Opinions on a new-ish Jaguar XJ6

The LeSabre would be the better car - for a normal car buyer. It would also likely involve more commission for him. It's clear he's decided that you're a woman, and therefore need some pushing around.

If he persists, I find that "shut up" is highly effective at making them.... Well, shut up.
 
Went to the dealership today.

The 'salesperson' kept brushing aside my thoughts on how this would be a good car.

And kept trying to sell me a 2000 Buick LeSabre! With 136,000 miles on it! Because it was "the better car for the same money". :blink:


Unfortunately, due to my divorce, where I found out I was...(grr) conveniently held responsible for my ex's debt, my financing options are slim. But not that damn slim!

But, I am now determined to get that Jag, if to just piss off the salesperson if nothing else!


*heads off to wage war on stupid salesperson*

Set him on fire. Those things were 'better' to the degree that most of them are dead. All the classic GM problems.

Meanwhile most of the X300s are still with us. Put it to you this way; I go to junkyards a lot and I see no end of Buick LeSabres - but very, very, very few X300s. Far disproportionate to the relative production numbers.

What word of that X300, anyway?
 
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Thanks! I have it narrowed down to the Jag, a 2001 Audi A6
4dr quattro AWD Auto 2.7L 6-cylinder, or a 2001 BMW 530iA 4dr 3L 6-cylinder automatic.

All under $7,000. But the Jag is cheaper..so, we'll have to see.

If the Audi is the 2.7 twinturbo V6, avoid it. Great engine, but a mechanics nightmare. Also as Spectre said, Audi has a history of bad automatic gearboxes, which is why mine is manual. I would not consider the Audi in this case and this is coming from someone who has one, though not an A6.

I have no idea what sort of service and customer care you get for BMWs that side of the Atlantic, but as a car, E39s made after 9/1998 are among the best cars Germany has ever produced. 9/98 is the critical number, because cars made after that received a mechanical facelift: new and improved VANOS system and many electrical glitches were fixed and never heard from again so on that front of the 5-series I disagree with Spectre and so do most of the BMW enthusiasts.

The E39 5-series had very little faults to begin with, but the most important were ABS sensors, air flow sensors and pixel faults in the dash. Water pumps have also been known to cause trouble. Other than that, not many things go wrong in the E39. Rust is not an issue: if an E39 does have rust, it will be found on the lower edge of the bootlid and behind the fuel filler flap.

Transmissions are not weak like they are in Audis but they do have a rather annoying feature: they can go 200.000 miles without an oil change, not missing a beat. But when you do change the oil, they might blow up within the first 500 miles. Nobody knows why this is, but BMW transmissions have been known to do that often enough to list it as a typical fault. Manual ones don't have issues at all.

The E39 with 3-liter straight six was regarded (and by many still is) the best car in the world. The engine is quite bulletproof and I already listed the few typical things wrong with BMWs.

It all comes down to two things really: if the service and prices are as horrible as Spectre says, get the Jaguar. Second of all it's about what you want and like.

As someone who drives an Audi and almost bought an E39 5-series, I would say go for the Jag. I believe the E39 deserves a manual gearbox and a lot of the cars nature and character is lost with an autobox. I was also seriously considering an X300 Jaguar, so I have also found out a lot of things about them including from Spectre. They are bulletproof in all conditions, including the winter of Finland: the electrics work fine, mechanically they are great but the only thing that is a worry is rust, but again that may or may not apply in your case.

Also they are two very different types of car, the BMW and the Jag. The BMW will be more of a "driver's car" but on long journeys and sitting in traffic I would expect the Jag to be more relaxing to drive. Also while the 3-liter straight six has 231bhp, it won't be a rocket sled. Neither is the Jag but you don't really expect it to be one in the first place.
 
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Actually, I don't recall commenting on the BMW's electrics, only on the replacement part prices for the E39. It was Vette Boss that spoke of the electricals.

The BMW's transmission is an issue in hotter Southern states - they don't seem to have provided quite enough cooling for the automatics so they die sooner than expected down here. I didn't mention it because the original poster is in Ohio, which has a climate much like Southern Germany and therefore isn't much of a concern. The Audi automatic is a concern in any climate.

