Should I buy one? Are they reliable?

[SeanWiki]

Thinking of buying one of these beautiful cars second hand. Can anyone tell me the pros and cons? Thank you. 

[Jon Hyde]

Hi Sean,

An XF was always my dream car, so upon retirement, I took the leap with a 2011 XF-S Portfolio.

Upsides always outweigh the downsides! 

Upsides... Goes like a greyhound on steroids, corner like a scalextric car, rides sooooo soft too.

Downsides... Brake discs, inlet manifold. Costly fixes, but maybe peculiar to mine.

Would I but it again?... In a heartbeat!

Just do it!

Cheers, Jon

[Billy Beatnik]

Whatever used car you buy, you will always have things that need replacing. However, I agree with what Jon said. It goes like a rocket and is so comfortable and smooth with really decent mpg.

regards

Ste

[Big John]

Love mine to bits. No less reliable than anything else, just try and buy one that has been loved and serviced regularly. In my view a wad of bills that have been paid means the ones you have to to fund will be fewer. My wife got a 2015 Skoda Rapid 1.6D at the same time I got my 2013 XF Sportbrake 2.2D S (200). Servicing and repairs on hers has cost more than on the Jag over last 2.5 years. Other than service items I have had top balljoints on front suspension replaced (£400) and new rear discs and pads mostly worn by previous owner (£350) and I have done 25000 mile and discs are like new (gentle right foot). Only really important check is in the boot as water can get in and fill the wheel well - which is where a lot of the computer modules seem to sit so repair can be quite expensive. Mine had it done before I bought it at a cost of £1200. I keep a couple of silica gel bags in there now just in case but bone dry. 🙂

As with all modern luxury cars they are very demanding on electricity and if you are only doing short journeys I would invest in a Ctek battery maintainer as the cause of electrical gremlins which you will have heard are the main weakness of modern Jags are in fact usually due to a weak battery. Likewise I only use Shell V Power Diesel and do a motorway run a couple of times a month to clean the EGR and DPF.

Really nice review is here:

Just do it, you won't regret it 🙂

 

[IanL]

As Matt (High Peak Autos) frequently says, any car (new or not) can have gremlins - you pays your money and you takes your chance! As stated above, if buying second hand, get a warranty, and ensure the car has been properly serviced...

[NorfolkCat]

On 1/13/2021 at 12:16 PM, SeanWiki said:

Thinking of buying one of these beautiful cars second hand. Can anyone tell me the pros and cons? Thank you. 

Thumbs up from me.

I've had a 2012 XF-S Prem Lux for nearly 4 years now, contributing 48K to its current 107K. It's been an absolutely fab car. Definitely in the top tier of cars I've had, beating any BMW by a margin.

There have been a couple of frustrations, but overall it's been an absolute delight. Good looking, comfortable & relaxing, quick, and even the 275PS 3L diesel is frugal if you drive with a modicum of sympathy. 

Mine has one shortcoming that I wish I had seen at the time I bought the car. Apparently, folding rear seats was an option on the XF, and the box was not ticked on my car. It didn't matter at the time I bought the car, but as my needs have changed, it has started to matter and I'm having to consider parting company with it because of this. So consider that, or look at the Sportbrake, which I think are every bit as good looking as the saloon, and rare enough to be eternally desirable, attracting a premium price.

I don't know whether you'd want/need stop-start but mine doesn't have it and I've never missed it.

The infotainment thingy in mine is paleolithic, but I don't care about that so long as I can bluetooth my phone to it, which I can. Pre facelift, though, it was unusable - I simply could not have paid money and driven a car off a forecourt with the earlier system in it.

Reliability has been good. It's only let me down once, when the intercooler lost its cool in Genoa of all places. The new part came in at about €300 and Mario's labour rate was about €16/hr so it was all good. And thank the Lord for RAC Euro Breakdown cover. Paid for itself an estimated 15x over in logistical costs.

I'm bedevilled by warping brake discs, which has cost Kwik Fit a fortune in warranty replacements. I asked Inchcape Norwich to take a look at the possible surrounding causes such as suspension bushes etc but an inspection turned up nothing suspicious and - naturally - they said I should try OEM discs.  

The main dealers I've used for servicing (Inchcape and Harwoods) have all been good enough generally, compared to their other-brand peers. I'd call scheduled service prices reasonable for the work they do, bu if you have any 'elective' work done by them, the labour rate is beyond eye-watering.

Given my car has north of 107K miles on it, it still feels great. It all sounds and works, looks and feels as it should. But then I don't think my car's had a hard life in terms of how it's been driven, so your mileage may vary, as they say.

Good luck!

 

[PaulT]

As with any car things can go wrong. Servicing by a Jag dealer or Indie is expensive as well as parts but perhaps you have to pay for luxury.

Any car nowadays has a plethora of 'computers' so things can go wrong but quickly analysed to find the problem.

Love my one and so much quieter than the Vauxhall Insignia that preceded it.

[NorfolkCat]

Just a small update on my post above. 

PaulT dropped me a line and spurred me on to look into converting the rear seats. Why I hadn't done that before, I don't know.

It turns out that they all have 60/40split fold rear seats fitted. Jag just wanted £360 to add some release catches and remove a lining between the seats and the boot. Cheeky sods. Details at these links:

https://www.jaginfo.org/threads/how-to-fit-the-oe-rear-seat-release.1223/

https://www.xfforum.co.uk/threads/folding-rear-seats.9118/page-2

So I've ordered the parts (just under £130) and I'm a happy chap.

Yesterday I picked up my XF after it'd spent a couple of days in the dealership for major service, MOT etc. I'd had a brand new Discovery Sport as a loaner which was okay, but I was soooooo glad to be back in my nicely valeted XF.

[David Taylor]

I recently upgraded to a 2016 XF-Rsport, after some plonk wrote off my XE. I don't regret the upgrade. 

I've only got a baby 2.0l, but it's nice and fast and a real pleasure to drive. The Mrs and I love long drives, so this is a dream on the motorway. Power when you want it and a beautiful cruiser when you want to just sit in lane and go. 

Not had to service mine yet and, honestly, I'm a bit scared it may be pricey. But the service intervals on these engines is twice that of a BM or Merc equivalent. MPG wise I get around 60, but can hit more than that if super cautious. So I'm really impressed with it. Big tank too, so rarely refilling. I've run from York to London and it registered about 1/4 tank. Feels like voodoo to me. 

A jag does seem to come with less optionals than a BM, for comparison. I owned a 3 series before. No rear-folding seats on mine, but then it's the R-Sport. I looked at a Portfolio, it had the powered boot lid, folding seats etc. But I rarely lug much around and I'm only young, so don't need that. 

Electrics can be a bit kooky. My parking sensors like to stop every now and then. Sometimes, on a long journey, the car suddenly can't have selectable driving modes. The stop/start also seems a bit hit and miss. But that could be my driving. Forget any idea of a fancy multimedia system. Unless you go for a higher-end model, you'll have passive sat-nav (no traffic updates) and the 'Jaguar Apps' function doesn't seem to have anything of use in it. So don't expect inbuilt spotify etc.

Overall, a really nice car and super to drive. I went for a manual, because I'm like that. 

[Tomato]

Personally, found them cheaper than the german competition for servicing and fixes and thats using main dealers.

Running the RS version which is a proper rocket-propelled ship, but actually very comfortable ride considering.

 

[Klee88]

I am selling mine. XF portfolio, high spec, ceramic coated, immaculate condition only 15659 miles.