As I have mentioned previously, I have two JLR products. An X350 Jaguar XJ and an L320 Range Rover Sport, both designed during the Ford ownership period (the L320 was built during Tata’s control). The running joke is that you never have a truly working JLR product and I wish I could tell you that it’s not true. As I write this I have had 1 predominantly working, Ranger Rover, and 1 predominantly not working Jaguar.

Starting with the Range Rover, I have documented the substantial amount of work I have done however it is still not perfect. There is still a suspension warning light due to the air tank needing to be replaced, the steering column doesn’t like to adjust and the front heated seats have decided that working is optional behaviour. None of these stop the car from functioning and being usable but they are all annoying things that I need to (get) fix(ed).

Moving onto my Jag, that’s been much more of a problem child recently. This is a car that I don’t actually drive that much but it’s been the problem child of the fleet. It’s always got some kind of issue with it. There is a rattle from the exhaust, the wheel speed sensor went, the rear alloy cracked (ok this might be my fault). These have predominantly been rectified now, other than the exhaust that’s being a bit of a pain to track down the exact cause, and I thought I was going to get a few months without having to have it up on jacks again.

That was until recently when I lent the car to my parents as they needed a vehicle to do a trip over to Wales and they had left their car in France as they were only back for a couple of days. It was about 50 miles into the trip that one of the fuel tank straps decided that being attached was optional. Great. Neither of my parents are mechanically minded which led to the interesting conversation of them trying to describe what had happened alongside pictures of the underside of the car so I could work out what could possibly be the cause and what they needed to do, if anything, to carry on.

It was this failure of the fuel tank strap that got me thinking, it is pretty well known that the X350 was an aluminium body and chassis, so why in JLR’s infinite wisdom did they decide that using untreated steel for the fuel tank straps was a sensible idea. If I was a more reasonable person I would say they have lasted 19 years and nearly 90,000 miles, alas I am not and this just seems like an odd choice. They have, fortunately, made it pretty easy to replace them, they hook on one side and a single bolt the other. Something that even an idiot like me can manage to achieve.

With this all being said, I still don’t regret owning two JLR products. As much as everyone tells you that running luxury cars is very expensive I will say the parts for the Jag that I have needed have been pretty reasonable, the wheel speed sensor was £26, sorting out the crack was £140 and the new fuel tank straps were £67. As long as it’s not some of the weird 00’s design things that go then it’s not too bad. However if you do have a damper that goes then you are looking at the best part of £1,000 to get a new one. When they are predominantly working they are lovely places to be.

I hate to say this, as I am not a fan of SUVs but I do understand why people did, and still do, buy Range Rovers. When I bought it I really didn’t want to like it as much as I do. My wish is for Jaguar to still make actual cars as I believe that saloons and estates (or wagons for you Americans) still have a place in the car ecosystem. I understand why they have removed them, they are following the money. I just wish that the general public loved the shape of saloons and estates as much as I do.