Post by PG on Jun 7, 2023 19:55:32 GMT
A “Dear John” for the Shogun
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Dear Shogun
I’m sorry to write this, but it is finally time to part. You’ve been in our lives for over 14 years. You did every task we gave you with no complaint - towing, dog carrying, animal feed collection, rubbish carting, going anywhere we asked of you - and who can forget that mad dash to Heathrow when we could not get our luggage in the XK and were late. I didn’t know you could go so fast! Although after one week away, the smell of “farming” that greeted us as we opened your doors in the long stay reminded me that we probably didn’t clean you out as often as we should have done.
And in 14 years your reliability has been amazing. You only failed to proceed once - when a wire came loose on the starter motor – and you came back from the dead when that lorry demolished your front end at the livestock market. We thought you were a gonner then, but the NFU thought different.
After a whole day cleaning you – inside and out – I felt proud to take you for your PX valuation last week. I think the guy at the garage feared the worst but actually you got him to open his wallet way more than anybody else, so thank you for that.
We had wondered about just keeping you on until you finally gave up, but then that would inevitably happen at the worst possible time, so we took the hard decision that it was best to move you on while you were still worth some proper money. I don’t know what the garage have planned for you – maybe, like quite a few other older SUV’s, you’ll end up in Ukraine and be a war hero? Who knows.
You’ll certainly be a tough act to follow. Thank you.
With our kindest regards
Peter & Pippa x
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yes, the time has finally come. After thinking about it and doing some looking, we’ve done a deal to buy a 19 reg Discovery Sport. Against Martin’s Panamera that seems a bit tame, but you don’t see many Panameras at the livestock market. But we have gone against the prevailing Disco Sport normality and have bought an Si4 – a 2 litre petrol with 240hp. It was actually quite nippy when pushed, although I think the fuel economy won’t be much to write home about in town use.
To answer the questions (1) why did we get a non-commercial and smaller SUV and (2) why did we go for a petrol. We’re running down the cattle side of the farm as our neighbour cattle partner is not well, so the days of lugging 2.5+ tonnes about are behind us and a smaller SUV will be able to cope with the less weighty towing. For the petrol and non-commercial decision, we do seem to keep cars a longer time – it was 5 years for the XFR; we’ve had the Mini 4 years and the Shogun was 14 years. And we reckon as 2030 approaches and the eco-warriors don’t let up, there are going to be more and more restrictions on what you can do with diesels. And as this will be our long distance car and workhorse rolled into one - a replacement for the XFR and Shogun – we felt a 5 seater SUV was a good idea and a Euro 6 petrol would have greater long term viability.
Collection day is this Friday – if the towbar gets fitted as planned tomorrow. The dog guard, boot liner and seat covers for mucky days are all due later this week too.
Here’s a few dealer photos. Loire Blue is quite a rare colour on Disco Sports and looks really good to our eyes. Once you say petrol, not black, not white, and this is the budget, the pool to fish in gets quite small! It’s HSE spec so pretty full of FG, including 380W Meridian sounds, pano roof, comfy electric seats and good xenons, but avoids the silly sized wheels that appear on HSE Luxury and Dynamic trims. Sadly it has privacy glass but the sliver wheels make up for that. The only FG it does not have that I’d have liked are cooled seats and voodoo cruise. God I’ve gone soft….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Dear Shogun
I’m sorry to write this, but it is finally time to part. You’ve been in our lives for over 14 years. You did every task we gave you with no complaint - towing, dog carrying, animal feed collection, rubbish carting, going anywhere we asked of you - and who can forget that mad dash to Heathrow when we could not get our luggage in the XK and were late. I didn’t know you could go so fast! Although after one week away, the smell of “farming” that greeted us as we opened your doors in the long stay reminded me that we probably didn’t clean you out as often as we should have done.
And in 14 years your reliability has been amazing. You only failed to proceed once - when a wire came loose on the starter motor – and you came back from the dead when that lorry demolished your front end at the livestock market. We thought you were a gonner then, but the NFU thought different.
After a whole day cleaning you – inside and out – I felt proud to take you for your PX valuation last week. I think the guy at the garage feared the worst but actually you got him to open his wallet way more than anybody else, so thank you for that.
We had wondered about just keeping you on until you finally gave up, but then that would inevitably happen at the worst possible time, so we took the hard decision that it was best to move you on while you were still worth some proper money. I don’t know what the garage have planned for you – maybe, like quite a few other older SUV’s, you’ll end up in Ukraine and be a war hero? Who knows.
You’ll certainly be a tough act to follow. Thank you.
With our kindest regards
Peter & Pippa x
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Yes, the time has finally come. After thinking about it and doing some looking, we’ve done a deal to buy a 19 reg Discovery Sport. Against Martin’s Panamera that seems a bit tame, but you don’t see many Panameras at the livestock market. But we have gone against the prevailing Disco Sport normality and have bought an Si4 – a 2 litre petrol with 240hp. It was actually quite nippy when pushed, although I think the fuel economy won’t be much to write home about in town use.
To answer the questions (1) why did we get a non-commercial and smaller SUV and (2) why did we go for a petrol. We’re running down the cattle side of the farm as our neighbour cattle partner is not well, so the days of lugging 2.5+ tonnes about are behind us and a smaller SUV will be able to cope with the less weighty towing. For the petrol and non-commercial decision, we do seem to keep cars a longer time – it was 5 years for the XFR; we’ve had the Mini 4 years and the Shogun was 14 years. And we reckon as 2030 approaches and the eco-warriors don’t let up, there are going to be more and more restrictions on what you can do with diesels. And as this will be our long distance car and workhorse rolled into one - a replacement for the XFR and Shogun – we felt a 5 seater SUV was a good idea and a Euro 6 petrol would have greater long term viability.
Collection day is this Friday – if the towbar gets fitted as planned tomorrow. The dog guard, boot liner and seat covers for mucky days are all due later this week too.
Here’s a few dealer photos. Loire Blue is quite a rare colour on Disco Sports and looks really good to our eyes. Once you say petrol, not black, not white, and this is the budget, the pool to fish in gets quite small! It’s HSE spec so pretty full of FG, including 380W Meridian sounds, pano roof, comfy electric seats and good xenons, but avoids the silly sized wheels that appear on HSE Luxury and Dynamic trims. Sadly it has privacy glass but the sliver wheels make up for that. The only FG it does not have that I’d have liked are cooled seats and voodoo cruise. God I’ve gone soft….
