Hello listers,
All this going on about the different American makes has brought me to
share my experiences the past year with the state of current British
marques, specifically Jaguar and Land Rover.
It used to be, and still is in most circles, that British was equated
with bad, faulty, and unreliable. And with good reason. Quality and
reliability just wasn't there with the Jags, MGs, and Triumphs of the
70's and 80's. Not that the American iron from that time was any good,
but the British cars were notoriously bad.
I've had the pleasure of driving a 2001 Jaguar S-Type 4.0 from Ft. Worth
to Georgia and back, and I must say, that was the best car that I had
ever driven. Plenty of power, looked great, incredible interior. No
issues at all driving the car over 2500 miles in a week and a half. Got
24 mpg on the highway, cruising at 85-90 mph on I-20. The S-type, in my
opinion, has to be the best looking car on the road today. I also got
to drive the S-type 3.0 last fall. That too was a great car. But the
Jaguar 8 cylinder in the 4.0 is truly a great engine. Now granted, 12
days with a car is no long term evaluation. But from what I've seen,
the S-types that have been out there for a couple of years seem to be
holding up quite well. The same couldn't be said for the XJ6s of the
70's and 80's. Some people claim that the S-type is just a rebodied
Lincoln. The Ford pieces of the car are commodity items, like fuel
pumps and washer motors. The things that matter, at least on the 4.0,
are designed by Jaguar.
The past July I was able to use a brand new Land Rover Discovery II on a
camping trip to Northern New Mexico. I drove the car from Denver down.
On the highway, the car did quite nicely. It cruised at 85 mph down
I-25 to New Mexico. Once I turned off-road to get to the National
Forest, it was a 40 mile trip down a gravel road into the 12,000 ft.
mountains. The car performed beautifully. I had a Ford Explorer on the
same trip last year, and the Land Rover beat the Explorer, hands down.
We did some serious off roading, and the car never felt like I was
getting it into a situation that it couldn't get out of. The only
problem I had was that the fuse for the driver's seat adjustments blew.
Replaced it, and had no problems after that. Although I must admit,
that was the first time I've seen a 40 amp blade fuse! I put a little
over 1500 miles on the Land Rover, with around 400 miles coming off of
pavement. I truly felt that this car COULD go anywhere, much like the
feeling you get with a Jeep Wrangler, and that's not a feeling you get
with just about any other SUV (Acura MDX, Lexus RX300???). But this car
also felt fine on the highway, and that's not something you get out of a
soft-top Jeep.
What am I getting at? Well, I guess what I'm saying is that if you are
looking to get a new car, take a look at the grandsons of our Spridgets.
They compare quite well to the cars coming out of Japan, Germany, and
the good ole' USA. That's definitely a change from the past. I know
I'm saving my pennies to get a 4.0 S-type!
Greg Gowins
'69 Sprite
Dublin, CA
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