The big issue with BMWs is that when something does go wrong, BMW factory parts for the 5 and 7 Series cars are often stupidly expensive over here. I had a window get broken on my E32 and they wanted $1300 for it. Just the passenger window. A friend had his BMW throttle-body-by-wire unit break on his E39 after 140,000 miles and that was $1900. It was actually cheaper to have a friend buy the parts in Germany and ship them over.
 
Actually, I don't recall commenting on the BMW's electrics, only on the replacement part prices for the E39. It was Vette Boss that spoke of the electricals.

Yes, I just noticed that, my bad. But hey....at least we agree on what car she should be getting :mrgreen:
 
Set him on fire. Those things were 'better' to the degree that most of them are dead. All the classic GM problems.

Meanwhile most of the X300s are still with us. Put it to you this way; I go to junkyards a lot and I see no end of Buick LeSabres - but very, very, very few X300s. Far disproportionate to the relative production numbers.

What word of that X300, anyway?



I'm working on it. And the fire option sounds great in my book.

I was in sales, commissioned (loved it) and I knew to never lie to a customer. Ever. And I would offer my opinions, but in the end, it was the customer buying it, not me.

I'm headed back sometime this week to grab another salesperson....

PS. My mother worked for GM..the Fisher Guide division before she retired..and even she recommends the Jag over the LeSabre!

Brother Michael said:
They are bulletproof in all conditions, including the winter of Finland: the electrics work fine, mechanically they are great but the only thing that is a worry is rust, but again that may or may not apply in your case.

Winter was also a concern. I am a good driver, especially in winter. In over 20..um..some years, never had an accident or ticket, so I have ridiculously cheap insurance. But, here in Ohio, it seems every other driver has a huge idiotic SUV and drives like this will use magic to let them still drive 50+ mph on ice.

I tend to drive cars into the ground. My current car has over 200,000 miles on it, and drives great. My last car, my Catera, had 189,000 before the head gasket went. So resale isn't a concern for me.

But, like I said...it's now my mission to get that car, or one like it. :D
 
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He probably figured you were an easy mark to get rid of some rubbish they couldn't clear out of the lot.

Which really just confirms that he is in serious need of a good burning.
 
He probably figured you were an easy mark to get rid of some rubbish they couldn't clear out of the lot.

Which really just confirms that he is in serious need of a good burning.


Yeah. Sometimes having breasts can be a bad thing. I tend to take my brother with me when shopping for cars, even though he blew up his last car.

Which reminds me...I need to post in the stupid drivers thread.
 
I tend to drive cars into the ground. My current car has over 200,000 miles on it, and drives great. My last car, my Catera, had 189,000 before the head gasket went. So resale isn't a concern for me.

But, like I said...it's now my mission to get that car, or one like it. :D

Even my old and 'supposedly not very reliable' Series III, when properly cared for, easily eclipsed that. From a few years ago:

HPIM0433.jpg


223K, still going strong - and that was more than three years ago. My previous one got to 260K (IIRC) before rust finally killed it (could have been fixed, was more economical to get another one instead).

You still haven't described the beast in question. Color? Trim level? :D
 
Winter was also a concern. I am a good driver, especially in winter. In over 20..um..some years, never had an accident or ticket, so I have ridiculously cheap insurance. But, here in Ohio, it seems every other driver has a huge idiotic SUV and drives like this will use magic to let them still drive 50+ mph on ice.

First of all...saying "I am a good driver" instantly negates you from said title. Yes, I am an asshole like that - anyone who advertises oneself as a good driver rarely is.

But on to the point of winter driving in an XJ6, there are two things to watch out for.

1. Rust - the weak spot of the X300. If possible, have a proper rust-protection done on the car's underside and a good hardwax on the paint. Especially the wheelarches seem to be an achilles heel when it comes to rust and if they go, you have to replace the entire wing.

