Jaguar XJ Saloon (2010 - 2019) 3.0d V6 Premium Luxury 4d Auto Owner Review

This is my second review. The first was just after I bought the car, this one is after over two years of ownership. I thought I would let you know how things have gone, the pros and the cons. The good points. The car is super comfy, fuel consumption is better than expected, on a 12 mile trip to work on an A road I average 32 to 36 to the gallon depending on traffic. On a good run I have seen 48. Note however nowhere near the claimed figures. If I have a heavy foot it drops below 20. It has got loads of positive comments. Almost every month somebody will say how nice it looks. Comes up really well after a Saturday morning clean. Hifi is superb, 600W Jag system is by far the best I have heard in any car. Leather is gorgeous. Never had an air freshener as the seats are proper hide. Smell great. Not man made leather like the XE and XJ and the German rivals. Tyres last about a year which is 12,000 miles so you will have to budget a grand a year for tyres. Servicing is fixed price at £250 then £385 as its an older XJ. Ok, Now the bad points. Build quality. Before you buy a Jag Google the popping roof problem found on may early Jags. Mine has it and three visits to the local dealer gave me to "fixes" that made no difference. They offered to charge me £720 to investigate. I just turned the radio up. Sod off !! It does get really annoying though. Door locks. Three visits to the dealer because when the weather drops below zero the rear door handles stick and you have to slam the doors to get them to flick back closed. Below minus 4 the front doors open but the locking mechanism sticks open so you cant close the front doors without them opening on their own. Basically below minus 4 you couldn't use the car until the engine had run for ten minutes and warmed the doors up. My 1979 Ford Cortina didn't have this problem !! Jag acknowledged a manufacturing fault so then replaced the drivers door only. Guess what, this year the passenger door stopped me using the car. Not good really. Size - as big as it is it doesn't have a huge amount of space. Seats don't drop down in the rear so limited space for taking crap to the tip. You will get used to driving around car parks looking for a space big enough and get used to kerbing the wheels. I would say if you do hundreds of miles a week its an ideal car but doing short trips to shop, drop kids off, pop to B and Q, etc. its not ideal. I know this because sitting next to my Jag on the drive is the Wifes Golf Gti. Unlike the Jag the Golf takes all 5 of us and the dog. I can drop the seats and take three times the amount of crap to the tip without any problems. Its less than half as much to insure and I can put a whole set of tyres on for the cost of one rear tyre for the Jag. Three years servicing, was £150 at VW. Two years for the Jag was £1060 and they don't do a lot other than "check". So, I have found the Golf a better all round car than the Jag. Its not quite as fast but its more fun, its not as refined but it sounds better and it has none of the minor issues the Jag has encountered. BUT - the worst thing is the depreciation. I paid £25K 2 years ago and have just been offered £11K part ex. That's horrific and the main reason I will not buy another Jag. Its depreciated at £583 per month !! Compare with the Golf Gti, which is the same age as the Jag and came from a main dealer, based on what we have just been offered in P/X that has depreciated at £112 per month. No comparison. So, what car am I having next. I have a Golf R on order. Should do everything I want quite nicely.