The Voices

Thank you Julie, my wife Sue is still experiencing some discomfort / pain but it could have been much worse. We have been a couple since we were sixteen, so I was around when she had the spinal surgery. I can still remember the specialist telling her that she would never be able to participate in any active sports or pastimes, as one jolt or impact in the wrong place could leave her paralysed. With regards to the car, I think if I were to buy it back, the repair costs could be horrendous due to the nature of the damage. I have spoken to the insurers today and they are now passing the valuation over to an independent company. Will have to see how it goes !

On the way home from our Jaguar Drivers Club meeting on Monday, a car came out of a side street less than 1/4 mile from home at speed and ran into the passenger side of the XJR. To add insult to injury, after pushing us across the road, he proceeded to flee the scene without stopping ! It all happened so fast that I couldn't get a registration number or even a definite make and model for the car that hit us. My wife already has back problems after spinal surgery in her teens, she is suffering from more lower back pain than usual and has had to go for an X-ray to make sure that the metal rods in her back haven't been dislodged. We reported the incident to the police immediately, but as usual you just get a crime reference, I have suggested that they check for CCTV footage in the area. The impact was on the back edge of the front door, runs down the rear door and onto the wheel arch, the rear wheel also took the impact and is now 'toed in' by about 40mm. I will not name my (well known) insurance company for the moment, I have all three of my Jags insured with them. I have been absolutely appalled by their claims process, I called the claims line and explained the damage to the call handler, he immediately said 'that will be a write off, I will pass you through to the right department and they will make you an offer' When I asked about sending out an assessor to look at the damage, I got the response 'well, it's a 2004 car and it will need at least both doors so it's bound to be a total loss' I wish I could say that his assessment sounded like it was based on years of experience of repairing Jaguars, but unfortunately it sounded like the only experience he had was posting on Twitter ! When I persisted in asking for an expert to examine the car, I was told ' we don't send out assessors now due to Covid', when I forcefully explained that there have been no significant Covid restrictions for over a year and that this was just a cop out, he had no sensible response other than 'it's our policy' I requested that I could at least send images of the vehicle to assist with the decision whether to repair or write off and was given details of how to upload images and evidence. The insurance companies claims portal allowed me to upload as many images as I wanted, I also sent over screen prints of every X350 XJR currently for sale on Autotrader, Ebay and Pistonheads, just to make sure I made them aware of the current market prices. They immediately sent me what looks like a 'generic' email, stating that they have decided that my car is a total loss and that they will be instructing a salvage company to collect the vehicle (to avoid them incurring storage costs) The only saving grace is that because the incident occurred so close to home, I was able to limp the car back onto my driveway, therefore there are no storage costs. I responded to their email and confirmed that the vehicle will remain in my possession and that I will retain full title until we reach an agreement to the valuation. As usual, insurers try to base the value on the suggested 'retail' prices from Glasses Guide and CAP Black Book (I already have access to this information as I work for a Jaguar Land Rover main dealer) The issue is of course that there are very few 2004 '54' plate XJR's for sale at any one time, therefore the trade guide valuations are, at best, a guesstimate. The current offer is £7,000 (less my excess), my car has just under 103,000 miles, full history and was in fantastic condition prior to the accident. I spent months looking for the right car, it was my 50th birthday present to myself. The closest equivalent that I can find for sale anywhere, privately or with a dealer, is up for £10,450 at this moment in time. There are of course crazy lower mileage cars, mainly Japanese imports that are frighteningly expensive, the £29,995 8,000 mile Super V8 is just one example. I am obviously ruling out these 'unicorn' cars but think that the current offer is not enough for me to replace my car on a 'like for like' basis. As far as I am aware, the whole point of insurance is to put you back in the same position you were immediately before the accident, in this case, the only way to do that is to payout enough to replace the car with as close as possible to an identical vehicle ? When I sent them a long but polite email stating my case and offering to discuss the matter with their loss adjuster (or whatever they are called these days), they have immediately escalated the matter to a customer complaint, which buys them up to 8 weeks to respond under FCA guidelines. An interesting loophole is that, because so far neither we, nor the police can trace the other driver and vehicle, it is not classed as being hit by an uninsured driver ! Therefore, we cannot make any kind of claim against the central insurance fund that is set up for this purpose. Any thoughts, sympathy, input, or details of any cars for sale that tick the right boxes are gratefully received.

Hi Joe, The 'J' rated Pirellis are XL rated and still have issues. I asked the question previously on one of the Jaguar forums, I seem to remember a chap from Detroit had replaced something like 6 tyres in his ownership for the same reason. 20's don't seem very common on XE's, so noy many forum folk to compare notes with !

I have owned my 'personal' V6 'S' for almost 4 years and have only covered about 6,000 miles. In that time I have had to replace 5x tyres due to 'bulges' on the sidewall, Prior to that I had three of the same cars as my company vehicles, the two that had the same 20" wheel and tyre combination also had to have tyres replaced. The one I ordered with the 19" alloys and Dunlop tyres was fine. All of the tyres are the correct 'J' rated Pirellis, I don't drive up kerbs or hit the sidewalls against anything. The tyre failures would appear to be from the usual potholes and bumps that you find on UK roads, obviously I avoid any that I can, but sometimes you have no option if you don't want to swerve onto the wrong side of the road ! I even sent one tyre back to Pirelli for examination, as I am convinced that these tyres are 'not fit for purpose' Their response was that the sidewall bulge was due to 'damage' (the tyre had no signs of any scuffs, cuts or marks on the sidewall), rather than a defect in the manufacture of the tyre itself. This seemed like a cop out on their part but I don't have the time or resources to take on a tyre manufacturer ! Therefore, my question is............................ Anyone else with this wheel and tyre set up and have you had any issues with the Pirellis ? Also, has anyone tried different branded tyres and with what result ? My current solution has been to source and fit a set of the (rarely seen) genuine factory option 18" rims and fit them with Michelin PS4's in the correct size and profile (also had the vehicle settings calibrated to tell it what wheel size it is now running) They look very nice, ride quality is vastly improved and the Michelins are a far better tyre than in the Pirellis, both in the dry and the wet. I do miss the look of the 20" 'Propeller' alloys however and would love to refit them if I could 'guarantee' that a different brand of tyres would not be as prone to failure. At about £1,000 for a set of Michelins, it is a bit expensive to just try as an experiment ? It may just be that the rear '30' profile and front '35' profile tyres simply don't have enough sidewall to absorb the bumps but it would be nice to know whether it is just the Pirellis in this size that are the root of the problem ?

