I've deserted.

T

TerryinNC

LVC Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2013
Messages
37
Reaction score
0
Location
27713
Or maybe more correctly, Ford has deserted me. Just bought a Jaguar XF. Turns out it is the successor to the S Type, the twin of the LS. On the way down to get it the wife and I were wondering if it was going to be as easy to drive and as good a highway car as the LS. It is. Except its faster - way faster. And quieter in the road. It runs 3900 lbs, a little heavier than my manual V6 but feels lighter and handles better. Only place it lacks is the seats. They're ok, but noticeably firmer than the LS. I must have bought the cheapest V6 they make and I miss a few of the Lincoln creature comforts, but overall this is not a replacement for my LS, its an upgrade. I'm quite happy.
The only competitor was the Lexus GS350, a really nice car. Drove Infinity Q70 and Cadillac CTS. Was hoping to buy American, but Cadillac's reliability reputation and resale value made it tough. Drove a CTS Vsport,the twin turbo V6. It is not a "Cadillac". Handling is excellent - goes where you point it. And wickedly fast. But harsh. Its like a muscle car, where the Jaguar is also very flat on the road but smooth and refined - a touring sports car. Chrysler was never in the running, and with Fiat as a godfather, not even in the picture. So the pickings in the luxury sport class are slim. I've never been a fan of British cars, and having Tata holding the strings is no recommendation, but I've picked up 2 facts recently to ease my worrying - Jaguar is #2 to Lexus in the JD Powers rankings, and the V6 under that supercharger is a Toyota engine.
So good bye, guys. Thanks for all the help. And keep those great Lincoln's on the road. I'll expect to meet some of you over on the Jaguar forum when your baby's finally give out.
 
Congratulations. Yes, I'll probably be over there some day (but not for a while yet, I hope.)
 
One XFR in World Rally Blue with the STi spoiler, please.
 
TerryinNC said:
Or maybe more correctly, Ford has deserted me. Just bought a Jaguar XF. Turns out it is the successor to the S Type, the twin of the LS. On the way down to get it the wife and I were wondering if it was going to be as easy to drive and as good a highway car as the LS. It is. Except its faster - way faster. And quieter in the road. It runs 3900 lbs, a little heavier than my manual V6 but feels lighter and handles better. Only place it lacks is the seats. They're ok, but noticeably firmer than the LS. I must have bought the cheapest V6 they make and I miss a few of the Lincoln creature comforts, but overall this is not a replacement for my LS, its an upgrade. I'm quite happy.
The only competitor was the Lexus GS350, a really nice car. Drove Infinity Q70 and Cadillac CTS. Was hoping to buy American, but Cadillac's reliability reputation and resale value made it tough. Drove a CTS Vsport,the twin turbo V6. It is not a "Cadillac". Handling is excellent - goes where you point it. And wickedly fast. But harsh. Its like a muscle car, where the Jaguar is also very flat on the road but smooth and refined - a touring sports car. Chrysler was never in the running, and with Fiat as a godfather, not even in the picture. So the pickings in the luxury sport class are slim. I've never been a fan of British cars, and having Tata holding the strings is no recommendation, but I've picked up 2 facts recently to ease my worrying - Jaguar is #2 to Lexus in the JD Powers rankings, and the V6 under that supercharger is a Toyota engine.
So good bye, guys. Thanks for all the help. And keep those great Lincoln's on the road. I'll expect to meet some of you over on the Jaguar forum when your baby's finally give out.
Click to expand...

You skipped the German brands. For me it was between the XF and BMW. I went German for various reasons....
 
Yes, I skipped the Germans. Repairs are too often and too expensive. I see great engineering and poor execution. I'm looking forward to 5 or 6 years with my hood sealed shut. In fact, I don't care it I never see the supercharger in this car.
 
TerryinNC said:
Yes, I skipped the Germans. Repairs are too often and too expensive. I see great engineering and poor execution. I'm looking forward to 5 or 6 years with my hood sealed shut. In fact, I don't care it I never see the supercharger in this car.
Click to expand...

I've heard that, but mainly from non-owners. From what I've read from various owner's sites reliability is pretty much the same as any other luxury brand. The exception would be the new N63 TTV8 in the x50 models; which is why I went with the I6. According to the dealer, my 535 hasn't been in for anything but normal maintenance stuff, including an alignment or two. I've put about 5K on it in the last 4 months with nary an issue.