2. ESP/TC - Owners who drive their cars year around as daily drivers tend to agree that you must have ESP in an X300 XJ6: a decently powerful car, with an automatic gearbox and a light rear end will be a bitch to drive in snowy and icey conditions, especially hillstarts. And by "light rear end" I'm not talking about weight distribution, it's a figure of speech describing the behaviour of the car. If the car in question does not have ESP, sandbags + proper winter tires can compensate for the lack of it.

The ESP button. if I remember correctly, can be found on the dashboard, behind the steering wheel, on the right hand side as the last button. If the car doesn't have ESP, this button will be blank, so make sure to have this if you don't want to drive around with your nerves torn and bloodpressure through the roof.
 
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First of all...saying "I am a good driver" instantly negates you from said title. Yes, I am an asshole like that - anyone who advertises oneself as a good driver rarely is..

*laughs* Normally, I'd agree with you, but being surrounded by drivers who freak out when they see one snowflake...drive either 5 mph or 70 mph down a snow covered road in the middle of winter..

And being too cheap to pay the higher insurance rates..I still think I am a good driver. When the weather is crappy out, all of my friends and co-workers always ask me to drive.
 
First of all...saying "I am a good driver" instantly negates you from said title. Yes, I am an asshole like that - anyone who advertises oneself as a good driver rarely is.

But on to the point of winter driving in an XJ6, there are two things to watch out for.

1. Rust - the weak spot of the X300. If possible, have a proper rust-protection done on the car's underside and a good hardwax on the paint. Especially the wheelarches seem to be an achilles heel when it comes to rust and if they go, you have to replace the entire wing.

2. ESP/TC - Owners who drive their cars year around as daily drivers tend to agree that you must have ESP in an X300 XJ6: a decently powerful car, with an automatic gearbox and a light rear end will be a bitch to drive in snowy and icey conditions, especially hillstarts. And by "light rear end" I'm not talking about weight distribution, it's a figure of speech describing the behaviour of the car. If the car in question does not have ESP, sandbags + proper winter tires can compensate for the lack of it.

The ESP button. if I remember correctly, can be found on the dashboard, behind the steering wheel, on the right hand side as the last button. If the car doesn't have ESP, this button will be blank, so make sure to have this if you don't want to drive around with your nerves torn and bloodpressure through the roof.

The one she's looking at has heated front seats, which mean that she has the All-Weather Package - heated front/rear seats and traction control. Optional on XJ6, standard on XJR. There was also a Winter Package sold in northern states and Canada; it included headlight washers (which this doesn't have), a block heater and it supplemented the standard defrosters
with electrically heated windscreens.

You are correct on the traction control button location - it is labelled "TRAC" if it is there, IIRC. However, the rear end isn't quite as light as you imply. :D

Oh! Sorry. It's this one:

It's listed as gold, but I'd call it a champagne color.

Looks to be in good shape. The actual color name is "Topaz" (don't ask) with what looks like a "Cream" interior.

Did it have an overhead console with buttons labelled 1 2 3 4? If so, it has the Convenience Package, which included that garage door opener, remote-tied seat/wheel/mirror position memory and that autodimming mirror. Did the seat and wheel move of their own accord when you opened the door or turned the car on/off?
 
"Spectre - Jaguar Knowledge God" seems an appropriate title to me.

'The Jaguar Whisperer'?

Oh, and has TAG finally bought the thing yet? It looks pretty sweet.
 
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Did it have an overhead console with buttons labelled 1 2 3 4? If so, it has the Convenience Package, which included that garage door opener, remote-tied seat/wheel/mirror position memory and that autodimming mirror. Did the seat and wheel move of their own accord when you opened the door or turned the car on/off?


Yeah, there were the buttons. And I cant remember if it moved or not. I'm going again this week to look at it.
 
If it had the buttons there, it had the convenience group, which almost all of them did actually have. :D

Did you test drive it? Check the fluids?
 
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Not a fan of the color, but beyond that you have no soul if you can pass that over.
 
Women seem to like that color for some reason. Jaguar sold a lot of cars in that color, mainly to women.
 
Because it's a color they can debate about the name over.

I'd call it "Beige" - they'd call it "Gold" "Topaz" or "Champagne"

Just give me one in black.
 
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