May 14, 2003: I arrived at work to find that we had traded in a 1989 Jaguar XJS coupe. The XJS has always been one of my favorites ! I took advantage of this opportunity and took it for a ride during my lunch hour.

The XJS has always been one of my favorites. So naturally, I had to take the car for a test drive over my lunch hour. Cosmetically, the car was beautiful !

The body was dent free, and the paint was beautiful.

The interior was equally as nice. Jaguar's interiors have always been of exceptional quality. The seats were quite comfortable and featured that familiar "upscale" leather smell. And the a/c blew ice-cold during my drive.

Power comes from Jaguar's 262 hp 5.3L V12. More impressive, however, is the engine's 290 ft-lbs of torque at a rather low 3,000 rpm. This means maximum pulling power is available right after pulling away from a stop.

Unfortunately, I was able to hear an exhaust leak coming from under the hood. The Jaguar V12 is one of the smoothest and quietest engines on the market. Unfortunately, it also has a nightmarish reputation in terms of both complexity and cost. I'm guessing adding an exhaust leak to this mix, (which would cause the car to fail a PA State Inspection), was the catalyst for it being traded in. Finding someone in Bedford, PA to work on a Jag would be extremely challenging. Paying for the repairs could be quite painful.

Even so, I loved this car, and spent my lunch hour smiling from ear to ear during my road test. This car had 88k original miles on the odometer. Used car manager Bob Watson told me it could have been mine for around $3,500. While I was drooling, my wife at the time, who was well aware of Jaguar's reputation, was not amused and vetoed the proposal. In retrospect, this was the correct decision for the time.