After a long search, I finally bought a new car.  I will be the first to admit I'm not much of a car enthusiast.  Ten or so years ago I was driving a 1984 Chevette.  5 years ago I was driving a Grand Prix.  And my last car was a Pontiac Bonneville.  I've always bought American made cars -- until now anyway.

What I was looking for was a mix between a pure sports car such as a Corvette and a pure luxury car like the Cadillac STS.  I wanted to have a bit of both.  Since I often take 4 people in my car, a two-seater wasn't an option.  So the Cadillac XLR, which was an early favorite, was out of the picture.  The Cadillac CTS was also an early favorite but lacked just a couple too many "gotta have" features that I wanted.

A good friend of mine turned me onto the Jaguars.  He took me to a dealership and because he works at Ford, he could get me a pretty good deal on one (Jaguar is now owned by Ford Motor).  As soon as I drove one I knew I wanted this. It was a totally different experience than anything I'd driven before. And I was driving a lower end one for the test drive. The handling was precise, the interior was snug, and the acceleration was far peppier than anything I could recently recall driving.

But I was still not sure. The Jag lacked some of the features I wanted.  No head's up display. No keyless operation.  And none of the models I could get in the time I needed had adaptive cruise control.  The Cadillac STS, on the other hand, had all of those.  But as soon as I took a drive in one -- no as soon as I sat down in one, I knew I wasn't going to get one.  I finally truly understood the vast gulf between a true luxury car and a sports car.  The Cadillac's wide seats, incredibly smooth, gentle ride, and graduated steering were very comfortable in a convalescent sort of way.  So it was back to the Jag dealership.

I eventually decided on a black one.  I originally wanted to get a dark green one but perhaps it's my imagination (I don't think it is though) but the paint on these cars seem to reflect far more than any car I've previously owned. In the sun, the black shines.  The dark interior is not an issue because all the windows seem to be coated with a fully translucent material that blocks out UV rays to keep the interior from heating up excessively.

The model in particular I chose is the 2005 Jaguar S-type Racer.  The specs are below:

But I also decided to get some upgrades to it. The dealership provides a host of upgrades that were unexpected but welcome.  First, I got it upgraded to 500 horse power.  That's done through a Spercharger pulley upgrade, a Performance Heat Shield Intake kit, A Performance Intake Kit, Upgraded Exhaust, and tweaked computer chip.  The extra ~100 in horse power is designed to increase the RPM performance in every gear.  Or put another way, it makes it have a lot more kick at every speed.  It also unofficially changes the ratings to roughly 4.4 seconds when going 0 to 60 mph and about 12.6 seconds on the quarter mile.

I'm not a speed junky (on cars anyway) but I've quickly come to appreciate the ability to drive very quickly when the desire rises.

Which brought me to the second dealer-installed upgrade.  The K40 integrated radar/laser diffusion system.  Essentially it keeps the car from showing up on radar guns or laser based speed measurement devices. It also informs you of any radar/laser using devices nearby.  Once installed, it's hidden, you can't see it in the car. It's just another light in the instrument panel.  Amongst their guarantees "Wel'll pay any and all radar speeding tickets you got for one year after purchase".  I'm amazed that such a device is legal (it's not in Canada actually).  Of course, since I never exceed the speed limit...I just have it for informational purposes of course..

I've only had it a week so far and I just love it.  Naturally some friends of mine have debated on just whether this is a "sports car" or a "luxury sedan".  My argument is that it's both.  But either way, given that this "luxury" vehicle can hold its own against Mustangs and Corvettes and other traditional "sports cars" is good enough for me.  Given that I only drive around 7,000 miles per year anyway, I want to really enjoy the ride while I am driving. And so far, the Jag has delivered it in spades.