Well, having given up the ghost on a decent 166 3.2 ti ever becoming available, we decided that it was about time to dig a bit deeper into the ISA and along with trading the Croma , purchased our first RWD and non-Italian since we had the W124 estate :



Surprisingly NOT missing the Croma (and not just because she threw her alternator 3 days before being traded ) as my impressions from the first few weeks are that our replacement oil burner is silky smooth, obviously has tonnes more torque yet is still more frugal that our ex!

Loving it!

Very nice! But methinks one should have waited for the new Giulia...

Nice one Evo - My cousin was the chief engineer on the XF

Love the look of that - but more of an A4/3-Series/XE rival size-wise compared to the XF.

The Alfa will also be a tad pricier than what I paid - but you never know.... maybe when they are 4 years old like my XF

Cheers Nello - pass on my thanks and tell him he did a great job

ps: Can he get me a discount on the illuminated sill plates? How much????

Will do evo cheers though he did such a good job he was headhunted by Bamford and is now at JCB.
Heres' Mick with Ian Callum at the Franfurt XF launch in 2007:

Cool cat! But I'm biased

Lovely car, evo.

Thanks for the kind comments

Had an entertaining home tonight - the amount of torque available is ridiculous!

That is a nice looking car

Let me know what you think, I'm eyeing up an xfr as we speak!

I know its early days, but I just love it. Obviously not in the same league as the "R", but the v6 twin turbo diesel knocks out 275bhp and 600nm of torque!! Jaguar claims of sub 6 second 0-60 time - def believable in dynamic mode with the paddles but insignificant as the mid range pull with all that torque is what's addictive

How old is the "R" you are looking at? I think Clarkson did a comparison on Top Gear of a pre-facelift XFR against an M5 and said he preferred "the Jaaaaaag" as a road car. Have a search on you tube.

Up to 2010, I have about 25/30k to spend.
This may reduce depending on coupe repair costs and wife's holiday demands.
Do you have the cooled seats et Al? I've read the R mapped to R-S spec spins it's wheels at 70!

Evo#1 I like your XF, been looking at getting one for a long time, I would like an S also, Portfolio or Premium Luxury, beige or grey seats and preferably piano black trim inserts, with rear camera, xenons, B&W sound and alloys that I like, yours are not too common. What spec is the rest of yours? I did wonder if a non-S might remap quite well to get close to an S, are you planning any mods to yours?

Mine is a portfolio spec - will post up the full spec this evening.

I have the cooled seats in the XKR and they are surprisingly effective. A really useful luxury.

That's the one thing I'm looking forward to the most!!

...and off course how effortlessly it will leave almost anything on the road in its wake.

However, it will just as effortlessly empty its tank without you having travelled very far

As mentioned earlier, our XF is portfolio spec.

I know it has the following additional extras:
- Aero pack (Sports front Bumper(deeper with enlarged air intakes)/side sills/rear spoiler)
- Dynamic Pack (Continuously active dampers/20" shadow chrome Volans alloys)
- Sports pack (Black front grilles/18 way electric/memory adjustable heated/cooled/ventilated warm charcoal sports seats)
- Alcantara headlining
- Blind spot monitoring door mirrors
- Tyre Pressure Sensors
- 60/40 split rear seat
- Premium velour mats

and I have since added Jaguar stone guards and some Premium rubber mats (both thanks to some ebay bargains), but not sure if the following were standard portfolio specification or more extras:

- Front/rear parking sensor with rear camera
- Bowers & Wilkins 14 speaker DAB/IPOD/USB/AUX/6 disc Changer/Dolby pro-logic surround sound
- xenons
- Sat Nav (Here Drive)
- Rain Sensor
- extended leather dash

When the search started we were hoping to find a late low mileage pre-facelift (wanted the headlight cut-out on the bonnet ) with the aero/dynamics/sports packs AND a sunroof AND the Adaptive Cruise Control (over the standard cruise) AND the electric rear blind.

Couldn't find a single XF-S with the sunroof AND all 3 packs, and neither one with the packs and ACC (most XF that had it were the 2.2's or 2.7s - probably reps doing the motorway miles?).

In fact, finding an XF-S with the 3 packs was challenging enough and the few I saw advertised had done a fair few miles. I have read the engines do take the mileage, but the plan is/was to keep this for sometime, so wanted as low as possible.

In the end we found ours at the local Jag Dealer with only 29k on the clock and, as a Jaguar approved car it came with 2 year warranty (with total claims up to the price paid for the car) and 2 year MOT warranty!

In terms of mods, I was not planning to do any performance type changes (other than possibly the spires exhaust system) while the warranty is valid - but I am always checking ebay to try and find the electric sunblind and some reasonably priced illuminated door sills for a weekends retro-fit session

One thing to look out for on the pre-facelift (pre-2011) that we have found. The rear boot can suffer corrosion in the corners just above the rear chrome strip. The first time I went to wash the car I spotted the most minute pimple - thought "What the F...?" but after a quick google found it was common pre-facelift problem. The cure (both repair and on the facelift)is that a thin clear 3M strip is placed between the chrome strip and the bodywork. Apparently, Jaguar have never had a report/claim of the same issue on a facelift model with the said 3m strip.

Went to the Dealers the next day, who walked out to the car with me, took a look, agreed the issue, took a few photos and 3 days later Jaguar had approved the work under the corrosion warranty. Car is going in this weekend so will report back, but Jag forum members who have had the procedure have subsequently confirmed that the problem has never returned.

Happy hunting - you'll love it

I test drove a 2009 r and it was mental but in poor condition, was in a very dodgy local garage!

While the coupes off the road I'm back in the V12 xjs, that's used 4 gallons in 51.9 miles.... And it's not seen more than 2k rpm!! I know how thirsty a big cat can be!!

Tbh, I can't wait - just need the builders to finish my house!

Evo, that sounds like a brilliant spec!
I'm very jealous even though it is an oil burner.
Think jag have the right approach to customer service in general, it's all part of the marque!

Cheers BM