MOTOR-BLOG from Coventry

Sorry for my lack of blogging action, truth be told, I’ve been feeling really knackered. Add that to the car shows I’ve been going to lately at weekends and the chocolate fest that was Easter, and you’ve got one tired, fat, chocolate-filled, car sated lazy Neil.

It seems that the Jaguar XF advert has got lots of fans, if the comments left on this blog are anything to go by. Personally, I can’t remember a decent TV Jag car ad - ever. But then again, these adverts aren’t mean to appeal to a pauper like me. I have about as much chance of buying one of Jaguar’s latest (and fabulous) machines as those easter eggs of mine had a chance of lasting more than one day in the Campbell household without getting eaten.

I have recently been a passenger in a new £90,000 XKR (or so - I don’t know the exact figure as it was a Jag press car so it came with every concieveable extra so don’t write in saying I have got the price wrong - it may have been only £86,000 or so, but it is a helluva lot of cash either way you look at it…). The verdict - fantastic of course.

I’m still not convinced about the front styling (headlamps in particular) and I found the old XK to be better looking from the front. One thing is for sure though - the new one looks great from every other angle. The performance was brisk too, but you’d expect that from any Supercharged V8 Jag…

One thing I really loved was the suede headlining - how cool is that? So the verdict from little old me is simply - new Jags really are a quality product (except the X type which is an old generation Ford mondeo with an awkward bodyshell, lets face it). So now that our Beloved Jag (well in Coventry anyway) is in the safe hands of Tata (watch me eat those words when production is switched to India in a couple of years time…), what can we expect?

Well who knows? The X type will be around for another couple of years at least with it’s new facelift (an improvement of sorts), The XF and XK must have at least another 8 years or so production left in them, which given how beautiful they are to look at is great news for the world’s roads, and the XJ? Well with the XF it’s a bit irrelevant now. 

It would be unfair to call the XJ ugly, so perhaps bloated or simply unfortunate may be the best way to describe it… It is a great car though, my old boss used to have one - it just looks so, well boring. Even he new big Lexus looks better, and Lexus cars are bought by people who know nothing about cars.

Newsflash people - it’s a big Toyota, that’s all - and Toyota make really dull cars these days. If you want a proper luxury car, buy an XF, a BMW or an Audi, forget about Lexus. In fact, forget about all of the others - just buy an XF and do yourself and the world a favour.

I hope that Tata give Jag the funds they need to grow - an X type replacement would be great, as would a small coupe sports - the Audi TT and BMW Z4 have had it all their own way for far too long now…

So Viva that Tata, and who knows? Now that the Rover name is owned by someone who may actually use it, perhaps we might see a range of cheap imported Indian built cars bearing the famous Coventry car badge that was once Rover. It’s just a shame that BMW were allowed to keep all of the good names. Yes I’m talking about Triumph - how could you guess? Plus Riley - another venerable Coventry company. Give us our company names back BMW - you’ll never use them, you’re just being spiteful…

After getting back from the wonderful Wheels day in Aldershot last week, my desire to own a hot-rod has been re-awakened. I’ve even been looking on US ebay… dangerous territory…It’s a good job I don’t actually have any money to spend isn’t it?

It’s just come on the telly again, the new Jag XF advert. What are they thinking? At last Jaguar have a model line up to be proud of (we’ll forget about the X type for now - ahem) and the XF is great. Shame about the ad…

Do the good folks at Jag who commission these ads not watch the telly? While Honda are making endearingly clever ads, and Audi and BMW make moody, technologically advanced ones (that actually might make you want to go and buy one), Jag seem to stick with the ‘Lifestyle’ ad.

You know the sort - with two grinning attractive model types driving with some awful middle of the road music over the top. They are (of course) always white, middle class, slightly too young to be driving such an expensive car, and utterly, utterly hateful, horrid, smug, yuppie types.

What the ?????

Ah, those were the days. When sports cars were for real men -and featured no cup holders, no electronic traction control to hide behind, with plenty of wheelspin and oversteer…

As a lover of all things Triumph, I wouldn’t like to say that they are unreliable, but what exactly is this sixties Triumph advert trying to say?…