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Monday, May 7, 2012

Marketing vs Reality

So way back when in 2001 I stumbled across this little commercial:


So what do I do? Stumble off to the Jag store and buy Version 1.0 of one of these. I figured: "hey, FoMoCo owns them now, Lucas is nowhere to be seen and maybe they don't leak anymore". Plus you get cool photos of things that can go horribly wrong like this too! 














Its the little things with this machine. I only have 25K on it and from day one the defrost bezels have an annoying propensity to pop out of the dash. There was a recall on that too, but the factory effort was lacking. So today I resorted to this:













Ok, I had a boat load of TSB's and recalls. The Jag store *cough Scott Jaguar *cough* here treated me like a red headed step child. I finally started taking it to Knoxville TN. They at least were nice about me actually pulling up in one of these. They gave me a killer XK as a loaner too!

The A/C is back on line, the annoying low washer fluid message is gone, and now only the dead front channel on the stereo and one dead drivers side seat motor remain. For now! Sigh... Let's try some more marketing:














Ok, I feel better: Unfettered avarice imported from Madison Avenue always works, right?

In the machines defense, it is a blast to drive and does have a very rare (only 7 percent came across the pond) with one of these in it.













It is a nice TV commercial! 

14 comments:

  1. LOL, you should have known better (or had a mechanic handy)... I had a Jag back in the day for all of about 3-4 months and sold it for $200 and was HAPPY to get rid of that POS!!!

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    1. Oh, I did, but at the end of the day I don't really trust it and if it falls out somewhere, parts and techs will be hard to find.

      Plus, I have NEVER had nubile females roll across the the hood of this one. Maybe it is defective?

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    2. It's a Jag, OF COURSE it's defective... :-)

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  2. My father had a Jaguar sedan back in the day. I remember him saying that it could pass anything but a garage. He was stupid enough to drive it into mexico where the rear end let go. After trying twice to get the parts shipped from Texas and having them disappear enroute, he finally hired a flatbed truck and sat in the car with the air conditioning running all the way back to the states.
    Stunning pieces of art, but not something to be relied on.

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  3. Aren't they an Indian company now?

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  4. Meh. I'd have a Mustang, or Iwas really wealthy, a Veyron before I'd have a Jaaaaaag. ;)

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  5. I feel ya Keads. I don't have a Jag but I do have a C3 Corvette. The Chevrolet engineers must have been trained at the Marquis De Sade School of Automobile Design and Cash Removal. If you are an average sized human of the male persuasion there are places you cannot reach and parts you cannot replace. Lu is my go to whenever I have to do work on the door handles simply because she can fit her hands into spaces not meant to be reached into but which must be or else the door will not open/close/lock. Either they put it together before they skinned the door or GM is employing elves on their Corvette build line.

    I'm voting for the elves. At least that'd be cool as opposed to just cruel. Hey, as long as you've got a Jag and are thence experienced in pain and depression anyway you interested in a black on black 80 Corvette? I'll thrown in some new door handles as long as you can find an elf to install them. Or buy Lu a plane ticket :)

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    Replies
    1. Six, I feel ya! If it helps any every time I put my hands in an old Mustang door they come out looking like I shook hands with a paper shredder!

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  6. Well, at least it has a manual transmission.

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