Hi there,

Magazines papers are giving both thumbs up for this new comer from Jaguar.
Recently,local AD brought in few units for display and sales,everything is impressive especially on their first impression-the engine iginition procedure very very special.

By now most of you are able to read how amused i am with this car.Therefore,before i go further pull my trigger i could really hope to have some real life experince on this new car.
Another reason being british cars are off my knowledge and experince compare to the germans i used to have.Furthermore,Malaysia definately i will encounter problems with their after sales service,maintainance stuff....

Thanks in advance.

regards,
BHK9

.

nt

nt

Hi Dje,

Things are very conservative over here.We tends to see,touch but not drive.Therefore,please elaborate on your test drive experince of the car.Was it a 3.0lt petrol or the 4.2,or the 4.2 supercharge?
Do elaborate on handling,cormfort,speed and etc.

thanks in advance..

Desperate to know more....

BHK9

Hi,

And a great engine, not really a sports car but too much power for me already.

The box is just great, quiet on auto and funny and efficient on sequential mode!

The finish is outstanding for a Jaguar. Of course you may not like the modern style if you're a classical Jaguar fan.

That's definitely a great Jaguar for the youngsters like me (at least relatively to Jaguar owners I'm a youngster).

The car is comfortable and witht he choice of different wheels you can opt for comfort or sport ride.

That's a car to test drive.

Depending on your own experience, you'll appreciate or not. That's not an AM, but that's sportier than former Jaguar sedan models!

Cheers

Dje

Hi Dje,

Thank you so much for the reply.
saw your JLC Polo event review and your handsome post on the polo field....indeed young and vigorous on the horse.

The XF from the rear is really like AM and kind of firce from the front especially the with the new extended radiator grill.
I am fully aware of the appearance from inside out but have no knowledge of its ride and handling.....therefore depending on all the available reading material.
just like they say....action speaks louder than words!need to try it but what the heck...i have place my booking on it.
thanks.
BHK9

Hi,

My Jaguar AD loaned me a XF 2.7 Diesel for a day and it was really a pleasure.

Soft, powerful (enough for me), modern, nicely finished. Nothing bad to say!

I hope to try the new 3l next time!

Cheers

Dje

The Jaguar XF is extremely good! I drove the Jaguar 4.2 XF (naturally aspirated).

The highs:
1. The Transmission is the best thing on this car. The ZF transmission has six gears, all excellent ratios that keep you in the torque range (and the constable in your rearview mirror). The best part is the "S" sport mode with the paddle shifting. The response of the paddle shifting is both clear and precise. Torque converter flex is minimal as the torque converter seems to lock up relatively well in all the gears.
2. Steering, excellent steering ratio, abundant in precision, with a decent amount of feedback through the steering wheel. The steering wheel itself is a good size and good thickness.
3. Handling; the biggest problem of the S-Type Jaguar (the model prior to the XF) was the handling. Despite its rear wheel drive, independent suspension, etc. the handling was sloppy, unprecise, and exhibited a huge amount of body lean. The XF has cured all of this and now features a relatively flat ride that isn't overly stiff.
4. Bowers Wilkins Audio system


The Low:
The interior has some faults. The door panels are made with leather and wood elements that are mounted onto a plastic carrier. Look closely at where this plastic carrier meets the metal portion of the door in the door jam area. You will see poorly trimmed plastic, wrong sizing, and inconsistencies between the right and left door (I noticed these with my personal eyes). The rear bench seat is also undefined, overly flat, and sacrificing in comfort. The high-tech interior is a novel concept, but will probably grow old as neon blue mood lighting actually arouse the senses than the ambiance of amber that actually calms senses.

It's a great car, in many ways better than Mercedes and BMW (especially transmission-wise). But, I'm not sure that I would switch if I was already a client with Mercedes or BMW since I perceive that I would have high switching costs.

The XF seems to have been made to appeal/compete with Lexus buyers. While the XF has managed to get away from the hideous 'floating' feel of the S-type, it still has no way captured the taught-yet-supple feel of an old XJ on sports suspension - which I think really typifies what a Jaguar should feel like*.

Jaguar seem to have lost their way (or ran out of money before launch date more like). Even the pedal map and shift pattern is 'American' unless left in sport - and sorry but the paddle shift calibration is designed for novices. When I use a paddle shift I expect no less than a clutchless manual not a second guessing nanny.

They also still need to sort out some shunting (B A N G) of the driveline at certain speeds - unusual for Jaguar and hence I'm sure on a cal update or model year upgrade it'll get fixed, but it should never have got signed off like that.

It also demonstrates how ludicrous modern cars have got regarding weight. All that capacity with a supercharger and it feels just about agile enough but nothing special.

Even worse though it looks like a repmobile with Aston rear lights - what were they thinking?

Summary: Forget the Merc, get the BM.

Velociphile


*I should point out that I'm only comparing the 'R' versions.

Hope all is well , I check out your blog regularly for updates. Knowing you and your expertise you're spot on, I miss the old Jags. The new ones do nothing for me.

S

good to hear from you.

Times change and things evolve, and brand X needn't drive like it did 20 years ago, but some of the companies have definitely recognised and worked on keeping an identity or feel to their cars across decades whilst other brands vary bizarrely model to model - more driven by the choices of the team engineering them. Some OEMs have a kind of brand 'tsar' for chassis and powertrain respectively to iron this out. Parry Jones at Ford and Forni at Ducati spring to mind. This tends to work better at delivering a more consistent experience. Ironically some of the systems flexibilities works against delivering a specific brand experience - I'm thinking learning gearboxes that adapt to your style rather than imprinting how a certain car should drive. And ESP has certainly homogenised things*. Remember a lot of the brand characters came from engineering limitations in the past. The potential exists now to pretty much set up any car the way you like it - pedal map, torque curve, chassis comp and rebound, roll, yaw/slip and so on - but then it wouldn't drive 'like a' anymore.

*Interestingly to digress, I think ESP has certainly made some companies/teams lazy. I'm thinking about what happens when you deactivate them. Some cars still handle and some are a handful. Some of the requirements for 'safety' have certainly hurt - there has been such a demand for linearity in chassis response that now a lot of cars go grip, grip, grip, crash, rather than grip, slip, drift, drift more, slide, wuhay... and a lot of the character was in the transition from grip to slip to drift to slide but most drivers can't cope with slip to drift.

Velociphile