Just make sure you use the correct size of space saver tyre on the 18" rim to match the same rolling diameter as the normal alloys. The optional space saver on many new cars is often a steel rim that is 1 inch smaller than the alloys, the correct tyre size sorts out the difference.

The key should work on the manual key hole behind the rear number plate ? If this isn't working, there is another option. If you lie on the floor and look up under the rear bumper on the passenger side, you will see a 'positive' battery terminal (best place I can explain its location is 'behind the back wheel') It may have a rubber cover that you need to remove. You can then use this terminal and any convenient earth point to attach a 12v supply to allow you to open the boot and get to the cars own battery. (we used to use jump leads and a spare fully charged battery for this purpose) Hope this helps ?

S/C = short circuit

It isn't 'an Arden', it is a Jaguar X-TYPE with aftermarket Arden parts fitted ? Brabus and Alpina are officially recognised as manufacturers in their own right, even though they modify BMW and Mercedes vehicles. Arden, on the other hand, are an aftermarket tuning company (not particularly well known in the UK) They had a deal with Pendragon (who I worked for at the time) in the early / mid 2000's, which meant that we could sell Jaguars from main dealers with 'dealer fit' (not factory fitted) Arden accessories. This could be alloys, lowering kits, mesh grilles, body kits, exhaust systems, etc. It is worth what someone is willing to pay, if they see 'added value' in the Arden accessories, they may be willing to pay more. Someone who values 'originality', may alternatively think the 'add ons' de-value the car ? Also, if it is based on a 'Sport' model, it should have colour coded bumper blades, colour coded grill surround and black window surrounds, the SE had chrome. Each to their own !

It's switchable on the 'instrument panel' menu, rather than the touchscreen. Accessed by pressing the 'menu' button on the steering wheel (left hand side, in the centre of the cursor keys used for the audio functions) Once accessed, the menu appears and you can navigate through the options using the cursor keys and the 'ok/menu' button to select chosen setting. The one you need to access is titled 'trip bank' it will allow you to select which one is your default choice. Hope this makes sense !

Looks a useful piece of kit. On another note...................................... I don't think I'm going to ask why you have what looks to be a camouflage net in your boot ? 😊

Hi Peter, I didn't know whether Paul meant that his front tyres were one brand and the rear tyres were another brand ? but I read it as though he had two different makes on the rear axle ?

I presume you mean that one rear tyre is a Pirelli and the other one is a continental ? If so, personally I would want both tyres to be the same tread pattern on the 'driven' axle, especially on a car trying to put down 700nm of torque ! If you bought it from a dealer, I am surprised that they didn't sort this out. My advice would be to either replace one of the tyres with a matching new one (if the tread depth is good) or otherwise buy a matching pair and then sell the 'odd' pair on Ebay.

It 'could' be any number of things ? I would try a different 'specialist' with better diagnostic skills perhaps ?

I think he said in his original post that it had been drained and the 20 litres of fresh diesel added ?

Read the fault codes, this should give you more information rather than just replacing parts ?

I would agree, put in a tank full of the best grade 'super diesel' you can find and a bottle of injector cleaner for good measure. Then run it for a week, probably with a few motorway runs and see how it does. Would be very surprised if 2 miles with petrol in has damaged the injectors, especially if you aren't noticing any change in how the car drives.

I would probably have a chat with them about the anticipated January delivery ? Latest info is between 6 and 9 months for most models, from the latest bulletin this week from JLR.

I don't know, but I suspect that to get a policy that would cover you for 'above market value', you would need an independent valuation from a recognised expert ? Probably the JDC or similar ?

I guess the 'dealer' will just say that they found a fault with the tyres so replaced them with correct size and speed rating. It's astonishing how many non franchise dealers have the attitude that 'tyres are tyres' irrespective of brand or quality. You mention that you have already had the alloys refurbished (presumably because they needed it), it might be that the dealer swapped the wheels (and tyres ?) from another car to avoid refurbing the originals ?

Thankfully, no ! All joking aside, I would guess that chrome rims are quite rare in the UK. You might need to look at importing from the US ?

Don't I know it !

It's the keyhole to manually unlock the boot in emergencies, doesn't have a cover, nothing missing.

Not without a lot of work that would cost a fortune, it would probably literally be cheaper to just buy an S-TYPE R in the first place ? To do it right, you would need a full car as a donor anyway, not just the engine. The 4.0 V8 is the first generation pre-facelift model, the STR is only available in the post facelift version, so there are a lot of other differences other than the engine. You would need the brakes, suspension and gearbox swapped as a minimum, you would then need an engineers report for the car to be insurable and legal on the road.

I had to replace the condenser on my 2015 XE 'S' A known issue, but Jaguar wouldn't replace under Approved warranty.

Think he means the engine cooling fans ?