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I am mostly a BMW driver, gone through about 8 BMWs, currently on my 2nd X5M.
So last week, I found a 2021 F-Type R Coupe at a dealer in a color I like, took it home.
1. The drive was so harsh, I was very surprised, then I found out the dealer had this thing at 45PSI tire pressure, I lowered it to 37 and now it feels like a car.
2. Breakin period - how many miles do you go before you start driving "hard"? BMWs get a 1200mile breakin check, and then it's time to floor it.
3. Oil change - how often do Jags get oil changed? BMWs usually 12-15k miles
4. I wanted to make some of the chrome pieces black, I remember it was not an expensive option maybe $400 ish during build, but since this is a on the lot car, it didn't come with that option. I go to the parts department and they quoted me >$4000 for the front grill surround/side window trim and some badges in black, and that's parts only, not including labor, geez, I ended up only order a few of the parts that can't be easily wrapped.
5. Still trying to figure out the car, such as if it even come with garage door opener/how to get apple carplay to work without connecting the physical cord ... I'm not patient enough to look at the manual.
I default back to the X5M for daily driving, the F-Type should be a change of scenery on the weekend
1. You will find that 36-38 psi is optimal for street driving. A bit more than than that for putting it on a road track.
2. Break-in is 3000 miles on these car, no steady engine speed and nothing over 5000 rpm. Good luck with that.
3. Jag specifies 15-16k miles for oil changes, but with direct injection under ordinary driving conditions, that’s getting far too close to using up the additives. If you play with that throttle pedal, don’t go more than 8k miles between oil and filter changes.
4. Wrapping bits and pieces is your best bet with this car. Jag loves to charge Ferrari prices for little bits of black plastic.
5. You WILL need to read the manual to get the garage opener (on the rear view mirror) to work. I don’t think anyone has really figured out that CarPlay thing, but I’m sure it can be done on the ‘21.
I don't know about Apple Carplay but Android Auto doesn't work on the MY21 without plugging the phone in. You also have to use that if you want to do hands-free calling, the button on the steering wheel will do nothing otherwise - that really confused me at first, but then I didn't RTFM!
The Homelink (garage door opener) system is a $255 option on all F Types. If you got a window sticker with the car it should show if you have it or not. You should also be able to tell by whether or not the mirror has several buttons along the bottom edge with icons looking like little houses and a couple of indicator lights. It's a good system and I have had it on several cars.
Programming is a bit tricky and may require getting up on a ladder and pressing a button on the garage door opener to put it in the program mode, depending upon the model opener. Having the owner's manual handy will definitely help.
Question for other F Type owners: The warranty period on a new one covers scheduled maintenance i.e. oil changes. At what mileage intervals does Jaguar consider that your car qualifies for a free oil & filter change ?
I sure wouldn't want to go 15,000 miles between changes. If that is what Jaguar will cover for free, I can see a Mityvac in my future.
The Homelink (garage door opener) system is a $255 option on all F Types. If you got a window sticker with the car it should show if you have it or not. You should also be able to tell by whether or not the mirror has several buttons along the bottom edge with icons looking like little houses and a couple of indicator lights. It's a good system and I have had it on several cars.
Programming is a bit tricky and may require getting up on a ladder and pressing a button on the garage door opener to put it in the program mode, depending upon the model opener. Having the owner's manual handy will definitely help.
Question for other F Type owners: The warranty period on a new one covers scheduled maintenance i.e. oil changes. At what mileage intervals does Jaguar consider that your car qualifies for a free oil & filter change ?
I sure wouldn't want to go 15,000 miles between changes. If that is what Jaguar will cover for free, I can see a Mityvac in my future.
Every 15k miles or 12 months whichever arrives soonest. A MityVac is in your future regardless.
Congratulations on your new F-type. Striking color.
First things first - get alignment done right away. Countless people, myself included, had issues with alignment on a brand new car and lost a set of tires to that.
Second - OEM P-Zero tires are absolute garbage and holding this car back. Get a set of Michelin Pilot 4S and it will transform how your car handles.
Third - F-type does not have automatic low engine oil monitoring. You have to check engine oil level manually through your dash. Don't panic if it is at the low end of digital dipstick, it only corresponds to about 1.5 quart down, not 'no oil left'.
