[NM_OLDER]

Yep, that's probably a given, they love their big luxury saloons over there, although can't imagine there being many / any diesels

Jim

Correct - just looked and there are 544 XJ's for sale on autotrader.com and not one of them is a diesel

 

[NM_OLDER]

When we went to Simply Jaguar at Beaulieu, my 9-y-o grandson and I amused ourselves by loudly saying "there's a Jaguar!" - and pointing - every time we saw a Jaguar (there were about 500 of them). The wimminfolk weren't amused after the first couple of dozen!

I always play "spot the jag" with my partner when we're on hoilday - first to ten wins. It's surprising how long that can take !! One below is in Florence March 2019

 

[NM_OLDER]

For us every day is a spot the Jag day, but the contest is a little handicapped by SWMBO's complete inability to recognise a car. "I saw an F-Type on the way to ASDA" may well mean that she saw an E-Pace.

... and Jaguar don't help by having an "X" in the name of so many; she can spot the same car seven times, and it can be an X-Type, an XE, an XF, an X-Pace, an XK, or a KX/ EX/ and so on. But she rarely mistakes the XJ!

Mine never adds the model , it's just "Jag" I have yet to see an EX or a KX - are they local models way down south?

 

[NM_OLDER]

Nope - she makes them up. (The X-Pace was my favourite)

Ahhh - that explains their absence oop North.

 

[NM_OLDER]

There must be an especially nerdy Jag Concept / What If clique out there?

William Lyons and Edward Turner signed an agreement during WW2 to produce a Jaguar motorcycle after the war ended. Due to the government wanting no new bikes produced during the war Turner went to BSA instead............ (the V8 Daimler engine was based on the Triumph Speed Twin)

 

[NM_OLDER]

There may not be many X351s around, but this is a true story. Back in 2015, soon after buying my brand new XJL, I followed my wife to Bluewater shopping centre, had a coffee with her, and then left her there to spend money. I went back to the car park, tried to open the door on my new Loire Blue XJ, but it wouldn't open. So I got the fob out of my pocket and tried the button to unlock it - nothing. Damn! The battery must be discharged. So I flicked open the key to manually unlock it, but I had no idea where the keyhole was or how to access it. I went all round the car, checking the door handles, but I just couldn't figure it out. So I had no option but to call Jaguar Assist - but the card with the phone number was locked inside the car, in the glove box. So I thought I'd call the main dealer (Guy Salmon) to see if they could help me - but their details were also locked inside. By now I had spent 5 minutes trying to get into the car. Then I had a brainwave - perhaps the main dealer's phone number is on the tax disc holder! So I had a look at the tax disc holder, and was surprised to see it was a Caffyn's tax disc holder. My immediate thought was - what a cheap-skate dealership Guy Salmon is, using another dealer's tax disc holder! My second thought was - wait a minute, my car doesn't have a tax disc!

So I sheepishly walked away to my own identical Loire Blue XJL parked eight spaces away...

I had a friend who bought a new Honda 400F in 1976 and we went to Oulton Park on it one weelend and parked it near Lodge corner. It was quite a sales hit and when we got back at the end of the meeting there must have been thirty of them all the same blue and I can still remember him walking around and trying the key in various bikes until he got the right one. He couldn't remember the registration number. If MNE 134P is still around his name is written on the back of the number plate.......

 

[NM_OLDER]

I saw a red XJ with LED front lights at lunchtime today. Heading into Brum on the A38 from J4 of the M5. I was in my wifes 330, so no chance of a wave. I also didn't get a good look as the closing speed was 140mph on a curve with a barrier between us. I was happy to note mine was still on the drive when I got home too - very similar to look at!!

Why were you only doing 20mph?

 

[NM_OLDER]

I have a theory that because the X351 is quite uncommon, and is SO DAMN GOOD, that they will become a classic in the future, just as the previous marque is becoming. I will be too old and crusty (or a windblown pile of ashes) but one day these will be sought after and the prices will start to appreciate.

Definitely, it is after all, the last hurrah of the Jaguar XJ

 

[NM_OLDER]

Because I hadn't had a drink!

So you had a couple of beers and then it was an Autobiography ?

 

[NM_OLDER]

I think I'm with Jim on this. If you look very closely, you can see that the rear door in the lower pic is slightly longer..

View attachment 42819

I don't think you even need look that closely. It's obvious the rear door is longer.

 

[NM_OLDER]

I'm not sure if it is hovering over the car park or sinking into it, or both at the same time, but it definitely counts as an XJ spotting!

think they left the massage seats running?

 

[NM_OLDER]

The Hurricane has been safely locked away in its hangar at the bottom of the garden, fit to fly tests back okay, the XJ is primed and ready to be dropped off at valet parking tomorrow morning, so I will be dropping out later this evening. I'll catch up in a couple of weeks.

Have a great trip, I'm not jelaous at all.....

 

[NM_OLDER]

I've never seen a sausage on the motorway either 😂

 

[NM_OLDER]

I take it all back!

 

[NM_OLDER]

Haven't seen any for the last 12 days.

View attachment 43506

Love the colour of that one !

 

[NM_OLDER]

Looks like someone didn't get the message about meet and greet parking at MAN.
This is a still from a video I took today. The plonkers have got someone's 3 series stuck and were bouncing it off the rev limiter trying to free it.
You can just see a wisp of smoke at the passenger door, that's coming off the tyres.
Of course, it isn't coming unstuck, so I've no idea why they flogged that car for several minutes.

Don't worry though, just before I left they had positioned another customers insignia in place to either push it or pull it out.

Whoever's grey X351 that is to the right. Good luck.

View attachment 43743

As you said before Manchester Airport is notorious for this type of thing. A quick google search throws up dozens of examples...

 

[NM_OLDER]

I like to keep things right.

How do you cope with all the 'keep left' signs

 

[NM_OLDER]

Got back from Scotland late on Friday. XJ behaved perfectly.
We left home on Monday and as I sometimes drive faster than I realise I set the speed limiter to 80. This went well until I encountered a camera van on a bridge over the M80. I'm awaiting a brown envelope through my letterbox. This was the only really bad part of the whole trip (minor annoyances were the average speed cameras on the entire A9, the 20mph speed limits and the tedious but very pretty return journey down the A68). At our first stop at a hotel in Hexham I saw a very nice XJR (an X350, I think, reg ending in XJR) but no sign of any X351s. On the way home there was an X351 on the M1, reg ending in DAB. So that's 1400 miles and only 1 X351. Although the journey included a lot of motorway, I was pleasantly surprised to see an average of 49.3 mpg. I only had to fill up with fuel once and found that Tesco in Dingwall was selling diesel at £1.69. When I got home I still had over 100 mile range left. Very pleased with it.

Fingers crossed you don't get a brown envelope, 80 mph is hardly pushing it !

 

[NM_OLDER]

My be just me but in this picture to the layman the X350 is unmistakably a Jaguar , the X351 could be any car even if the cars were reversed so the X350 was furthest away.

 

[NM_OLDER]

It's an R if you zoom in

Is that an "S" or "R" badge? Where's the badge police when you need them. The reg says it's a 2014 PL 3.0 D.