Hello, I'm new to the Jaguar family. Been a BMW purist for over a decade, but now I'm shopping multiple brands. I picked up an executive demo 2016 F-Type R Convertible. I immediately had an issue where the gauge cluster LCD would not turn on. I couldn't see the fuel, engine heat, gear, etc. After speaking to my sales rep, he said to let the car cool off and try again. I did so and it actually worked. The next day it failed again. I don't know if this is common as I've searched on this forum and google, but nothing shows up. Has anyone had this problem?

 

Never heard about this issue before. I left the car in the sun many times, and all screens always work. At the same time, I live in more moderate climate. I think it is rather idiotic for the dealer to showcase a car that is defective... it should be fixed.

Surprisingly, F-types are rather problem-free. Obviously, there are occasional hiccups with build quality, but they are not systemic. I'd say speaker rattle is the only re-occurring problem I heard about on this forum.

I'm also ex-BMW, Bangle years drove me away and nothing since enticed me back. M2 was briefly on my radar, but that is about it.

 

Your car is broken.

 

+1. Probably a crack in the circuit board that is exacerbated by high temp fluctuations. The display needs to be swapped out. I had a similar problem on my C4 Vette when I first picked it up from the dealer.

 

Thanks, I'm having the valet pick up my car tomorrow morning to get it fixed. The problem seems intermittent. Hopefully just a loose connector or fuse problem.

 

Yes that certainly an aberration not something at all common. Keep driving them within hours you'll be hopelessly in love.

 

Funny thing is I've always been warned about electrical glitches/malfunctions regarding Jaguar and Land Rover. Car is still fun to drive even though I can't see which gear I'm in.

 

Actually that old problem has long since disappeared in jags going back several years. For the last 10 or so the electrical issues are more in line with other brands. Olde realities are not indictitive of current performance. Except when its your car

 

lol I guess I brought the stigma with me

 

I had the same understanding prior to getting mine so your not alone. The old reputation was certainly earned. I guess we both have earned some points because we looked into it despite past information. I've since found a largely different company, not without its own challenges, but certainly one that has learned a lot.

 

Slightly off topic...

I've had the pleasure of keeping an 80s XJS and an XJ40 alive. Rust issues aside (as that was not a unique problem) the build quality of those cars was almost hilarious. Of course they took some very skilled people to create them, but when elastic bands, sticky tape and wood screws are used to hold parts in place, it was no surprise to find harness splices as twisted wires under tape and connectors with missing or inadequate pin seals. Conformal coatings were unheard of. My favourite find was a piece of twin bell wire running inside the bundle to to the instrument cluster on my XJ40. Ironically properly soldered and heatshrinked at either end. I've only ever had the one car of that model so no idea if that was original or a repair!

Modern Jags are in a completely different league. Computer testing and simulation, global part sharing and using the same dedicated harness suppliers as all the other car manufacturers means quality problems are very rare. Electrical systems are rarely designed in house and will be off-the-shelf from Denso/Bosch/Delphi/etc which have been field tested in many millions of vehicles.

The main "buggy" issue with Jags now is fit and finish, and that is not unique to them by any means. Specifically trim rattles where fixings have been reused instead of replaced during service, and similar scenarios that computer simulation struggles to predict. By the end of each model run they have usually designed them out, either by highlighting fixings that must be renewed each time or by revising the parts themselves. I rebuilt the driver seat in my X351 XJ last weekend to replace a couple of cracked plastic trims and try and resolve an annoying squeak when the seat was moved backwards. On the replacement parts you could see where they had rebuilt the molds with additional supports to prevent the problem reoccuring and reduce flex, and after reassembly the squeak had gone. From an engineering pov it was really interesting to compare the two side-by-side and see the changes they had made.

 

Live in hot desert and no gauge problem!