[SuperchargedSteve]

I have had my XF SV8 for nearly three months so I feel that now is the time to make my initial comments and observations.

First of all I should admit I do like Jaguar cars. I have had three XJRs and my wife and son have both had X types all bought new from Paramount our local dealer in Derby. I still have two of the XJRs, one now with over 150,000 miles on the clock and the other about 175,000 miles - so yes I am a high mileage guy. The reason I have continued to buy Jaguar has been the quality of the cars and the high level of service from the local dealer plus I just love the power from those supercharged engines.

So how has the XF-SV8 worked out? Well initial impressions were good (apart from Stratstone - as Paramount are now known only putting 2 gallons of fuel in the tank when we collected it !! A bit penny pinching on an SV8 with pretty well every option fitted - almost a £60K motor.)

All the gizmos have worked well and I like the more modern styling compared with the current XJR. The component build quality is not as good as the XJR - just feel the "thin" switchgear to operate the windows or apply the handbrake - that said it is a cheaper range of car, so that can be expected. The handling and general drive is superb and in many respects better than the more expensive XJR.

Fuel economy is not quite as good as the XJR with the same engine and supercharger. That surprised me but I guess the XJR is aluminium. On average around town I get 23 MPG in the XJR and on a motorway run this goes up to about 26MPG. I don't hang around and drive the car for what it is built! The XF is curently returning around 18MPG around town and 24MPG on the motorway.

The car has been mainly used by my wife, so have only done 2500 miles in the first three months. Perhaps when it gets run in the fuel consumption will improve.

The faults that we have had on the new XF have mainly been those expressed elsewhere on the forum i.e

1. wind noise above 50MPH - appears to come from the door mirrors
2. rear disks are already badly grooved - Stratstone say this is "normal" and have not offered to replace them. I am not happy with this state of affairs.
3. Sat nav software needs to be changed. It tried to send me via London and the M25 when travelling from Burton on Trent to Newbury - 50 miles further than the M40 and A34 !!
4. Fuel flap failed to open. - apparantly a known fault parts ordered but not available until September - apparantly lots of people have had this fault (a jaguar engineer comment)
5. Two updates to the management software (these were safety recall issues but no body had contacted us, they just installed them when the car was in for the item below)
6. Intermittent low voltage warning. Turned out to be a loose wire

However today we had a show stopper. Whilst driving, several times the LCD display went out as we went over a bump in the road. Then when we stopped the car, we lost all electrical power. We could not open the rear doors or any windows, start the engine, or even make a phone call for help. Even worse we could not open the electrically locked glove box to get at the Jaguar instruction book where the phone number for Jaguar Assistance was held !!

So using our portable phone we got in touch with Stratstone who gave us the number of Jaguar Assistance and in 40 minutes they were with us - excellent. They managed to open the boot and quickly found the fault. Yesterday when Stratstone were "fixing" our low voltage fault they disconnected the battery and then forgot to tighten up the bolt holding the negative lead onto the battery and it had just come off. The service from Stratstone has been getting progressivly worse over the past 18 months. This lack of attention to detail just sums everything up.

Summary: The first 3 months ownership of the XF has been good. The SV8 is a great car to drive and I would strongly recommend you get one but just choose your dealer carefully and I suggest that you stay away from one in Derby !!

PS Do not keep the user manual in the glove box !

 

[craig]

Hi Steve, all but the last two in your list are well known faults if you look around on here and on xfforum.com. Annoying I have to admit.

It is interesting to compare it to the XJR. I would say the fuel descrepency is down to the steel body. It is a shame its not alluminium but then it would cost more so i guess thats a compromise worth making. In terms of the switchgear I kind of agree with what you say but I have to say I find the switchgear on the current XJ very chunky and cheap feeling as it has all the finese and feel of a Ford Fiesta. I know many an XJ owner that complained to Jaguar when the car was launched in 03 at the Ford parts bin switch style.

Out of interest whats this about not leaving the manual in the glovebox?

 

[pekem]

Very interesting report Steve.
Sadly, it appears that in common with many reports, the service provided by your dealer appears to be equally poor with some others elsewhere in the country.
Contrary to the remarks of d4ve, elsewhere, "that all XFs have poor wind noise caused by the wing mirror design" I can only five people, including yourself that have suffered with this issue. Two of those who reported a problem went on to say that the rubber around the door was replaced.
It is just such a shame that it is something of a postcode lottery type of problem that some dealers deal with complaints well and others do not.

 

[hydrajaws]

You have confirmed reports I had already that Paramount in Derby were useless in the service department and expensive too.Pleased I bought mine from H A FOX Nottingham who have been brilliant so far in dealing with a few problems like the Fuel flap opening latch which they replaced.Booked in this Friday for
Scored Brake Discs on rear
Sat-Nav problems as documented on forum
Water leaks through rear door seals after heavy rain
Clonking from transmission and lurch when selecting reverse
Paint blemish on n/s front spoiler since new 22/5 /08

New Service Manager at H A Fox very helpfull on telephone and is loaning me a Car and is confident most of the problems will be dealt with in the day.

Received a patronising reply from Jaguar Customer Service regarding Brake Discs and Sat-Nav telling me their Engineers had been informed of my complaints and that I would get a response.That was over 2 weeks ago!

