mpkayeuk

I pay 425 on Admiral multi-car. Full no claims and it's protected as well. Live inside M25 car on drive. No tracker. I'm 36.

I should add... my experience was bang in the middle of Ford ownership. Must say, it saddens me to hear about your experience as I absolutely love the marque. I will almost certainly return in the near future, I think the new XJ is epic. I just can't understand why/how the dealer is so bad, nor can I understand why Jaguar aren't assisting.

The thing is, as little as it helps your personal situation and as hard as it is to accept, your experience and that of your brother (however co-incidental) is atypical. JD Power ranked the XF the best executive saloon in 2009, the second best car overall and the marque 3rd best. That just doesn't happen if your experience is typical of all owners. As has been said... all marques suffer from the Friday nighters. Presumably the car is still under warranty. Are the dealers not resolving these issues? If you are desperate, I can highly recommend Royles Jaguar in Wilmslow. A bit of a trek across the Peaks I know, but they were always excellent with me.

Have to say, my Jaguar ownership experience was absolutely faultless. In fact, it was by far and away the very best marque in terms of after care I've ever owned, which so far includes SEAT, Land Rover, Ford, Nissan and Subaru. Land Rover were absolutely terrible, despite the car (a Full Fat Range Rover Supercharged) costing north of £75k. After the first service, the interior leather was covered in oily handprints. I was a refused a second service by an apprentice because he "couldn't fit me in". This despite the fact that the mileage I was doing would take me over the service interval on the automatic service indicator. He was fired from the dealer! My 350z arrived with plenty of paint defects, some factory, some dealer (there's a difference in how it's dealt with). Was a major hassle to get resolved, but with perseverance, resolved it eventually was. But not the best experience. Bad things happen, what's important is how it is dealt with. I had an S-Type R and 1 month (and about 2,000 miles) before the extended warranty was due to run out a piston ring failed. Required a new engine. No questions asked, no fuss, nice courtesy vehicle provided and a tin of boiled sweets and a litre of oil to go away with in my shiny, new engined, valeted car 1 week later. Every other service, the car came back spotless, with boiled sweets and a litre of oil... and not even that expensive considering what Audi/BMW/Mercedes charge. The sweets were actually very nice I agree with rtbiscuit, sounds like you have a lemon sadly and an unhelpful dealer possibly It's certainly not an experience I would recognise of the marque.

I have just ordered some in black because they offered me a 25% discount So we'll see what they look like once I've had the chance to get them fitted. Collecting the car tomorrow at 0830

Not yet, I want red but they are out of stock until Feb. But I will order when they come back in. Hopefully I'll be careful enough not to kerb them in the meanwhile!

Okay guys, the group buy prices are here. If we can get 10+ orders, then for £15 they will engrave the Z 40th Anniversary logo and also a username/reg number if you like. If you're not bothered about the username/reg plate then the price is £14. There is a further discount of £1 for 20+ orders. They are genuine Richbrook aluminium twist off holders, as sold by Halfords blank for £18. They don't come in retail packaging, just a protective foam sleeve in a jiffy type envelope. They also come with fitting instructions and 6 clear adhesive pads for affixing to the windscreen. How do we get the message out to all 40th/Black owners? Colours are: Black (bestseller) Titanium (bestseller) Silver Blue Pink P.S. Still waiting on the black one, but will take pics when it arrives.

Just this second ordered a black one with some minor changes to the spacing (slightly wider) between the Z and 40th Anniversary bits Should be here next week judging by the last order. I'm sure someone here will take one of them off my hands. I'll ask them about a group buy discount as well If there's no joy I'm quite happy to give you guys the artwork in the format they need it for engraving and you can buy your own.

It's arrived. This is in titanium silver, which is a dark silver (although in reality it isn't that dark). I might get a black one made up now to see what that looks like. Sorry about the blurrage, I focused on the 40th Anniversary bit Anyway, the engraving is excellent:

I'm getting some made up with the custom 40th Anniversary logo I made up. Well actually, they say 370Z and have 40th anniversary underneath, like the badge on the rear. Bloody expensive... and I mean EXPENSIVE though. They better be as good as I am expecting them to be! On the custom logo... the tax disc arrived Pic in the other thread.

Bugger, forget that, it's about 50% over the baggage allowance :o

With those kinds of numbers, you are better off travelling light to New York on a cheap air fare with a couple of empty suitcases to bring it back yourself. Chances of getting stopped at customs on your return is virtually zero. Go for a long weekend and make a holiday of it. Maybe buy some other bits to make the trip even more worthwhile. Make sure you do have the duty and VAT though in case you do get stopped In fact i worked it out. You could get a free trip, with 1 night stay to New York out of it this way, especially if delivery to New York is cheaper an UK which presumably it is. If you get it delivered home, you will also have to pay the shipping agent's fee for processing duty and VAT. This will be another tenner at least. Mind you, I have no idea how much the Stillen kit weighs, it might blow your baggage allowance

I'm getting mine made up by http://www.laser-grave.co.uk/ to see what it looks like. The blank is a titanium colour anodised Richbrook Twist-off holder which is £20 with the custom logo. The blanks are £18 from Halfords, so not a bad price really. As soon as it arrives I'll take pics.

Hi Chris, I'm very interested in this... did you ever get round to taking pics and writing the guide? Cheers, M

Ha Paul, nice try fella I doubt I'll get mats with the car and to be honest I'm not too fussed about it cos it gives me an excuse to put all that hard 40th Anniversary logo work to good use

Black owners, did you get car mats without asking for them from the dealer as part of the Black Ed. spec? Or are they extra? If they're extra then I think I will get some custom 40th Anniversary mats made in black with red embroidery

DOH, search fail. Sorry guys! Looks like it's a good idea then, hopefully will look good in red on the Black Ed

I'm considering some of these in red to go with the red calipers on the Black Ed. Anyone got any: http://www.alloygator.com/home.asp

Yeah, a while back I played with a portable HD PVR and a bullet based helmet cam from DogCamSport - still have all the gear tucked away somewhere. I did take some footage with it on the bike, but didn't upload it to YouTube for, errr, "reasons" The PVR wasn't great because when it was velcrod under the single seat hump it didn't work properly... something to do with EMF from the exhausts oddly enough, so I had to wear it in my trouser pocket or in a rucksack.

Congrats I did mine about 6 years ago. Main thing that shocked me was how much harder it was than I remember the car test being (mind you, it's a good job actually). I still passed first time, but so much potential for building up points on the ride. Turn in the road was rock hard as, on full lock, the bike I had only had a turning circle about 2ft narrower than the road. When I pushed it round first I was like, eeeek, this is gonna be tight I had already bought my first bike before I even passed, a brand new ZX10R Crazy now I think about it.

Chippy, wouldn't know where to get a Jersey insurance plate made up, but you're welcome to the artwork if you like.

Okay, here's a rough idea of what it should look like. I'll get one made up and take some pics Would anyone be interested? If so I don't mind donating the artwork so you can get your own made or maybe a group buy. Cheers, M

Finished the 40th bit, now need a Z for final design.

This is what I have so far after about 20 mins of work: Let me know if you think I'm on the right lines Bit of refining to do and obviously the anniversary bit

That would be awesome Ideally I'd like something from a brochure, like black and white in print... but that's wishful thinking. My Google skills have failed me in that regard.