Bye Bye BMW, hello Jaguar

[Kevster269]

Hi everyone.

Picking up my first Jaguar on Saturday, A 2012 XF 2.2D Auto.  Getting it from a main dealer so probably paying a bit more than I could have got one for but I don't have much time to search around and the 2 year warranty gives me some peace of mind. Time will tell if that's misguided or not!

Have been happily driving a 320D M Sport for 2 years and was quite content to swap it for a newer one until I tired to do a deal with BMW.   I cant fault the BMW workshop staff but the sales staff really wind me up.  Its not difficult to sell nice cars, you just need to be reasonable and polite ( I would think) but BMW failed on both counts so I toddled off to the local Jaguar Main Dealer, spoke to a salesman, test drove the XF and worked a deal with them instead.  Very much looking forward to pulling into the BMW dealer in the XF to cancel the MOT on my 320 :)

The car sold itself within 5 minutes of me sitting in it so cant wait for Saturday, hopefully all will be well and we can explore the joyous A30 in Cornwall in comfort with a big grin on our faces.

 

Kevin

 

 

[Old Peter]

Hi Kevin and welcome to the club.

Buying from a main dealer, and having it serviced by an Independent garage is the best way to go, in my opinion.  Main dealer always give a warranty but other dealers often only give a limited one.

The XF is a nice car and when you are sitting behind a line of Caravans on Summer weekends you will find the Jaguar far more comfortable doing the same in a        German Car!

Regards,

Peter.

 

 

[Kevster269]

Or maybe I wont be picking it up this weekend as it seems 2 whole weeks isn't enough time to refurbish 4 alloy wheels and spray the bonnet and front bumper.

I think 'less than impressed' is the politest way I can express my level of satisfaction with my local main dealer at the moment.  Hopefully they'll make it up to me somehow.....will let you know! 

[Kevster269]

Possibly....maybe.... it will be back at the dealers on Monday from the body shop. I'm not holding my breath but if that's the case then hopefully collection will be Wednesday, they didn't say which Wednesday though!! 

[Kevster269]

Finally managed to prize the car away from the dealer.  After being told it would take a week to prepare and giving them 2 weeks, it took nearly 3 weeks in the end! First impressions are great, the car is a pleasure to drive, everything seems to working and there's nothing about the 320 M sport that I miss. Have got the strange 'fuel surge' bump coming from around the back end when I pull up to a stop, its been covered in other threads so I guess its here to stay as nobody has said that they've reported it and had anything done about it by Jaguar.

One  thing peeved me about Jaguar apart from the prolonged delivery time, 2 of the tyres have 3mm of tread left on them, yes they're legal but hardly going to last me long with an annual 18-20k mileage.  On the plus side they did give me a full tank of fuel as a 'sorry' for the delays.

Just waiting for the Jaguar mats to arrive now, I can only think that they are hand crafted from virgin mohair judging by the price but at least they'll fit properly and last well....wont they?!

Here she is:

 

[Kevster269]

Thanks Jim.

I'm hoping that Jaguar UK will send out some form of customer satisfaction survey so I can fire the tyre question straight into them, we'll see.

No plans to make any changes yet, except perhaps tinting the rear windows.  Got a quote for £150 which doesnt seem too bad but will try and seek out some previous customers before I let anyone loose on my new cat!

Kev

[Kevster269]

Nice Tinting Jim, think I'll get mine done next month.  I'll get a company called Global Tint to do it, they seem to have reasonable reviews and give a guarantee.  Having tried it myself on a couple of vans in the past I know what a lash up can be achieved so I'll leave it to someone that knows what they're doing!

Picked up the mats for mine yesterday, expensive from Jag but they really do set off the interior and the fit is perfect so I guess you get what you pay for.

Few little niggles already, my ECO stop/start is a bit of a free spirit, it didn't work to start with then after a few days it started working. Than after a couple of days without using the car its stopped working again, I suspect the stop/start battery isn't holding a charge so I'll get the dealer to check that.  Also when I'm at a junction with my foot on the brake, I can feel the car 'hunting' almost as if the torque converter hasn't fully disengaged the drive, anyone else experience this?

 

Other than that, the car's a dream and I wish Id bought one before now!

[Kevster269]

Thanks Jim,

Current mileage is just 27000 so I was hoping all would be well with the beast.  Jag Main Dealer give a 30 day return policy so I'll take her back at the end of next week and ask them to check it all out.  Hopefully they'll know what it is and sort it for me, if not, they can make a space on their forecourt for it :-)

Will let you know how I get on.

Kev

[Old Peter]

Hi Kev,

Your car has only 27,000 miles on the clock, and the ZF gearbox is a pretty good piece of engineering, used in Rolls Royce and many other prestige cars.  It is supposed to be  sealed for life, and unless you feel that there is a problem with the gearbox I would tend to leave it alone.   ---   and if you have a warranty, all the better.

I had a Rover Sterling 2.5 Litre with the auto gearbox an edit never presented a problem till I sold it after 12 years and 122,000 on the clock ---  and I also towed a caravan with without any problem.

The minor niggles the dealer must fix for you to be satisfied.

Regards,

Peter.

[Kevster269]

Update on the issues:

ECO Stop/Start has now triggered an 'ECO Stop/Start not available' warning symbol so took car back to dealer.  Of course as soon as the technician sat in teh car and fired it up, no warning light!

He put the car on the diagnostic machine and sure enough there is a fault with the battery charging circuit somewhere.  Error code reader also threw up a Transmission module fault code which explains the 'hunting' when the car is held on the brake.

All booked in for diagnosis/rectification a week on Monday.  Hopefully they'll fix these issues and all will be well....... watch this space!1

[Kevster269]

Update to my update!

ECO stop start is fixed after some software resets and other stuff regarding the battery charging circuits.

Gearbox 'hunting' is resulting in a shiny new gearbox (thank your imaginary higher being for warranties!) this after the technician admitted that they'd found some metal swarf in the Oil and had already replaced the mechatronic part of the gearbox

Fuel tank slap has been fixed apparently, after a bulletin maintenance package was carried out.

Not looking like I'll get the car back until the end of the week so I'm still driving around in a 65 plate Land Rover Discovery Sport which as far as I can see, is the nearest you'll ever get to driving the illegitimate child of a metal shed and a pile of dog 5h1t!  God its !Removed! awful, I've no idea why anyone would want to pay over 50k for a car that looks about 50 years old and has the refinement and style of John Terry!

If the lovely Jag ever gets back to me, I'll let you know!