Flashback: When I retired, I bought a new 2014 Jaguar XK. I have coveted Jaguars ever since I became acquainted with them in the mid-1960s, in fact since before I even had a drivers license. But over the years, I always had other, more practical priorities, like paying for college, getting married, buying a house, having kids, saving for their colleges, saving for their weddings, saving for the grandkids colleges ...
 |
| Me and my XK |
My wife gets the actual credit for the Jaguar that's parked in our garage. She's the one who encouraged me finally to start a dedicated account to save up for a Jaguar. And by the time I retired, it was enough. I debated whether to buy a restored vintage XKE like I fell in love with 50 years ago. But I'm sort of mechanically challenged, and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep an old Jaguar running on my own. The XK model design was reminiscent enough of the XKE. So I decided to get a new one, anticipating that it would be more reliable mechanically.
Don't get me wrong. It's been pretty good. The only thing that's ever caused any serious trouble has been the electrical system.
Eyes Wide Open: I've always heard that the electrical system is fussy in a Jaguar. About once a year, I discover that the battery has drained unexpectedly and without any apparent cause. It happened earlier this fall. When I took the car in to have the snow tires put on (yes, I do drive it all winter in Minnesota), I asked the mechanics to check it out.
The verdict was that the battery was starting to get weak. "It's rated at 800 cold cranking amps, and the meter shows it putting out 600," the mechanic told me. He said that should be ok. But since the car was still at the dealer, he could put in a new battery, if I wanted, for $500. I gulped at that. Yeah, maintaining a Jaguar isn't cheap. But $500 for a car battery? That seemed unreasonable. So, I declined.
Now, when the car wouldn't start earlier this fall, my son-in-law lent me his jump starter. And that worked! The car fired up. I drove it around to recharge the battery, and I hoped that everything was ok. As insurance, I went out and bought a jump starter myself.
Not good enough, apparently. When we got home from a very nice dinner with our friends, I plugged in the jump starter that I bought so that it would be fully charged by morning. On Christmas morning, I went into the garage, hooked up the jump starter, got into the car and pushed the start button. All I heard was the same sickening "thunk thunk" and the electronics went berserk again. Frustrating, but it was Christmas Day. I didn't really need to be driving the Jaguar anywhere. And I knew it would be next to impossible to get someone to come out and help me get it started.
I thought, maybe my son-in-law's jump starter was more powerful. So later in the evening, I went over to his house and borrowed his Stanley JumpIt again. I charged it up overnight. On Tuesday morning, I hooked it up to the car. Much to my chagrin, still no action.
My Jaguar dealer provides emergency roadside assistance, including jump starts. I did have to call them one other time when the battery drained. I knew that it would be a long wait, so I decided to try one more thing. My local hardware store opened at 8 a.m. I ran over there and bought jumper cables. Came home and hooked up my wife's Honda . The Jaguar did turn over. But not with enough oomph to get it started.
Time to call in a pro. I dialed the roadside assistance number. Of course, I waited on hold for 20 minutes, but finally someone came on the phone, took my information, and put in a service call with a local provider. Ah, but now, I started to run into my own schedule conflicts. I had a couple of appointments to take care of, and the time that the auto service guy could come out wouldn't work. So I told them to just wait a day and come on Wednesday.
It was while I was running my errands (in my wife's car) that I had my moment of doubt. "What's the point of having a beautiful, high-powered car just sitting in my garage?" I said to myself. It's 4 years old, just over 30,000 miles. I wondered what I could get if I tried to sell it. But what would I replace it with? I liked the Volvo I was driving when I got the Jaguar. Maybe I'd get a new Volvo. Or maybe I'd shop for an electric vehicle.
Wednesday morning, a tow truck that was arranged by the roadside assistance service pulled into my driveway. It took 3 tries. But finally after 4 frustrating days, the Jaguar fired up with a throaty roar. I guess she'd just been sleeping.
As I drove up the street, on my way to get a new battery, the car surged ahead, as if to complain: "What am I doing on this suburban street? I should be flying down the highway."
I felt that familiar thrill. I'm driving a Jaguar! And all thoughts of getting rid of it evaporated.
No comments:
Post a Comment