Jaguar Dealer!!

I'd be on the phone to JLR customer services. Its an absolute piss take. What the hell happened in covid that has made nearly every business a crock of poo. Is the car out of warranty now and due to the delays you'll end up paying? Where is your nearest alternative dealer? Luckily around these parts we're awash with JLR dealers. But to give an example of how they are treating Jaguar. I went to our nearest dealer in Guildford on a Saturday afternoon in the summer to look at an F and E Pace as a poss new car for Mrs Ed and due to staff shortagess they had shut the Jag dealer and you had to go next door to Land Rover so they could open up and let you look at some cars. I really couldn't be bothered with the agro.

There were 10,000 off the road recently awaiting parts, it was all over the press as below:

www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/report-10000-jaguar-land-rover-cars-stuck-waiting-parts

To compound their misery some of those cars were then flooded in JLR sites and customers losing cars were told to speak to their insurers (no doubt for a derisory offer, since apparantly we need gap insurance now to insure against the fraudulent practices of insurers and get a fair price).

I've seen similar things on the Alfa forums as well with cars off the road for months for parts. Some are understandably livid as they are paying large amounts for leases and insurance, on a massively depreciating asset, that they no longer have the use of, for months. It all seems like a massive **** up to me and perhaps some class actions to recoup the true costs might make the OEM's actually invest enough in parts supply in the first place...

Just a small update. Although the car is still in the repair workshop and likely to remain there till well in to February, we were discussing what we were going to do at the end of the lease which is now less than 6 months away. Having gone round in circles a bit and thought about the likes of an X5 50e (too big), a BMW i40 (didn't excite), a Mini (maybe not practical enough) we came to the conclusion that another i-Pace was really what Susan wanted. However when I looked at the configurator, Jaguar appear to have dropped the heated windscreen and the 360 cameras completely. There are a couple of other bits and pieces which have also been downgraded like the sound system which is no longer the Meridian surround sound setup and they have stuck a daft looking plastic blanking plate where the grill used to be!

Bottom line is it now looks unlikely that we will order another one because the 306 camera in particular, gets used every day for parking and for Susan's drive through coffee where the kerbs have been designed to cripple alloys. Since has had it she hasn't (touch wood) hit a single kerb. Why do manufacturers make such daft decisions and what exactly are we going to replace it with at reasonable cost? Now in the running is the Q4 e-tron, Lexus hybrid or maybe we just forget the leased company car and buy her something personally like a used Audi A5 cabriolet.

Boxster GTS 4.0.

If it needs to have 4 seats and Susan likes SUVs, then a Macan.

I’m struggling with anything on a lease, the Fisker Ocean is interesting although not exciting. The material quality won’t be a match for her current car and I’ve no idea how well it drives or what the lease cost is, but it’s X3 size and has decent range and performance.

The thought had crossed my mind but without the hatch convenience in at least one vehicle, I would probably need to consider changing the M5 and that then becomes expensive especially when retirement funding is supposed to be my No.1 priority.

Is keeping or buying the existing car an option?

A non-car-enthusiast friend has a Q4 eTron and has nothing good to say about the electric aspects of it.

I’ve looked on the configurator 

360 degree camera is standard on the HSE and an £800 option on the SE

There is a lot about a Tesla that doesn't tick the quality box. The new Tesla 3 looks a lot better now at the front end but it still doesn't make the car one I would want.

If you like the I-Pace but not its current new version, why not buy the one you have at the end of its lease/PCP and stick a non-dating (or other "private") plate on it?
Colleagues etc may think you've got a new car rather than disguising your existing one

Jaguars revolutionary electric future has been on the card for longer then I can remember. I can't see a glut of new models coming to market in the short term. I hope i'm wrong. As an aside a used I-pace is a hell of a lot of car for the money. 

Twas ever thus. 

I totally agree alf.

From the time we were invited to Knockhill to try the i-Pace out on a road course about 2018, take it around obstacles in the car park and race around the track, I was impressed and the "ownership" experience over 3.5 years has been very positive especially from a driving point of view. It is fast on the road. 4.5s to 60 isn't slow but when you add in the fact it is like a sledgehammer in the back off the line, you are already ahead of almost anything that might have a slightly quicker time and it's all so easy with no noise and no drama, just throttle down.

The car is comfortable, corners unbelievably well and flat whilst absorbing most of the undulations and poor surfaces that have other quick cars shaking their occupants to pieces. You also feel a real chassis working underneath you.

The car is also well equipped in HSE trim with Meridian Surround system, heated wheel, heated front and rear seats, cooled front seats, 360 cameras, heated windscreen, adaptive headlights and an app that allows you to set all sorts of things from the comfort of your bed or sofa.

It has had its share of issues like wheel lacquer lifting, lacquer on door trim lifting, temperamental infotainment system, slow satnav and failed rear hatch struts BUT the garage sorted the first 2 issues under warranty, plugging the phone in and using Apple Car Play sorted most of the navigation issues and the delayed rear struts have been the only real niggle, caused partly by the dealers staffing issues and now delayed by the accident. 

It might be a 6 year old design but we can't find anything else on the market now which is an improvement and would meet our needs as well. A lightly used Taycan might work but they are twice the price on monthlies.

The biggest issue for me is that Susan loves the performance and the fact that it is silent, unlike my car. She calls it the silent assassin as she picks off slower cars on a A road. The instant overtaking capability is huge.

If you get a chance to drive one and give it some stick, you must.

I reckon extending the car you have is the best option and in that year seeing how the EV market develops. But the Fisker Ocean looks interesting - if only for being "different".

I do agree with you that the i-Pace still looks a very attractive car and Jaguar's failure to update / upgrade / expand the i-Pace range has always been a mystery to me. But then Jaguar has always been such the poor relation in the JLR stable that I guess it was inevitable. Investment funds would go to Land Rover / Range Rover first. It is said that Jag EV's coming "soon" will start at £100k and be aimed at low volumes. So I guess the i-Pace does not fit into that plan (stupidly).

I didn't think I'd ever say this, but it might have been better if Hyundai had bought the Jaguar brand (as was rumoured before JLR came into being) as at least Jaguar would not have been held back by firstly not being allowed to compete with Land Rover for ages (so very late to the SUV party) and never allowed to see plans through to completion - CX-75, EV XJ, etc.

Mind you it was like that under Ford too. I remember reading that development of the XK was held back as Ford didn't want Jaguar to compete with Aston, who Ford also owned at the time.

It is such a shame. A brand with so must history and cachet always having to be the bridesmaid and never the bride.

I don't see £100K plus Jags flying off the forecourt quickly at all. Whoever thought they could place Jaguar in that market is a blinkered fool.