As much as I love Jaguars, even I have to admit to their manifold failings: crap electrical systems, rust at the slightest hint of humidity (let alone rain or snow), and engines that should have been excellent (and often were), but not always so.
I knew a man who owned an XJS, and apart from the terrible V8 — they should have just stayed with the E-type’s 6, but nooooo — it just could not handle any road conditions that weren’t dry midsummer. And this in Chicago. (In our company bowling league, I gave him the lane name of Jagno Snogo.)
And was it but a couple days back where I castigated the company for buying into the Global Cooling Climate Warming Change© nonsense and deciding to go all-electric? (Why yes, yes it was.)
Well, paint me white and call me Paleface:
A driver who was trapped behind the wheel of an out-of-control Jaguar I-Pace has revealed to MailOnline how he almost cheated death as his car accelerated up to 100mph on the busy M62 motorway without brakes.
Nathan Owen, 31, was on his way back from his first day at a new job when his 2019 electric car started malfunctioning, sparking a huge police operation to bring his car to a stop after 35 minutes of hell.
But in a shock revelation, Mr Owen told how his car had also gone rogue on the motorway in December, this time reaching up to 120mph. He claims Jaguar handed him his car back 24 hours after he had taken it in to be looked at.
Oh yeah, did I also mention Jaguar’s legendary customer service? Which is to “service” as Rosie O’Donnell is to being a Playboy model: not even close to acceptable.
He admitted: ‘In the back of my mind, I was thinking I’m going to end up crashing the car, I’m going to kill myself or I’m going to kill an innocent person on the roads.’
Mr Owen, originally from North Wales, added: ‘The car was in its own world — it just had no brakes. The worst thing about it is that it’s happened before.’
And yet you kept on driving the stupid thing (#Wales).
‘The car literally just started speeding up,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t press the brakes. The speed was going towards about 100mph in the high 90s, going to 100. I thought this was a bit wrong. [ya thaink? — K.]
‘It came up on the dashboard saying there was a battery malfunction in my car.’ [I’ll say — K.]
But here’s the best part:
Mr Owen’s car was finally able to be brought to a stop when the miles on his electric car started running out.
Yeah, that’s $80,000 of pure automotive quality and reliability right there.
I wouldn’t accept one as a gift.
So just when was it that AB-InBev bought Jaguar Land Rover?
.
LOL
Growing up in the 80s Jaguars weren’t that rare of a sight. Now I can’t recall seeing one recently.
I believe the accelerator in my Tacoma goes to the computer before actuating the throttle and I think the breaks go through an electrical system as well. I’m not a big fan of either of these situations. Mechanical is generally stronger, more reliable than this electronic crap
Am I the only one bothered by this bit: “he almost cheated death”?
Since “almost” means he did NOT cheat death, his ability to give an interview must be taken as proof positive of life in the great beyond. You’d think that the headline would be, “Dead Man Speaks!”
It bothered me too, but I didn’t want the rant to get sidetracked, as it so often is. Sloppy writing, sloppy editing, say hello to the Daily Mail.
Did Lord Dumas try and put his car in neutral? Try and turn the car off?
Good questions both, but I suspect that the “battery problem” probably kept him out of both the gearbox and the ignition.
But given the “Welsh” part of the equation, it could equally have been a case of stupidity.