Posh cars and Hero's

I took the family MPV in to the repair shop well over a week ago and as a result was given a loan car for the time it was in there. Imagine my surprise then, when arriving at the premises, to be met by a man in a Jaguar X-Type!. In the past, loan cars had come in the shape of such awe inspiring models as Ford Fiesta's, Vauxhall Corsa's or Nissan Micra's, so it was a bit of a shock to find such a "Prestige" vehicle being put at my disposal for the duration of my cars repair.
Now I have always liked Jags, don't really know why, i just have, so to have one for any amount of time was great, although it turned out that the saying "Never meet your hero's because you will always be disappointed" is as true for motor cars as it is for people!
Why was I so let down? Well for a start as an engineer i tend to look at cars in a different way to say an accountant. The build quality was not as good as i expected, with parts such as the boot and bonnet lids feeling rather flimsy and on a few occasions i found that they took a couple of go's to make them shut fully. The dash moulding was not a great fit, and the grille with the historic Jaguar symbol sitting proudly on it was a very cheap looking plastic affair that i was sure would fall off every time i closed the bonnet.
On the plus side, the car (which was a diesel 2.2Ltr) managed to return around 40Mpg on a run, was smooth, and VERY quick :-).
Would I now, having had the car for almost 2 weeks (and If i had the money!) be prepared to spend £23,000+ for it? No, would be the answer. looking beyond the Jaguar brand, and the images that this evokes, it is really nothing more than a Ford Mondeo with breeding, probably driven by people who think that image is more important than content.
Anyway, hopefully now my boring, but functional (and cheaper than a Jag!) Hyundai Trajet will be returned to us later today, and i will be able to breath a sigh of relief that my three sproggswont be sat on those expensive leather seats in the Jag, munching crisps and chocolate!, and of course, the next time i see someone driving past in one of those "Big cat" cars with their airs and graces, i can be happy in the knowledge that on this occasion i was rather disappointed when i met one of my automotive hero's......and this will make me much less jealous of the geeza behind the wheel :-)