Lol Ricky and Oz Thanks for your subtle posts, nice to get a unbiased opinion re colour.

Stratus is damn nice tbh, was lucky enough to have examples of both that and white in the showroom, kept wandering between the two. I figure I will just put the order in and reserve the slot and change it later when i eventually decide.

Oz, did you mean other options in general? pretty much everything cept the ceramic brakes tbh ...black pack, visibility pack - possibly minus the heated windscreen as i won't need it, but i guess it may hinder resale - gloss black vents, panoramic roof, cold climate pack, parking pack, blind spot/reverse traffic detection, illuminated tread plates. Probably go with the gyrodyne black alloys and swap em out with something else in the future.
Oh and defintely getting the car covered in xpel ultimate, its wonderful stuff, had it done on my rs5 and 3 years later have zero swirl marks and only a few stone chips in the film that didnt heal, paint underneath is pristine.

Thanks Foosh, good to know its easy to clean and durable
And cheers GGG, thats a scary looking pic though, i may just decide to get it without, so long as i can get the rest of the visibility/cold packs. I always park in a garage so should never need it.

 

Always had Suede/Alcantara interior pieces in all my cars from various manufacturers. Ceiling or dash, pieces you do not touch all the time they are fine. Seat, shifter steering etch will wear out within 2-3 years and get "bald" looking or greasy. I currently have the alcantara steering wheel in my XKR-S and will have to replace it down the road. Depending how long you plan on keeping the car I would chose my interior.

 

Well, you should be a very happy camper then.

I've been looking into film protection for my car too. The dealer concierge sourced me one option. When I emailed her back a few questions about which film was it (3M, Suntek, other), who was doing it, their experience, could I drop in and have a look at a car in progress, and a query about the cost structure, her reply was... *crickets* ... non-existent.

Disappointing. I was going to get them to arrange widow tinting at the same time. Looks like I'll just make my own arrangements (eventually).

 

My dealer offered to tint the back windows (UK law only allows for a very light tint on the front and even then it attracts attention from cops), which I will take them up on. Goes well with the black panoramic roof.


Re the paint protection films, I can only speak for xpel ultimate but am extremely happy with it's performance and appearance. No one believes I have the car covered in it until they get a few cm away and can see the lines near the edges of some panels (where possible they are wrapped around so there is no line at all)
Suntek is meant to be pretty good too, but they only offer a 5yr warranty compared to ultimate's 10yr.
You can find xpel installers here.

 

Does the xpel cover the entire car or just the critical bonnet and fender areas?

 

Agree with all this.. I have the xpel ultimate and with the ultimate you can wax right over it, apparently with some films you cannot.
It already paid for itself on mine with a rather large rock off a truck hitting the front of my ftype and it blistered the xpel, but no paint damage.
Lawrence.

 

I just did the critical areas, behind wheels, front, bonnet, mirrors.
Lawrence.

 

It all depends upon what you want to spend. I have Xpel Ultimate, and $1500 usually covers nose, hood, and side mirrors. The other major impact area to consider is the flared fender area in front of the rear wheels. That area takes hits from the front tires.

Others have covered the entire car, but I've never seen a price for that and don't care to.

 

That's all I planned on doing, but Horus' post implied that he had done an entire car. I'm curious regarding cost and shine.

 

There's no perceptible difference in shine, and it is essentially invisible. As Horus said, the only way you'd know it was there was by looking for a seam near an edge.

EDIT: Having watched the installer do mine, and taking into account the time and material it took him to do just nose and hood, I would estimate a minimum of 3X the cost for the entire car, possibly more (close to $5K)

 

I had the entire car covered, mainly for the total protection but also consistency throughout. Theres no difference to shine, perhaps xpel is even better since it has twice the thickness of clear coat than most paint jobs. Cost was approx £3k, but worth every penny imho.

I took this pic of my rs5 in the Paintshield workshop just after it was done



And this one is more recent, after 3 years of daily driving...damnit now im thinking maybe a black f type...

 

If someone get their car protected with a film, how does that impact standard waxing and polishing?

 

Dunno about other films but xpel is fine with waxes - only thing to be careful of is getting a build up around the edges of the film, can be removed with a microfibre cloth or cotton bud.
Also have to watch out with a pressure washer..keep it 3ft away when going over edges to avoid possibly lifting it.
Polishing with any heavy abrasives would be a no no imho.

And avoid anything with petroleum distillates in, they can cause yellowing

more info here and on the xpel site here