Durable vs Reliable.

I agree about the cheep part. Used jags are a great bargain and like all cars have there particular strong and weak points. 

Water cooled Porsches use to be that way. Now they are creeping up in value. I hope it does not happen to the Jags post 2000 as they are great cars that are still modern by today’s standards and you can get them for pennies on the dollar for low millage examples. 

dean1484 said:

I agree about the cheep part. Used jags are a great bargain and like all cars have there particular strong and weak points. 

Water cooled Porsches use to be that way. Now they are creeping up in value. I hope it does not happen to the Jags post 2000 as they are great cars that are still modern by today’s standards and you can get them for pennies on the dollar for low millage 

Compare the buy in for. Miata with a Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes, even some Porsche’s and they are on par. But the potential is there to be much faster.  

The only advantage a Miata has is it’s so well known there isn’t any question that’s not a quick internet search away.  

I only really know Jaguars, but that same level of knowledge is just as easy to find.  Plus so much of a Jaguar comes from America there are countless cheap sources for parts.   

That makes racing one on par cost wise with a Miata with  a really big advantage of speed potential.  

I’m sure BMW/ Benz/ Porsche and others have a similar network. For example a 450 Benz, 928 Porsche, BMW? Must have similar performance potential and entry level cars must have a similar price point.  

I understand what OP is trying to say. Reliable is how it behaves on the day to day. Durable is how much car is left after 20-30 years. Reliability is simplicity, durability is the quality of the materials. Of course rubber and plastics dry and break. Even the most reliable/durable engine can be the victim of an old timing chain guide, a gasket, seals, etc. There is no way around that!

For example, back 2007-2010 when I started driving, a lot of the other kids drove Hondas with D and B series engines. Yes, the cars would start every day and would never leave them stranded. When a repair was needed, you could get the part locally for cheap. But at 250 000 km the quarter panels were rusted to dust and the engine would let a cloud of blue smoke everytime you punched it. But it would start every day. That is reliable. 

Today I'm on my 3rd Volvo. I had a '94 940 red block, a '98 S70 T5 and now it's a 2000 S70 N/A. The 940 had low mileage, 240 000 km. Didn't burn oil, started every day and still felt solid. The T5 was on the original turbo, 320 000 km and still going strong. It burned a little oil though. The N/A has 280 000 km, doesn't burn a drop of oil. I also have a Mercedes, a 190E. I did the HG on it at 260 000, probably because I overheated it a little. The cylinder bores still had cross-hatching, no wear on the cam, no sludge, nothing. Still, the car was probably not the most maintained car ever if I judge by the quality of repairs I found from the PO. 10k km later, no oil consumption, no noises, good oil pressure. The dash has no cracks, the MB-Tex seats look new. But sometimes those cars don't start or they need a little part that costs 150$ and takes 5 days to arrive because no one heard of it at the local parts place. I'd be confident buying a 300 000 km Volvo. I wouldn't buy a 300 000 km Saturn. That is durable I think. 

In reply to Rocambolesque :Well said.  My focus is on the car as a vehicle to race, not for the day to day grind of street use but I understand and agree with your sentiment s about yours.  

I wish Jaguar made an x type R. I loved how that car handled and if it got the R treatment it would have been a hoot on track with the AWD.  Then take that and gut it to race spec. It would take many hundreds of pounds out of it. That would be a brilliant car. 

dean1484 said:

I wish Jaguar made an x type R. I loved how that car handled and if it got the R treatment it would have been a hoot on track with the AWD.  Then take that and gut it to race spec. It would take many hundreds of pounds out of it. That would be a brilliant car. 

Very easy interesting. I wonder if Jaguar ever considered doing something like that.  

Wouldn't  an  Audi give you much the same level of performance in AWD? How inexpensive are older tatty yet solid Audi’s selling for now days? In other words, does Audi depreciate at the same rate as Jaguar?  

Same question with a BMW? Don’t they offer an AWD  ? How is BMW’s depreciation?