Forth - take engine cover off. It snaps in place with clips, so just pull on it to remove it. The engine cover traps heat in the engine bay and overtime this degrades plastic connectors and hoses. Just remove it and stash it somewhere. Your engine will run cooler and will be happier short and long term.
On break-in procedure - I recommend taking it easy for 2K miles and then changing your oil early. A number of people reported that initial fill was excessively contaminated with metal dist from manufacturing on thier initial oil change. While first oil change on my car came out clean, JLR may now have an issue with metal dist in the engine plant.
On oil changes - specified oil change intervals are too long, so unless you only drive your car to bingo games and never push it, it is too long. F-type AJ133 is a DI (direct injection) engine with hydraulically controlled timing (think VANOS but not so horribly unreliable). AJ133 is a very reliable engine... unless you neglect oil changes or run it low on oil.
Question for other F Type owners: The warranty period on a new one covers scheduled maintenance i.e. oil changes. At what mileage intervals does Jaguar consider that your car qualifies for a free oil & filter change ?
Ignore it, this is designed to trap you into gotcha (they refuse to do it too early and may try to void engine warranty if you do it too late). Do an early oil change and if the dealer fusses just pay for it out of pocket.
Originally Posted by Dwight Frye
I sure wouldn't want to go 15,000 miles between changes.
Absolutely under no circumstances go 15,000 miles before your first oil change. I wouldn't do that to a rental.
Oh darn it, no garage door opener on this 100k car, I'll get a keychain opener then.
Ok, I'll drive light for a few thousand miles (which might take forever, might have to make it daily driver for a few month), get oil change, then start playing. After that oil change every 7-8k miles.
I'll go get it aligned today. I'll probably get Michelin when set wears down.
Do the F Types typically consume oil during the break in period ? I have owned vehicles that used almost a quart in the first 5000 miles, and then gradually used less and less until around 30,000 miles when they stopped burning oil, and other cars that only used a half a quart for the first 5000 miles and then settled right down and didn't burn any.
I am considering getting a couple of quarts of oil to have on hand when the car is delivered and monitoring the oil level closely. I understand that the specified oil is not something to be found on the shelf at your local Autozone or Walmart so it seems like a good idea to have it on hand.
Do the F Types typically consume oil during the break in period ? I have owned vehicles that used almost a quart in the first 5000 miles, and then gradually used less and less until around 30,000 miles when they stopped burning oil, and other cars that only used a half a quart for the first 5000 miles and then settled right down and didn't burn any.
I am considering getting a couple of quarts of oil to have on hand when the car is delivered and monitoring the oil level closely. I understand that the specified oil is not something to be found on the shelf at your local Autozone or Walmart so it seems like a good idea to have it on hand.
Perhaps they do just a bit, but nowhere near a quart during the 3k mile break-in.
Jaguar engineers must be sipping too much tea to say 15k oil changes. Change it every 5 - 7.5k like pretty much every other car on the planet. I would lean closer to the 5k though. Can it go 15k? probably? but wouldn't you rather have piece of mind spending an extra $125 a year extra on a 100k+ car?.
As far as breaking it in there's a ton of research on both sides. That being said, the recommended break in from the factory is usually what the lawyers say not the engineers. Its more about liability in case there is any catastrophic failure on a new vehicle with thousands of moving parts. Ive broken in every single one of my new cars hard with ZERO issues. When I say hard I'm referring to street hard not track hard. Do your own due diligence and what makes you comfortable.
Most of the cars on my planet have at least 12,000 mile service intervals specified.
I only pay attention to the recommendations to a point. I won’t go outside of the recommended interval even after warranty is up but most of mine get 500-2500 miles each year - 2020 might be 500 for everything but I change oil once a year in everything except the ones I drive more frequently, one is every 7500 or so and is my significant others primary driver. Again, I also wouldn’t stretch to 15k or even 12k unless it was a one-time thing, but it also depends on how hard those likes are.
That oil you listed at Walmart is not the correct oil. It is hard to find (the correct JLR spec one).
Motul, and Liqui Molly make Jaguar approved oils and are more readily available. Also, I would not run oil more than 5K between changes if you plan on keeping it for a while.
This is the correct Castrol for your F-Type. LINK HERE
DC
Last edited by Therock88; Feb 16, 2021 at 09:08 PM.
2021 F-Type R thoughts and questions
