Autocar - First for car news and reviews

...will surely be Autocars next comparison test.Why? Because it will give them another reason to talk up the XF and rubbish the BMW. I haven't read the magazine for months until this weeks edition because I'm housebound due to illness. It just reminded me why I stopped reading the Magazine which should be rebranded Jaguar weekly. For instance, the testers drone on about the weight of the X6 but it is considerably lighter than any of the others vehicles in the 'Top Five' it is also Greener,Quicker and more economical than the rest but hey, it's a BMW so that doesn't count.

They tested the XF against the 6 year old 5 series and it 'won'.Shock. The testers touched briefly on the XF's weight,it's an Andrew Frankel short of  2 TONNES by the way and the PSA Diesel is weak for this class of car. I like the XF but don't need a saloon but even if I did and having seen some on the road I'm not sure I could live with it's 'startled' front and the cheap looking grill.I hope Jaguar sell zillions of them and make Mr.Tata richer and keep UK workers in a job. But the XF isn't the best car in the world so give it a rest please. I like the X6 because it's different and that's good but I don't need one. But I would not criticise anyone who did own one. The 'What's the point of the X6?' thread may as well read 'What's the point of any car?' Oh, I own a BMW 335i Coupe but that doesn't mean I hate Jaguars, just biased reporting.

Hey, be a man, live with it.

BMW's out. Jags are in.

Jag owners have put up with the mediocrity of Germanic design for long enough.

"What's the point" is a pretty common debate when it comes to crossover cars. Because they're a compromise, rarely class-leading in any particular area (but competent across the board if they're doing their job right), the point of them can become a bit murky.

 As for Jaguar... has it occurred to you that the cars are just plain that freaking good?

Too true. The best car I've ever driven is the Jaguar XJ TDVI.

Unfortuantely, the enjoyment was cut short as it broke down on test, but so have all the other German marques at some point. the worst being a BMW 728i. Worse than a Lada, it was!

Then there was the S class that rattled like a school girls pencil case, but it didn't according to Mercedes. Then there was the famously reliable Japanese Lexus and it's frequent failing wheel bearings.......need I go on?

All cars are great, but Jaguar is high art on wheels, poetry in motion, a symphony of perfection, a human attainment........, Germanics are merely posh transport.

The thing about Jaguars is that they never stop depreciating. This is excellent for people who want to bag a nearly new bargain. In the current climate I bet there are hundreds out there going cheap, especially the XJR.

Sadly too true.

My 2003 XJ6 went for £7,500 at auction a number of months ago. I would have given the company £8000 for it and would've still had a bargain. But they are not aloud to make profit on them, or so I'm told.

I've alway liked Jaguars, as they express motoring from the view of the heart, this has been watered down, slightly, since they were bullied into making the cars look young and firm buttocked, by those who still feel the need to try to knock them off their pedestal of glory. 

Mediocre designs???? So mediocre Jaguar have copied them. XF in profile is a 6 series or maybe a Lexus GS or a Mondeo???? Jag are putting a 'sharks fin' aerial on the XK to finally get rid of the Halfords electric aerial, the auto box is ZF which is German but as I said in the post which you clearly haven't read or understood it's German so therefore in Autocar and your eyes doesn't count.It is only an opinion in the road tests not fact. In a commercial world it's sales that count and crap cars don't sell.

My post is about the reporting and not the merits of Jag v BMW but if you want to go there.....

Oh, take it in the spirit is meant, Twinbo! Nobody is personally attacking you.

I for one like the Jaguar XF and enjoy and agree with the praise it receives. It makes a pleasant change about hearing the pundits praising Euroboxes.

Again.

Stephen

I don't take anything on Forums personally as I don't know you or any other contributors. So you think that the XF isn't a 'Eurobox' ? This is exactly  what I mean about the rose tinted reporting in Autocar. Yep, the XF is good but for goodness sake it's not light years ahead of the other 'Euroboxes'. I've been in one but not driven one.I'm 6' 2" and it's tight in the back but Autocar said in their test 'Put the tall one in the front' or something and then moan about the lack of headroom in the rear of the X6 with no put them in the front quip. XK v 6 series. Think it was Frankel that said you have to take your eyes off the road to operate i-drive but you do with the XK's touch screen but he forgot to mention that or even that you can't see it in sunlight.Most functions can be accessed via the voice control. Same test, the XK had flappy paddles & the 6 doesn't so you have to take your hand off the wheel to use the box manually and that's dangerous. OMG really scrapping the barrel there. What about his beloved manual gearbox (a real drivers box). They all have their favourites and no amount of debate will change that.

Regarding the headroom criticism disparity - the X6 is a freaking SUV. It is made to be big. If you don't have enough headroom in one then clearly it is not doing its job. Rear headroom compromise is more forgiveable in a saloon.

Regarding the control display criticism disparity - touchscreens are much less distracting to use than BMW's iDrive, and are more intuitive. Though of course you shouldn't operate any such device while in motion anyway...

I laughed my ass off about the XF being identical to a 6-series in profile. I do agree it is pretty derivative (although not of that particular car), but unlike similarly shaped cars, it's a very clean design. There's little in the way of exaggerated or unnecessary detailing, and it results in the finished product being pure in a way that a Volvo or Lexus or Mondeo isn't. It's a subtle effect, but it works to make an individual-looking car.

Finally, I don't think anyone's saying that the XF is "light years" ahead of everything else.

"I like beans." written on my old school desk at Cumbernauld High School in 1972.

"So doI!" I replied on it.

"Me too!" replied someone else.

"You're all idiots, toast is best!" replied another in red pen.

"Hey, I've an idea, have them together!!" I added just before Easter Hols.

"Beans on toast? Will it catch on?" asked the red pen.

"Of course, it will it......" my reply stopped as I was hauled out my seat Mrs Guthrie.

"Are you Okay? Did Mrs Guth......." the red pendeeply scored across the desk top.

"S.O.S! Oppression!" I replied.

Then the mesages stopped. I can only imgine this early version of an open desk forum only whetted my appetite for forum nonsensica.

Sorry, rather than having a cow can I say I don't dislike BMW, just prefer Jaguar. I just feel it's BMW that get enough press and  I cannot see how practical Mr Bangles ideas are or how it improves the already top notch product. I prefer the pre-Bangle days.

Toaster on. Beans in microwave.

OK...is it time to stop the references to beans now ? Maybe you could 'can' that from now. Geddit ? Hoo hoo hoo. I am so clever.