I totalled my car last Sunday and am in the market for a different ride. My only requirements are AWD and 4drs. I didn't like the Subuaru's at all. I am going to drive a Jag tomorrow, I don't know much about them at all. Any help is appreciated!
Jags have a very high cost of maintenance. I'm not a fan of their reliability either. I know you said you require awd, but my pontiac gxp is a snow machine. It's a V8 but I average an overall mileage of 22. That's city, interstate and foot into it. Unfortunately, subarus are sweet for those requirements. Have you checked mitsubishi? i believe some lancers aside from the evo that are awd. Also, audi has a very high cost of maintenance. I had the same requirements and ended up with the pontiac, check out the gxp. I have only 1 complaint, they enjoy front tires. Kuhmo makes a passenger type for that car, not just super high performance. The number of awd cars are limited though. Go to autotrader and just put in your requirements, if you leave the brand model blank it will show you all the different types for sale in your area.
My in-laws had one they bought new. They liked it well enough to trade for another. Next trade was for a Lexus. They like the Lexus better. Cost of ownership was higher with the Jag. I can tell you that the Jag was incredibly fun to drive but the Lexus is more comfortable and bigger. My wife loves her Infiniti. Nice cars. Have fun driving them all.
If you have a Jag in your garage then you need not worry about the oil change. A friend o mine had his oil changed on his BMW and he said it was around $150.00 The motor of the more luxury cars use a synthetic grade of oil and only needs changing every 10,000 miles or so. But heck if you own a Jag price is no object.
Infinitis, thank you fletch, those are fantastic cars. Nissan's 3.6 is a fantastic motor as well. I use the same synthetic grade oil in mine but I change it at no more than 5k miles. While they do not break down as quickly, one of the side effects of that is that they have higher suspension properties, meaning, they hold debris. So if the oil gets a little dirty, which it will over the life of it, it's more prone to trap debris against the bearings. I typically rotate oils, synthetic for 5k miles, then a quality regular oil for 3.5k. I personally woudln't go with a European car, just not a fan. Look at the mazdaspeed series. You have to watch some of the 4 cyl turbo cars. They are blazing fast but require 93 octane. If I had to do it over again I would buy an Evo if it were a car, a colorado if it were a truck.
I second the infiniti. we had a g35x awd and it was a great car. Traded it in for a pathfinder because of kids, but sure miss the infiniti, actually thinking of trading in the f250 for another car myself and thinking about another infiniti for my wife and I will just take the pathfinder. Tough decision because I love my truck. My aunt and uncle had a jag many years ago, it required to much maintenance and expensive maintenance so they traded it for a BMW and were much happier.
This thread made me smile about 6 years ago a Jag was on my bucket list. That has been removed from the list and replaced by a 4WD tractor w many implements. Funny how things change.
I drove the Jag Saturday. I was not impressed at all. Underpowered, soft breaking and not much interior space. I'm driving a rental 2012 Camry right now, its far and away better than anything I've tested. The search continues :D
With any luxury car, maintenance is pricey. I had a brand new SAAB 900S back in 1985 that I totally loved. It was great while it was still under warranty. When I looked at what it was going to cost me to maintain it after the warranty ran out, I traded it in. My daughter bought a Camry in 1998 and it was a very good car for her. She drove it until last December and traded it in on one of those hybrid cars. When she traded it in, the Camry had 200K on it and was starting to nickel and dime her.