There is a plethora of run-on-flat tire complaints. Mostly a certain size and brand. They also like to complain about the lack of a spare.
 
mine runs excellent, and its slow. a little over 200 to the wheels @ 3700 lbs
does not equal my definition of fast.
 
elephantrider said:
mine runs excellent, and its slow. a little over 200 to the wheels @ 3700 lbs
does not equal my definition of fast.
Click to expand...

I understand what you're saying. However, in the Grand scheme of things, we're talking about a vehicle that in stock trim can give 340 HP hemis a run for their money after 20 mph and with the few things we can do to our cars to give that little bit extra, can make a good account of itself in the performance aspect. Add to that the factor that most people seem to want to use the cheaper grade of fuel most of the time, I'd say the LS comes in around at least the 50 percentile of comparable cars out there. If there was a baseball player with a 500 batting average we would want to make him the King. Honestly, unless you live in Abu Dhabi, if you are at a traffic light with 10 other cars the LS is bound to be in the top 3 quickest. Besides, the LS doesn't really look quick so, there is that Shock and Awe factor we have going for us.
 
agree with the overall idea of it being one of the fastest cars at any given stop light.

i do run 93 in it at every fill up. sometimes i jump in the gto, then drive the ls,
and i'm almost asleep before i get to that red light ;)

it IS faster than some of the elphants i've riden, i WILL give ya that lol
 
elephantrider said:
agree with the overall idea of it being one of the fastest cars at any given stop light.

i do run 93 in it at every fill up. sometimes i jump in the gto, then drive the ls,
and i'm almost asleep before i get to that red light ;)

it IS faster than some of the elphants i've riden, i WILL give ya that lol
Click to expand...

Do keep in mind that the 2nd gen is a bit faster than the 1st gen.
 
^ yes, and a "bit" is about all i'd give it. the new nissan altima has 270 hp. just sayin' lol
 
elephantrider said:
^ yes, and a "bit" is about all i'd give it. the new nissan altima has 270 hp. just sayin' lol
Click to expand...

My Lady Partner's 2011 Camry had 268 HP with a 6 speed auto. We raced once. She said "Go! Haha I beat you! Hey, how did you get in front of me? " I said "Warp Drive Baby!" She's hated the LS ever since because she thinks I love it more than her. You know what? Sometimes I....
 
elephantrider said:
^ yes, and a "bit" is about all i'd give it. the new nissan altima has 270 hp. just sayin' lol
Click to expand...

It also has more power than a DB5.... Or an XKE..... Which would you rather have?????

I would hope a new car would have more power than one 10-15 years older!!
 
Yeah the LS is no race car. But it's very good at what it's intended to be. A luxury sport car. You get a great combination of both, and it's visually about as aesthetically pleasing as a car could get in my personal opinion. I will say that I am far more attracted to the genII's than the genI's. That's just personal taste though.

As for perfomance, however, I did do much better at the strip this year. Last year I ran a 15.3 @ 95mph. This year at the test and tune prior to the Puerto Rico vs U.S. event at Martin US131 raceway I ran a 14.94 @ 99mph. Not bad for a boat.

I do honestly believe that anyone that is unsatisfied with the power of their LS is more than likely at fault for neglect. After I did some maintenance and put some love into my LS it drove like a brand new car. COP's and plugs alone felt like a 50hp gain.

I love my LS and it's gonna be burried with me.
 
i certainly love the lines of the ls. 1gen or 2nd gen. they're both sexy as hell. and an awesome cruiser for sure.
wont be getting rid of mine anytime soon, i'll tell ya that !
 
elephantrider said:
^ yes, and a "bit" is about all i'd give it. the new nissan altima has 270 hp. just sayin' lol
Click to expand...

I just gave back the 14 Nissan Altima S they had me in. It was sh!thole. Glad to have my LS back!
 
i had one as a rental out it mexico. good gawd that thing was a p.o.s.

glad your back in the ls !
 
SoulSoak said:
I do honestly believe that anyone that is unsatisfied with the power of their LS is more than likely at fault for neglect.
Click to expand...

or maybe it's the fact that those people have actually driven cars with plenty of power instead of barely enough...

