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Re: Details please Posted by Justin VanAbrahams [Email]  (#32) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Justin VanAbrahams) on Tue, 16 Jul 2013 11:17:07
In Reply to: Details please, No Snaab, Tue, 16 Jul 2013 04:41:03 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
It's an '03 XJR. Last the steel-bodied cars in North America, in 2004 they went to the aluminum shells. I prefer the looks of the steel cars, as the aluminum ones got a little slab sided. Supercharged 4.0l DOHC V8 making 375hp and 387 lb·ft tied to a Mercedes-Benz 5-speed automatic. I'm the third owner - previous owner bought it in 2005 - and will be crossing 106,000 miles some time this week I imagine. ;)
The only comparison I really have for it is my 2007 CTS-V as they're both big, boaty overpowered sedans. :) The CTS-V felt a lot more raw - huge power, big brakes, and lots of grip, and not much insulating the driver from those things. The XJ feels positively sedate by comparison - there is never the same feeling of "OMG this is happening." In fact, for the first time in my life I've found myself leaving stop lights later and braking sooner than other cars on the road. I'm driving it like I drive my '62 Falcon! And it's incompetence on the car's part, it's just that comfy inside. It's like driving a living room. Because it's incredibly fast, the brakes have *plenty* of power, and despite having scared myself once or twice when I suddenly remembered I'm driving a 10 year old 4200lb British car the tires haven't given the slightest inclination they're out of grip. I honestly don't think it's quite as good as the CTS-V in terms of performance, but it's still got way more than you could possibly ever use on the street.
My only complaint about the car is that it's a little crashy over bad pavement, but that's a well-documented issue and I knew about it going in. The tires are probably overinflated at the moment, so maybe this weekend I'll back them down ~4-6psi and see if that helps. It's hardly bad, but the ride is so well controlled 90% of the time those moments where it fails stand out severely.
I was concerned about buying an automatic - I've not owned that many automatics in my life. I don't like them and a I don't trust them. But, I gotta say, in terms of automatics in passenger cars I'm *very* pleased with this one. Shifts in both directions are virtually instant and it's always in the right gear. Admittedly, it's responsiveness may be a function of having a mountain of power, but whatever. Point is, I was worried I'd be upset about not having my own gears to manage, but at this point I don't think that's going to be the case.
Hilariously, not ten minutes after I drove away with the car, the ABS and Low Coolant lights came on. I took a 45 minute, 20 mile test drive so I thought I was safe, but hey, it's British - and I was expecting a genuine fire by now. :) The ABS light appears to be solved by equalizing tire pressures (the RR was quite low), but the Low Coolant thing may be a real issue. It hasn't come back since I topped it off, but of course one wonders why it came on in the first place... I'm not worried, the car is lovely, the price was right, and if it needs some genuine help I'm willing to give it. It's a super cool car to drive - zero regrets about the purchase! I'm very happy I chose it over the 7-series... everything about it feels really special.
The XJ is [i]very[/i] retro inside, although as a friend of mine put it a car can't truly be retro if, in fact, it never changed. ;) The seats are a dream and it's very comfortable to drive - a little more upright than I'm used to, but in many ways it reminds me of my 9000s - a very square, vertical dash, upright steering wheel, etc.
posted by 12.195.130...
, Mon, 1 Jul 2013 16:48:18, Sun, 14 Jul 2013 13:55:52, Wed, 17 Jul 2013 17:08:50, Thu, 8 Aug 2013 22:09:41, Fri, 9 Aug 2013 11:31:42, Fri, 9 Aug 2013 16:00:11, Mon, 12 Aug 2013 16:59:20, Thu, 18 Jul 2013 10:48:53, Thu, 18 Jul 2013 12:07:46, Fri, 19 Jul 2013 13:24:05, Fri, 16 Aug 2013 11:16:40
, Tue, 16 Jul 2013 13:19:11, Tue, 16 Jul 2013 11:17:07 <-- Viewing This Message, Tue, 2 Jul 2013 10:08:51
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