 

[Roma]

5. Two updates to the management software (these were safety recall issues but no body had contacted us, they just installed them when the car was in for the item below)

Can you shed some more light on these updates?

My dealer knows nothing about ANY recalls for the XF! If these updates are safety recall issues then they sound important enough for Jaguar Cars to inform the dealer network about.

 

[penultimateblack]

Perhaps the safety issues only affected SV8's.

 

[pekem]

5. Two updates to the management software (these were safety recall issues but no body had contacted us, they just installed them when the car was in for the item below)

Can you shed some more light on these updates?

My dealer knows nothing about ANY recalls for the XF! If these updates are safety recall issues then they sound important enough for Jaguar Cars to inform the dealer network about.

My understanding is that the updates are not categorised as "safety recall issues".
I am unable to recall the exact nature of both updates at present but I do know one is associated with the volume of the audible alarms, seat belt and turn indicators.

It seems that the audible volume of the warnings is outside the range of the speaker and the problem is that the speaker is liable to fail if the volume is not reduced. My understanding is that the update serves to reduce the maximum volume and thereby protects the speaker. Consequently, after the update the volume of the warnings will be lower.
It would be a costly exercise to replace the speaker because it is located in the instrument cluster and replacing it requires the removal of the entire panel.
I suspect that if there was a mass failure of the speaker, Jaguar would perhaps recall the cars for the update, more for economic reasons than safety, because obviously replacing the speaker is an expensive procedure.
I am surprised that all dealers have not read about this, it is not a secret but then it is not a safety issue so Roma's dealer is correct :!:

 

[hydrajaws]

Great success with my Jaguar Dealer H A Fox Nottingham today Friday 29th August.

New rear brake discs and pads fitted after 4250 miles.
Re programme to cure clonk when selecting reverse. Seems to have worked.
Service updates by reflash on ECU. Noticeable difference on take off speed in D and S mode.


New rear door seals ordered to cure water leak
Paint problem to be rectified on front spoiler .
Sat Nav problems reported to Jaguar and they are working on a fix.

Service Manager could not have been more helpful and explained all the actions taken.
Loaned me a new X Type Auto for day.
Have faith fellow XF owners there are some good Dealers still around!

 

[pekem]

Great success with my Jaguar Dealer H A Fox Nottingham today Friday 29th August.

New rear brake discs and pads fitted after 4250 miles.
Re programme to cure clonk when selecting reverse. Seems to have worked.
Service updates by reflash on ECU. Noticeable difference on take off speed in D and S mode.


New rear door seals ordered to cure water leak
Paint problem to be rectified on front spoiler .
Sat Nav problems reported to Jaguar and they are working on a fix.

Service Manager could not have been more helpful and explained all the actions taken.
Loaned me a new X Type Auto for day.
Have faith fellow XF owners there are some good Dealers still around!

Wonderfully refreshing to read

 

[SuperchargedSteve]

Sorry for the slow reply to the comments made regarding my first post but I have been over in France and Holland putting another 2000 miles on the XF clock !

First of all a reply to those asking about the recall issues.

I called them safety recall issues because that is how Stratstone described them to us. They consisted of software changes to:

1. recalibrate the sensor that triggers the pedestrian impact protection units that automatically raise the bonnet. People have found that this can trigger of its own accord when going over a bumpy road.

2. two updates to correct problems with the seat belts.

Anyway, back to my trip to Europe, mainly good news. The XF SV8 drove well and it was all enjoyable driving except when in France we wanted to select our next
destination area as Holland to enter either an address or post code. Unfortunately although the mapping covers the whole of Europe we found we could not select Holland, Germany or Austria. The only way of selecting an address was to use the touch screen to move the map and physically find the destination and then route to that physical point. Has anyone else suffered with this problem?

The other problem is that some of the sales blurb says that you can switch the headlamps from right to left hand drive. It is only when you read the handbook that you find this is a major issue requiring removal of both headlamp assemblies - not a five minute job you can do at the port whilst waiting for the ferry.

 

[donfenn]

I enjoyed your post. I am a new member of this forum from the U.S. I have a Supercharged XF and previously had two XJRs. I loved my XJRs, but wanted the more exciting look and package offered by the XF on my latest car. I agree with many of your comments, especially the fact that the gas mileage was better on the aluminum XJR.

I feel differently about the quality of materials in the interiors. I thought that some of the materials in the XJR interior were quite poor, especially the "rat fur" headliner and some of the trim pieces. The switch gear may be a bit light in the new XF and there may be some minor compromises, but I feel that materials and execution on the new XF interior is far superior than the XJR. The materials feel good and look good and the leather stitched dashboard top is really a nice touch.

Here in the U.S. the current XJ line is a very slow seller, and they stopped importing XJRs, except under special order. It is a shame that the wonderful big aluminum Jaguar XJs new caught on here, but I think they were too retro for younger American tastes. The XF stands a better chance, but timing is not so great with the economic woes and rising fuel costs.

 

[pekem]

Welcome to the forum donfenn
It is good that you have found the postings of interest to you.
I am sure others here would be pleased to learn more about you and your car.
Please consider completing the profile section with a little detail. It is also the case that many people look forward to seeing pictures of the XF, particularly if they feature an interesting background in another country and therefore yours would be very welcome.

 

[craig]

I agree about the XJR Don. I would like to see them make a coupe out of the XJ shape and fill it with the interior from the XF. Now that would be nice!