Well, that was enough for me. I dumped the Jag and got a 2002 Lexus ES300 this past Friday. The Lexus dealer was even nice enough to give me a RX300 to drive for a couple days while the car I wanted was found to be already enroute to the dealership. The car is rock solid and silky smooth at any speed, no rattles, has a 6 CD in-dash player, a more powerful engine, better quality interior controls and materials, etc. and was stickered $2K less than my X. And from talking to all the doctors where I work, I won't have any trouble from the local dealer, either (Hendrick Lexus here in Charlotte). EVERY Lexus owner I've spoken to has raved about their cars and the dealership here.

Oh, I don't want you all to be surprised when you go to trade your X-type in. The best price I could get anywhere for my X was 30% off what I paid! And that's with less than 2K miles on it! Guess the word has gotten around on the X!

So, after ordering my X-type in late September and waiting until Dec. 28th for delivery (11/01 build if anyone's interested), SIX visits to the dealer for repairs totaling about 28 days, and once having to drive a Chevy S-10 pickup truck for two weeks as their loaner, I say farewell to Scott Jaguar here in Charlotte! The X was an expensive mistake! Reminded me of the 1987 Plymouth Sundance turbo I had. Had to take that puppy back to the dealer 12 times in the 13 months I owned it - and only got back 50% when I traded that piece of scrap in. Traded it for a '88 Toyota Celica. Then got a '92 Celica. Only had 1 warranty repair on either car the whole ten years I owned them. Should have stayed in the Toyota family, I guess. :-)

Oh, and something else that is more unbelievable than anything....(!!) My Lexus salesman called me a day before delivery. He told me he had called my insurance company and they have no record of my Jag! They still have me driving my previous car! So, I've been riding around without any insurance for the past 5 1/2 months! The Jag dealer didn't notify my insurance company like they should have. I called the Jag dealership and spoke with the GM (the owner's son, I think) and read him the riot act on that one! He said the business manager with whom I delt was no longer working there, and he blamed my salesman. I also told him of my new problems. As for the snapping/clicking sound out of the gearshift, he told me the old, tired line "They all do that"! Can you believe those clowns??!!

I know that some of you will wonder why I didn't go the lemon law route. I just didn't want the hassle, having to deal with the dealership even one more time, or with Jag corporate. After 5 1/2 months of driving that car, it was worth the money hit I took just to walk away from it.