I've been confronted with my Jag's mortality for the first time. 

Kinja'd!!! "Honeybunchesofgoats" (honeybunche0fgoats)
10/29/2016 at 09:01 • Filed to: None

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I picked my Jag up from the mechanic yesterday. He commented that it was in perfect mechanical condition for an X308 with 140,000 miles on it.

I stupidly asked him what I could expect to get out of it. “You don’t have to worry, I’ve even had a few come in with 200,000.”

I’ve never really thought about the mortality of my cars. I’ve had cars that I’ve gotten rid of because they were too much of a hassle to maintain, but I never had one that I had to sell because it wasn’t economically feasible to replace it.

Part of this is because my other car is a Town Car. It’s currently sitting at 198k without ever having a mechanical problem, and I have no doubt that it will make it to 400k. When it does finally die, I will unhesitatingly spend the equivalent of many Craigslist Town Cars to rebuild it, not because it’s a car inherently worth saving, but because I owe such loyalty to a car that has never once let me down in over a decade.

The Jag is different. I love the Jag—it’s everything I ever wanted out of a luxury sedan. But I’ve always known that it will someday become uneconomical to repair, especially considering that it’s not even worth anything.

Even so, I never thought of it as having a solid lifespan. 200,000 miles. That’s 60,000 to go. That’s 12 oil changes. That’s three years with the mileage I put on it. My Jag could die in 2019. My Jag might not live to see Donald Trump’a second term.


DISCUSSION (10)


Kinja'd!!! TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Honeybunchesofgoats
10/29/2016 at 09:08

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DON’T YOU PUT THAT EVIL OUT THEIR RICKY BOBBY, DON’T YOU PUT THAT EVIL OUT THERE!


Kinja'd!!! BackfiringDatsun > Honeybunchesofgoats
10/29/2016 at 09:11

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I feel like 200k is optimistic, but this is coming from a guy with an e39 with 205k miles. I think my engine is made of really nice sounding stale bread.


Kinja'd!!! Honeybunchesofgoats > BackfiringDatsun
10/29/2016 at 09:16

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It probably is, but I don’t see the engine being the problem; they’re super solid. My guess is that the tranny will eventually die and it’s just not going to be worth spending multiples of the blue book to rebuild a transmission.


Kinja'd!!! If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Honeybunchesofgoats
10/29/2016 at 09:31

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I plan to take my BMW to 250k miles. With how much I drive, that’s about two years away. I’m sure it’ll make it but at the same time I have to accept that eventually something will break that I can’t afford to fix.


Kinja'd!!! S65 > Honeybunchesofgoats
10/29/2016 at 09:33

Kinja'd!!!1

LS Swap


Kinja'd!!! V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Honeybunchesofgoats
10/29/2016 at 11:44

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This. I have this thought about my S600 all the time. I love the car as it’s pretty much my ideal S class and it was my first nice car, but at what point will tge maintenance just become unbearably expensive. I love the car but there may come a time when it needs to go so I can get a newer S600/65. I don’t want to see that day.

 


Kinja'd!!! Steve in Manhattan > Honeybunchesofgoats
10/29/2016 at 12:41

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You want to get it to 240K - the distance to the moon. Then you can decide whether you want to come back.


Kinja'd!!! Honeybunchesofgoats > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches
10/30/2016 at 10:55

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This is a huge problem for me, because I fell in love with the X308 specifically because I thought it was the most beautiful XJ Jaguar produced. I feel like I would never be able to move up to a newer model.   


Kinja'd!!! Honeybunchesofgoats > S65
10/30/2016 at 10:56

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I like this idea, but I think if I were going to go through the trouble of a swap, I’d probably buy a cheap XK8 from a model year with an unreliable engine and swap that instead.


Kinja'd!!! V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > Honeybunchesofgoats
10/30/2016 at 11:43

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It is the most beautiful XJ. If I found a perfect S65 I could make the jump but the car I’m looking for is stupidly rare.