Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Would admittedly need a lot more fuel than a 3 series or a Honda thingy.

Why would you want to be any of these clowns?

Ew, is that really necessary?! Also it's a bit unfair to compare Major with Blair and Thatcher. This is the man who gave us the National Lottery, Black Wednesday and the privatisation of the railways...

Obviously you wouldn't, but picking up a car that was fit for Prime Minister's and the Queen* not long ago for a bag of sand is cracking value for money. Especially when it's perfect for motorway wafting.

*Actually she had a Daimler branded version but that's probably splitting hairs.

See I know the Megane, looks slightly unconventional, but it flicks my switches. But thanks I hadn't thought of it, but's it's not going to sway me.

Because it doesn't look as nice, I don't always have to be practical and I'll have killed it by the time they get big.

P5?

And, for reasons I can't even start to explain, I'm just not a Merc chap.

Fair enough.

If you want a forced induction estate with 500bhp that isn't an Audi or Merc, I'm out of ideas.

Unless you want a new 550i and a remap...

Jag?

Estate?

Not actually an estate but 550bhp, 174mph and LWB:
http://www.jaguarusa.com/all-models/xj/xj-models/xjr-lwb.html

I imagine they are rather pricey though.

What are servicing bills/problems likely to be? I want some budget wafting...

Jag?

Oh yeh. You could get a black one and put a light blue stripe over it.

I had a 172 Cup and it was brilliant.

You have to be prepared for people to take the piss until you get them out in it.

I didn't have it long so can't really comment on reliability but it was a lot of fun and I had no problems with it.

V12 with a few mods gets the bhp....

Basic servicing and sell if anything major happens.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/jaguar/jaguar-xj6-sport-automatic-mot-d-low-milage-fantastic-condition-2-former-keepers/1156005480

https://www.gumtree.com/p/jaguar/jaguar-xj-3.2-xj8-4dr/1155870058

That's why I keep on coming back to the RS6. Forced induction isn't a must, so the M5 Touring is still an option, but I do still fancy a V10. With turbos.

Has to be an estate, for biking shifting duties. An XFR-S Sportbrake would be ideal, except for the fact it's way out of my price range and the Team Sky fanboi thing that @Hefty has already alluded to.

I still quite fancy a C6 RS6 Avant, 570 bhp would be a noticeable upgrade on the Volvo.

Looks like they're around £30,000, from a quick scan of eBay.

Which would be enough for three 996 911's.

Had a good day pulling this apart, still loads more to do but finding the engine to be quite clean and the front end to be solid was really nice.

Finding out I'll probably have to cut out and replace the sills was a bit of a bummer as its a long job but luckily the replacement panels are super cheap.

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Jaguar main dealers are going to be pricey. If you buy a car with a FSH from main dealers you're probably going to want to keep it up, but independents are going to be a lot cheaper.

If you go XJ6 the AJ6 straight six is a very reliable engine if properly maintained and not difficult to work on. If you go XJ8 the AJ-V8 is also reliable (it's still in production). You will read stuff about nikasil engine linings in pre-2000 models being eroded by high sulphur fuel between the start of 2000 and summer 2000 when the sulphur content in UK fuel was reduced, but in reality this is pretty much ancient history and any problems would have revealed themselves by now! It should be easy to check anyway as there's a plaque on replacement engines.

The 'sealed for life' ZF gearbox which is not actually sealed for life is also worth knowing about, and a much more pressing problem IMO. There are cheaper ways to get it serviced here but the definitive way is to take it back to ZF in Dortmund for a service:
http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/527361

(That article is well worth anyone reading just for the engineering/photos!)

But all in they are (broadly) well built, reliable cars that did well in J.D. Power surveys.

Bear in mind I've never actually owned my own car, I'm just a bit obsessed with 90s Jags :)

I've heard of some unusual obsessions, but 90's Jags is takes the biscuit.

Grace, space and pace... I'd prefer a '90 or '91 X-JS ideally but an XJ8 would be a lot more practical.

The XJS was an abysmal car - it was only saved by the later ones being pretty good, but it took them a hell of a long time to get right.

My 1983 XJ6 changed my view on what I wanted from a day-to-day car. Up until that point I thought I wanted a sportscar. Turns out what I really wanted was a wafty old 3 speed auto with lovely tall tyres and a torquey but basically gutless 4.2. If it wasn't for the whole 22mpg thing an XJ6 is the car I'd have for everyday use.

22mpg sounds like a lot.