I'll be honest, I've not just bought this car, it's been in my possesion for a while now, but with the leaving of the Carlton it was time once again to put my ass into a bit of luxury. Not that the Carlton wasn't luxrious enough, it was, it's just that when you think luxury motoring there can't be many of us out there that think Vauxhall Carlton estate right? So I thought it might be time to dip my toes once more into a Jaguar, this one...
This particular S-type is actually the third one that I've 'won' this year! The first one was 'won' not long after the X-type finally left me, I won for just £410, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get in contact with the seller. I sent him dozens of emails, but I never got a response, so in the end I figured that I was going nowhere, so I gave up, and just bought the Golf Cabriolet instead. The second one was 'won' on ebay while I was still cruising and enjoying the Rav4, and the winning bid was just £537, but after trying to contact the seller for a few days I did finally get a response from him saying that the engine had packed up on the Jaguar. So I asked him what had gone wrong with it, and he just sent me an email saying "dunno mate". So I told him not to worry, I was happy with the price even if the engine had packed up, I'll bring my trailer and come and collect it, then see if I can get my tame mechanic to have a look at it and sort it out for me. I never heard from him again, I even sent him a couple more emails asking where I could collect it from, but I got no response which I thought was a bit rude. So realising I was flogging a dead horse, or should that be cat, I bought the Mercedes 500SEC instead. As luck would have it a couple of weeks later that particular S-type was back on ebay, and with no mention of the engine being broken, but as I figured what would be the point in bidding on it only to get messed about again, I gave that one a miss the second time around. Besides, like I said, I had the Mercedes by then, why would I need a Jaguar? My feeling was however that neither of the previous Jaguar 'winnings' went for enough money for their sellers, and this was the real reason they wouldn't contact me, or let me have them.
Much like the previous S-types that I had 'won' on ebay, the seller wasn't too thrilled at letting it go for just £830 either, and said that he thought, and hoped that it would go for much more. However he told me where to collect it from, and we arranged a time and a date to collect it. I must admit it was with some trepidation that I went to collect the Jag, all I kept thinking was what if it's no better than the X-type... What if its worse? But 83 Crisp new £10 notes were placed into the sellers hands, the ink barely dry, and the keys to the S-type were dropped into mine. It was mine... All mine... What have I done? Well, too late to back out now, no matter from here on in, it's part of the story. I opened the door, and dropped into the seat. So, first impressions?
Yes, yes, YES!! This is what I'm talking about, I've not even turned the key yet, and already it feels so much better than the X-type. This is how I imagined a Jaguar should feel! Right, turn the key, the engine fires straight up with a flick of the key in the ignition, and settles into a soft muffled V6 burble. Already I'm feeling so much better, I put it into 'DRIVE' and ease out onto the dark, cold, wet, and rainy Bristol streets looking for a petrol station. I've never really paid much attention to S-type Jaguars before, but it is bigger than I thought they were, and it feels noticeably bigger to drive than the X-type. I feel like its going to handle like a big ole barge, but it doesn't, it feels sharp, and crisp, almost point and squirt! Onto the M4 and it's pretty empty, I thought I'd let the cat out of the bag and just have a quick stab at the loud pedal, I stamp on it and bury the thing into the Axmister, the big cat leaps forward into action and I'm away, storming down the M4 accelerating to warp factor nine! Make no mistake, for a big executive cruiser this things got some serious get up and go.
For over fifteen years now my gorgeous old 1984 Ford Sierra XR4i has been the fastest car in my automotive back catalogue, but it would seem that finally it's day in the sun was over, and it will now be regarded as the second fastest car I've ever owned! Damn I miss that car... Just looking at photographs of it makes me wish I'd never got rid of it in the first place, perhaps it's about time I had a re-visit!
Anyway, inside the Jag it does have a very exective feel, with dead cow on just about everything that is soft, and plastic wood adorning everything that was hard. I must admit that I don't care for the light colour of the plastic wood, however despite this it is still a very nice place to sit, and look at the world blur by. But most of all, above everything else, it feels special, it feels like you have acheived something. Whatever it is that makes it feel this way, was definately lacking from the X-type, but the S-type has it in spades. But as I said at the beginning, I've not just bought this car, it's been in my possesion for a while now, and this is because I was planning a trip to Germany over Christmas. I'd actually bought this car not too long after buying the Carlton so that hopefully this time I would get the documents back from the DVLA in time for my trip (that obviously I'm now not going on), and even though while I was driving the Mercedes and the Carlton I didn't drive it, other than when I collected it. But I think that just driving it that one time took the edge off the Mercedes I was driving at the time. I loved the Mercedes, and I still do, but the Jaguar S-type, despite it not being a beautiful two-door pillarless coupé just seemed far better. I even think that it jaded the Carlton for me, it just made the Carlton feel a little bit lack-lustre. For the remaining weeks I had with the Mercedes, and the whole month that I drove the Carlton around I just couldn't wait to plonk my bum back into this Jaguar, it's been playing on my mind, and I kept thinking about it the whole time. This was a shame, as the Mercedes was a great car, and one of my all time favourite cars that Mercedes ever made in my opinion, and also my Carlton was a fabulous car, and I think that had I not bought the S-type I know I would've enjoyed it more. Still, I guess that it's best not to dwell on it, I've left the Mercedes and Carlton behind, they have been consigned to my own automotive history, and I've moved on, and this my friends, this lovely Jaguar S-type is where we are at right now, and this is really quite good!
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