction Inc.: Remember when BMW's were the Ultimate *Driving* Machine?

that911:

BMW isn’t the company they were 10 years ago.  BMW used to build cars that lasted forever.  Now they build cars with planned obsolescence.  I loved the cars BMW used to make.  I can tell you that I will not be buying made by BMW after the e38, e39, and e46. 

I have a friend that’s a BMW mechanic, and he says the same thing.  But BMW isn’t alone. Compare any new Porsche with what was in their showrooms a decade and a half ago—it’s like an entirely different company.  Even Ferrari has been completely transformed.

(Source: gearheadsandmonkeywrenches)

“I think that the E46 M3 will be remembered as one of the great performance cars. Of the top 50 performance cars of the past 50 years, the E46 may be the most complete package of all.”

“I think that the move toward technology in cars is going to mean that cars having celebrated not having technology in the past will become more collectable… I think that an M3 with a manual gearbox will be worth twice an SMG car.”

— Chris Harris, Is Technology Making Cars Worse?

“Thanks to lawmakers, overprotective parents, and insurance companies, manufacturers are forced to dilute the cars that they build. Modern sports cars and sport sedans have evolved to the point where they simply mimic the feeling of being on the edge without really getting anywhere near it.

“This is why I find the used car market such an important aspect of our driving culture. We can’t stop carmakers from building machines that do our work for us, but we can make the choice to drive more basic cars. We don’t need dual-clutch transmissions to go .01 second faster per lap, nor do we need three versions of traction control. Eyes, hands, butt, feet. Those are our controls. That’s our stability program.

“We need to focus on simple, cheap fun, fun that brings us to the root of what driving is all about — living on the edge. Return to the basics. Go buy your Mazda Miatas, your BMW E30s, and your shifter karts. Focus on what matters, and most importantly, get your children involved too. Build their foundation for a future of safe driving. Technology will continue to evolve, but where cars are concerned, if it doesn’t serve our purpose, we don’t have to accept it. Do not become dependent.”

- J.F. Musial, jalopnick

“The possibility that a vehicle could go from idling at a traffic light to terrific, uncalled-for and uncontrollable acceleration because the guy next to you at a traffic light answered his cellphone? Not in the least bit likely. Toyota deserves a better deal than the media and Congress are giving it.” – Mike Allen, Popular Mechanics

“Personally, I’d like to see some Congressmen forced to testify before a panel of car dealers about the budget deficit’s Sudden Acceleration Problem.” – Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit

“We took the Panamera over the same stretch of road, as fast as we could, that we had driven an Aston Martin DBS, a Mercedes SLS AMG, a Cadillac CTS, and a 700-horsepower Shelby Mustang, and the Panamera was the fastest and most composed of them all. There wasn’t even a hint of doubt. It might be much heavier, wider, longer, bigger than a 911, but you drive it like a 911 and it doesn’t appear to know that it’s not a 911. In fact, in all the time we drove it we could not find one way in which it wasn’t a Porsche. Not until we looked in the rearview mirror, or got out of the car, did we get back to, ‘Oh yeah, it’s a Panamera.’” – Jonathon Ramsey for Luxist

“BMW’s new ‘Joy’ television campaign shows any number of Shiny Happy people enjoying their various BMWs in all kinds of sunny, enjoyable ways.  The commercials are fine on the surface, because there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the word ‘joy,’ right? How could a genuine expression of happiness be bad? Especially when it’s brought to you by such a fine automobile?

“The problem is the fact that this commercial could have been done by any other brand. It could be a Kia spot. Or Hyundai. Or Volvo. Or Chevrolet. Or even Honda.

“With this spot BMW is walking away from one of the most memorable and accurately descriptive advertising themes in automotive history (The Ultimate Driving Machine) and expecting to blissfully escape any lasting repercussions or long-term effects.

“Ask Mercedes-Benz. They walked away from ‘Engineered like no other car in the World’ - literally and spiritually - years and years ago, and they’ve been desperate to reclaim its power and imagery ever since. And short of adopting that theme again and living up to it in every respect, guess what? They’ll never get it back.”

- Peter De Lorenzo, The Autoextremist

gearsandmonkeys:

I can do limited maintenance (brakes, fluids, some suspension stuff), and I prefer rear or AWD. That’s what led me in the Subaru/Bimmer direction, but I will also look at the A4 Avant. What are your yearly costs to maintain the BMW? I have an acquaintance who is a BMW mechanic, and he works for 35 an hour + a case of beer, so there might be something there.

That’s similar to the hook-ups I have.  At the end of a year we’ve averaged maybe $100 a month on consumables, parts & labor - pretty typical in my experience.  Online vendors save me 50% over dealer prices on parts and doing basic maintenance myself cuts down on the incidental expenses.  Online forums local clubs are very active and great resources for DIY help.

Common fault areas for E39’s & E46’s are the cooling system (plastic water pump and radiator tanks eventually fail, upgrades are common) and electronics (sensors, window regulators, luxury accessories).  Most are easy to repair when the time comes, but can be costly if paying dealer parts & labor rates.

I was a valet during college and have driven nearly everything.  For the enthusiast, used BMW’s make among the most entertaining sport sedans out there.  I’m a believer - five of my last eight cars have been BMW’s (the others were a pair of Miata’s and my wife’s VW).  All of our three-series cars have seen track time and autocrosses over the years.

I should know better than to wait until late afternoon to work on the cars in the driveway. By early evening the gnats and mosquitoes are swarming and then there is always the inevitable pressure to get everything finished and cleaned up before the daylight fades.

I changed the brakes on all four corners of the 530i in under two hours Saturday afternoon - an improvement for me, and pretty good considering I had no power tools, a compact jack and only two jack stands.

This evening I spent a good half hour on my back trying to put synthetic transmission fluid in the M3. Cursing the fire ants which kept biting me, I slid under the car on my back for the tenth time and snagged my forehead on an exposed bolt. Who doesn’t need a bleeding head wound, right?

Now that the tools are put away, I mentioned my wife that maybe I should start budgeting for a hydraulic lift and nice set of air tools. “Dream On,” she says.

Damn my back hurts. And the bandage on my forehead looks ridiculous.

loudpop: 1953 Siata 208CS Stabilimenti Farina Spyder, via flickr

My dad had a 1950’s Siata coupe which he struggled to keep running on a sailor’s salary during the early 70’s. He sold it, and the rest of his dog-eared European sports car collection, to cover the hospital bills when I was born. He still reminisces about the beautiful lines of a car I never got to see, but never mentions regretting swapping a single man’s life of sports cars and club racing for domesticity and kids. But from time to time as I ponder my own regrets, I wonder of his.