Just looking at the Jag promo photos and comparing them to what I remember of the new Mondeo from the latest Bond movie. Isn't there a remarkable similarity? Isn't it a remarkable coincidence that the new Mondeo is due in July and in 2008 we'll have a new 4-door saloon Jaguar?
"expressive yet muscular visual language" Mondeo or Jag?
The Jag designers say they're moving on from the old design elements to something new. I argue that they're dumping the Jag history to produce a top of the range Mondeo. I suppose it does mean that people under 50 might start to buy them
Not at all they are an completely different chassis and might share some engine and swichgear components but thats it. What is it with all this jaguars as tarted up Fords bashing over the last few years? OK the x-type was a mistake but in an age of platform sharing get over it!
platform sharing is not lazyness at all. Its all about economics. If all manufacturers had single model platforms with no sharing then the cost of a new car would be significantly higher. The new XF is based on a modified s-type plan which itself is based on a lincoln plan and used in cars like the mustang. Without this then the cost of the new car would be around 20% higher and when you add that to say 35k for a good spec model your talking 7 grand for something which, if nobody told you, you would have no clue about whatsoever. What is important is how it drives and handles NOT what is hiding underneath.
Platform sharing wasn't my complaint. No doubt it does share some components and no doubt it is closely related to other Jaguars more than other Fords. Design is my complaint. The 2007 Mondeo has a prominent, wide grille with pointed headlamps curving back into the wings. It has strong "shoulders" arcing back into the rest of the car and its wheels are pulled out to each corner with wide wheel arches. The design cues for the Jaguar are the same. Is this a new Jaguar or a new Ford? The Jaguar designer said that they had deliberately dropped most of the design cues from previous Jags. I don't think it looks like a Jaguar. That's my issue with it.
Bl**dy hell guys. First Jags are rubbish because they're styled to appeal to people who like carpet slippers and smoke a pipe. Now it looks like there's going to be a truly modern one and its rubbish for not looking Jaguary enough....Tosh.
I think it's fantastic. At last a car that's a bit diferent in the styling stakes without being out-and-out ugly or made by a manufacturer that couldn't make a shoelace reliable....and it's made right here in the midlands.
Hope they sell like hotcakes. I'd have one like a shot over the pig-ugly A6, dull-as-ditchwater E-class or 5-series which of course necessitates buying a BMW and having everyone else scowl at you all the time.
_________________________ "Forward", he cried, from the rear, and the front rank died. And the General sat, and the lines on the map moved from side to side.
What's wrong with taking a few styling cues off these? Jaguar has over 60 years of history- surely there's something in that back catalogue that they could use? I'm worried that Jaguars might end up as high-class Fords with the same silhouette. Just like Audi and VW.
They took styling cues off the E-Type already for the XK's (slightly on the current and more so on the previous model).
Plus, making your new cars look like your old cars is, I reckon, about to become as fashionable as bell bottoms. Everyone with any heritage is doing it now!
The new XF looks superb. I would certainly be interested when they are unveiled. I like the look of the burnt wood too, sounds like a modern twist on something classic.
Ive only seen it in the motoring section of the newspaper, but from what I can see, its awful.
What a hideous front end!
Down the road from here is a pristine condition mid 90s XJ-S V12. That was the very last proper Jaguar. The series 3 XJ and the XJ-S were magical to own & gave a sense of occasion every time you drove them.
Today's are awful - and this XF is a case in point. Its gruesome, overstyled front looks like an Audi A8.
I can see theyve tried to take cues from the old XJ series 1, with its large grille. But the series 1 was elegant and beautiful.
This is a monstrosity.
Remember when Jaguar last tried to take cues from a model of yesteryear? They came up with the ghastly S-Type with its toilet-seat grille and bloated styling.
If you want a Jaguar, spend 10,000 on a pristine, low mileage XJ-S convertible and not this awful contraption.
I don’t know what Jaguar is playing at; they are supposed to be classy and elegant but this new one looks like the product of an over imaginative art school student who’s only experience of driving is on a Playstation.
