I'm totally new to this vehicle and am ready to go for my first test drive tomorrow (actually today). I have a bunch of questions, but have been doing my research here, and looking at on-line reviews. I know that since this is a new model, there may be some "teething" problems that have been mentioned all over this and other forums. The one I see most prominently is the "isolator replacement". Is there any way to determine if a new vehicle has this mod already by looking at date of manufacture? Any of things that should be looked at?

I'm only looking for leather seats - is this an "option" or do they all come through with these?

I see there are two 6-cylinder engines (a 340 and a 380). The dealer I talked to said all they have now is a 340 engine since the models with 380's haven't started manufacturing yet. Is this true? Is the 340 sufficient HP for this to get it moving? I was disappointed with performance of the Mercedes GLE350 SUV so was leaning towards the GLE 400 SUV. As far as the BMW X5, I've had many BMW sedans, so wanted something different and didn't want to go for the e50 model for X5, due to price and due to the fact that it possibly has the problematic "N63" engine 8-cylinder or some variant of it. Also, and this sounds "picky", the back seat of the BMW doesn't lie flat when it goes down, for storage, but the Mercedes does lie flat. I'll need to see if this car's seat lies flat.

Any ideas on what the dealer may do on pricing - ie. discounting on these?

What are the "must-have" options on these?

Does 4 months sound about right for time to order?

The dealer says the size is the same as the X5 - but when I look at the dimensions it looks like this is about 10" or so less in length. Is this more equivalent in "class" to a BMW X3 or X5, or a Mercedes GLE vs GLK, or an in-between?

Does this come with 5 year pre-paid maintenance in the US besides the 5-year warranty?

Any help and answers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Just so you know, at the moment their ***** are on fire trying to make enough F-Paces, so discounts are unlikely to be offered.

I can't answer any of your other questions, hopefully others will chime in. If the car you want has AWD (All Wheel Drive), this tends to need more power than normal drive cars for same performance.

Not sure if there is a specific date but my understanding is that you can visually see the difference.
Genuine Taurus leather seats starts at Prestige level. The base and premium gets luxtec seats which is synthetic leather. It actually looks and feels nice.
Um NO. Find another dealer.
The 340 is plenty fast. 0-60 times for the 340 is 5.4 while the 380 is 5.1. I only test drove the 340 when we went in to order ours, but I think it's one of the faster SUVs on the road... short of the Mecan Turbo or GTS, Jeep SRT etc.
It does not lie flat.

Most will not budge from MSRP but I have read a few folks getting discounts. We paid MSRP. YMMV

This is up to you but for us, we would have loved to have all the options but we didn't want to go over the budget that we set. We got the standard options that comes with the Prestige model and just added roof rails and that's it. Some people say you must get the upgraded ICTP and while it's is better, it is one of the area with problems.

They estimate around 3 to 4 months time frame but most folks are getting theirs a month or more ahead of their estimated delivery dates.
Um NO. Find another dealer. It fits in between an X3 and X5 or more often described between a Porsche Mecan and Cayenne. It is actually quite roomy inside for its measurements.

Yes free scheduled maintenance for 5 years/60,000 miles.

It's a great car. We can't wait to get ours... a Polaris White Prestige model. It does have it's new model teething problems as you mentioned but I think they are minor and the benefits outweighs the problems.

Good luck!

It looks like most of your questions were answered above. Clearly your sales guys is out to lunch and/or positioning to sell you what he has on the lot. The 340-HP and 380-HP engines are the same with a different tune. Which one you get is strictly a function of which model you buy. Many of the US dealers underestimated the popularity of the higher trim lines (especially on early sales), so inventory on the R-Sport and S are lower.

I'm sure he'll also assure you that everyone pays MSRP. For some dealers that may be true, but I can confirm others have gotten up to 4% off. Early production vehicles also had a $500 nav credit taken off the sticker, but they're probably gone now. Some have been told that if they order it now, the dealer will negotiate price later: rhymes with paying MSRP. Insistent on setting the price (or MSRP discount) up front.

I'd ask for a different rep, since you can't trust the one you have.

If you're ordering, I'd expect the isolators you'll get will be the new version. Cars on the lot probably have the original version. You can tell visually by looking up the spring. I've deleted my pictures, but you can find some on the other F-Pace forum: Jaguar F-Pace Forum
The other recurring complaint has been software glitches on the ICTP. There's a major software upgrade that's just become available, but it's too early to confirm how well it works.