In 2010 I bought a beautiful XJ V6 3.0D. Stunning, elegant, and faster than the competition (including the Panamera diesel). Probably because it weighted 400 kg or less than the S-Classs, Series 7, A8, etc. offered then. I loved that car and never had a single problem with it. Neither mechanic nor electronic. Zero problems. And it was the first car with a really operative touchscreen, way better that the hideous “joysticks” and round pads offered by the competition. And the main dashboard screen was TFT too, offering many different configurations and information. I hire tens of cars every year (I catch more than 65 flights per year, average, for professional reasons) and every time I went into a German sedan with this infotainment “joystick”, it made me sick. Of course, it’s a personal opinion, but I really hated those infotainment system, being used to my Jag’s touchscreen. It’s not surprising that now all these car makers offer touchscreens and main dashboard TFT screen too… Jaguar was a step beyond with that XJ…
I loved that car. But I realized it was not practical at all, if you like skiing, bicycling or need to tow a trailer. That XJ was unable to have a tow ball, no roof bars and not even foldable rear seats!
Five years after buying it I changed it for a F-Pace S, with the same evolved engine, the V6 3.0D biturbo, with astonishing 300 hp and 700 Nm torque. Again, an amazing car. Super-fast, agile, and this time really practical for our needs.
Again, five years with zero problems. But the last month of my renting contract, June last year, I was about to give the car back, and suddenly the engine fails. Catastrophic failure! The crankshaft broke. Unacceptable for such an expensive premium car, in my opinion. Thankfully it happened just twenty days before the end of the renting contract, so I gave the keys back to the dealer and forget about it.
But as I am a little bit of a masochist, and talking with the garage manager at JLR, I knew about the new Ingenium L6 engines. Apparently way more reliable. To be proved, I guess, but I wanted one again!
Then, one day, while picking up the old beauty from its last maintenance (our totally restored Range Rover Vogue SE, 3.5 automatic built in 1988) I saw a massive Defender 110 with the P400 petrol engine, staring at me at the shop. This was in February this year. Now this beast is resting in our garage. We’ve done already 5.000 km and it’s a fantastic, super-comfortable machine, and even faster than our previous F-Pace! In straight line, of course. Don’t tease that huge 2.5 tons monster in twisted mountain passes or it will scare you with its inertias!
So, as you can imagine, I'm a little bit of a fan of JLR... And I still believe that the engines and infotainment systems are a step beyond the main competition.
Last edited by Marmota; 28/04/22 10:51 AM.