I find it quite unsatisfying in straight line acceleration and my LS is in pretty darn good condition(mechanically) for being 13 years old and having a hair under 160k on the clock. still runs pretty even with a friend of mine's that has under half the miles and has been babied and dealer serviced all its life.



the only fault here is the design team for only giving the car 250/280+ HP with a near 3800# weight... at least the kitty version actually had a high performance version. and I wouldn't mind it so much if it used a common drivetrain where stuff could actually be done to it without either blowing out the glass short block or having to have one off custom parts that cost as much as the whole car does...


lets face it, take the top model of the two LS's and the top model of any of its true competitors, and it's nowhere near there... sure the LS stacks up well with the lower end models but they never made a high performance model and thats going to make sure that no LS (well maybe alex's will once hes fully built) is keeping up with any BMW M car, not keeping up with any AMG car, dont think it could keep up with even an Audi S car let alone a RS model. STR, lol, nope. SRT? nope. dont even get me started and any/every bowtie with an LS motor(V's GTP's, GXP's, SS's)! I also don't think its keeping up with a G35/37 either(but while most have lost to them, there are the few outliers that say they have smashed them...). what's that leave? oh yes, every boring FWD turd bucket econobox out there with makes up 70% of the cars at every traffic light, how lucky we are to be faster than those!



on a positive note, the LS shouldn't have too much problem keeping up with the Acuras, and probably the Toyos... how lucky we are! but then again, I'm probably just a guy that let his sweet ride go to sh!t.
 
^
I've come across some G37S/Q50S that try to run with me from freeway speeds. They are pretty quick but I think some of those cars don't rev as freely at the upper end like our cars do. Many of those cars don't have true dual exhaust and no telling what kind of setup they have for the intake. They seem to be straining like they are trying to overcome back pressure or something. That means they can be modified to develop more power quite easily just by increasing the efficiency of exhaust and intake.
 
1LoudLS said:
or maybe it's the fact that those people have actually driven cars with plenty of power instead of barely enough...

I find it quite unsatisfying in straight line acceleration and my LS is in pretty darn good condition(mechanically) for being 13 years old and having a hair under 160k on the clock. still runs pretty even with a friend of mine's that has under half the miles and has been babied and dealer serviced all its life.



the only fault here is the design team for only giving the car 250/280+ HP with a near 3800# weight... at least the kitty version actually had a high performance version. and I wouldn't mind it so much if it used a common drivetrain where stuff could actually be done to it without either blowing out the glass short block or having to have one off custom parts that cost as much as the whole car does...


lets face it, take the top model of the two LS's and the top model of any of its true competitors, and it's nowhere near there... sure the LS stacks up well with the lower end models but they never made a high performance model and thats going to make sure that no LS (well maybe alex's will once hes fully built) is keeping up with any BMW M car, not keeping up with any AMG car, dont think it could keep up with even an Audi S car let alone a RS model. STR, lol, nope. SRT? nope. dont even get me started and any/every bowtie with an LS motor(V's GTP's, GXP's, SS's)! I also don't think its keeping up with a G35/37 either(but while most have lost to them, there are the few outliers that say they have smashed them...). what's that leave? oh yes, every boring FWD turd bucket econobox out there with makes up 70% of the cars at every traffic light, how lucky we are to be faster than those!



on a positive note, the LS shouldn't have too much problem keeping up with the Acuras, and probably the Toyos... how lucky we are! but then again, I'm probably just a guy that let his sweet ride go to sh!t.
Click to expand...

Well I must say I'm quite certain that anyone who has driven and/or owned very powerful vehicles will find even the M5 of the early to mid 2000's to be just as unsatisfying as the LS. If you have a 8.90 weekend warrior Nova bracket trapper, and a Tesla electric for a daily, it's going to be difficult to find enjoyment in an LS. Why would those particular individuals even buy one..?

And you say that the top models of the LS wouldn't compete with the top models of it's competitors at the time. And, yeah, you're right. But do bare in mind that the LS just jumped in the game at the time. BMW, Audi, Mercedes... have all been in the luxury sport game for a long, long, long time. And when the LS does horrible in sales, you expect it to improve drastically to be competitive?

I bet if they had made more money they could and would have improved the LS to be competitive.

Regardless, apparently I struck a nerve with my prior post. I apologize, but none of it was personal. Maybe I'm just an individual that's very happy with his car.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 135 (members: 1, guests: 134)
Back
Top