Wheeling and Dealing

Jaguars have always grabbed my attention. The cats are awesome, but in this case I mean the cars. There’s something about Xj6/8 models that just scream British class. The outside model looks beautiful and it has that wonderful “leaper” emblem that jumps off the hood. The insides are also stunning, and have a ton of leg room in the back and even picnic tables. The picnic tables are like the trays that are on the seat in front of you in airplanes, except these are too small to be of any use. But it’s still cool to see them there. Another neat feature is that they had only one wiper blade. It was these sorts of subtle details that made the car a standout amongst the others in its class. The others tend to do 1 or 2 of 3 things right. The three being, exterior, interior and engine. And generally only the jaguar gets the exterior right in my book.

I had always wanted one, and a few years ago for fun I decided to look on Craigslist and see if any were for sale. At this point I had no knowledge of Jaguars other than that I thought they looked very nice. I didn’t even know there were multiple models. There are three if you’re curious. And I was looking for fun, because I thought they were going to be very expensive. At the time this was my first time of ever looking to purchase a car. So I had really no idea about prices, and all the other things that go into a purchase.

So I was rather surprised when not only did I find one going for what seemed a very reasonable price but also really close to where I live. The listed price was for something like $8000. When I went to look at the car the sale sign on it said $7000. But I was sold at $8000. The car was beautiful. I had never seen one up close and it was amazing. Then I got to drive it and I was astounded at how wonderful it felt and handled. I had been in other “luxury” cars and they weren’t even close to this experience. To me the car felt like an old man who is confident in his abilities but doesn’t feel a need to show them off. If necessary he will display all his might and muscle, but otherwise he is happy to just remain at peace. The other models I was in were more like teenagers, who have their flavor of the week music always on loud, and want to instantly go from 0 to 100 back to 0 again. They were a jerky mess, with the exterior and sometimes interior stylings associated with the fads of the youth.

Clearly I wanted to purchase the car. But I already had a mini-van. But this was no ordinary mini-van. This was the 1998 Honda Odyssey. That model came out in 95, and it was, in my mind, revolutionary. The van had 4 doors, which in 95 was unheard of. And they opened like car doors, not those sliders that we still find today. It had power windows, not the push out ones found in vans back then. It had a 6-CD changer, and sun roof. Sure it wasn’t masculine but it was still awesome, and it handled great. But it was time to say bye to it. I had put on a ton of miles and it was starting to experience some mechanical problems.

The man who sold me the Jaguar wanted to purchase the van from me as a mother’s day gift for his Mom. He drove it for a short while and made me an offer. The conversation went like this:

Him: What would you like for this van?

Me: I haven’t given it much thought yet, so how about you make me an offer?

$500

No way. This van is worth more than that.

$800.

No, I haven’t gotten a price in mind yet, but that is much too low.

Make me an offer then after you’ve thought about it.

…sometime later …

Okay, I would like $1800 for it.

I will give you $1500.

Okay. I will think on it, tonight and let you know tomorrow.

…after much thought that night…

Hi, I will sell you the car for $2000.

Wait, I thought you had said $1800 yesterday.

Well, I thought about it and decided it really is worth $3000, and I’m going to put it on Craigslist. But to if you save me the hassle of having to deal with all that, I’ll give it to you for $2000.

What about that $1800 price?

No, it’s $2000.

So you won’t sell it to me for $1800?

No. That was the price yesterday. Today is a brand new day. The car is worth $3000, I will sell it to you for $2000. It’s a great deal you should take it.

Okay, I’ll take it.

….

Later that night we both had misgivings. In my blinded by love moment, I quickly learned that this Jaguar was going to cost me in terms of necessary upkeep. And when I called him up to ask about one issue in particular I was seeing, he said he felt hustled by me. Apparently he found out that the transmission was about shot in the van. Well we both played the fool, and were both taken. Still despite all the problems I had with the Jaguar over the years, I would still love to have another. But not this recent bunch. Shame on them. They took that beautiful-classy design and it turned it into another run of the mill looking sport car.