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New Member Area - Intro a MUSTNew to Jaguar Forums? Drop in and tell us about you, your ride and location. This is your chance to introduce yourself to the forum.
Almost one year ago, I fulfilled a dream of mine and bought an F-Type. Before the Jag, I had (and still have) two Volvo C30 T5s, one of them heavily performance-modified, the other one a great daily driver. I was always enjoying engines quite a lot, the 5-cylinders of Volvo were really awesome when slightly modified. For ~3 years I had craved for a V8 as my next car. At first, I wanted it to be a future family-car - so I looked at C63 AMGs and BMW 550is. But one day it was like a "click" in my head - I don't need a practical right now. And I started to look at F-Types all the time.
While I bought both C30s by opportunity (last one was 2000€ with a broken engine - I still had an engine stored - no questions asked about the car, bought it and fixed it), I really wanted to be picky for once and select THE car I really wanted to. For the F-Type that meant: V8 was set, I only considered RWDs. Less traction = more involvement, nimbleness, easier to maintain were my thoughts. I never owned a "powerful" RWD car so I was torn on this choice; AWD would have been the safer bet. Next priority was the color; I desperately wanted Salsa Red or Firesand. Black or green would have been okay, but after all my main cars were either black/silver/beige, I got really selective this time.
And well, there was it. Great pictures, great listing. Salsa Red, fully equipped in 2013. Including Meridian Surround (it's really not good...), extended leather package, two sets of wheels (summer: 20" Cyclone in black / winter: 20" Gyrodyne in pretty rough shape). No H239 update - all the pops as the Jaguar gods intended in 2013 When inspecting it, the overall condition was a bit worse than expected - the paint was very dull, wheels scratched, the soft touch plastics in the interior were really bad. Next day I bought it anyway, having negotiated a really good deal. The owner had already booked the next service, 2 days before my birthday - I asked him to still do that and finally could collect it on my birthday.
So, one year later and 10kkm driven - I absolutely adore this car. Peak automotive phase full of enthusiasm. Gorgeous design, significantly "more" engine than I needed, the sound and luxury of the F-Type... I could not be happier. The funniest thing about the F-Type is how much kids love it. Almost every time I drive it I hear a kid say "wooow..." or just stare at it. I recently found old archived comments I wrote in 2014, calling the F-Type the most desirable car being built in this moment - If only 21 year old me would have known he would own one one day
It's soon in for it's first service with me. I changed a few things on the car already: Rear coupling rods were changed, and wheel alignment was off. To start the major task of all soft touch plastic reconditioning - I bought a later 2020 steering wheel and exchanged parts. I now have a satin steering wheel brace, new steering wheel buttons, and the awesome aluminium shift paddles. Swapped both key housings as the rubber came loose on both. I installed android auto, and will soon remove the screen again to install a later ~2018 screen frame without soft touch issues. It also has a roof module installed; opening the roof when approaching the car is awesome. As I did with the Volvos, I also quickly bought an OBD cable to use with SDD to do my own diagnostics.
It still needs work done - quite a lot actually to get it to a condition I'm happy with:
Right exhaust valve is broken and stuck closed - will have a new one welded in
Slight coolant leak at heater pipe, when it needs to heat the interior
Compressor coupler rattles
Paint still needs detailing, and wheels some fixing
Interior temp sensor at times didn't work properly last summer
Underbody braces (and rear subframe) definitely need rust treatment
Also I suspect the diff rubber mounts might be worn - at times there is a thumping noise when applying throttle or going to coast
Change air vents and door detail from soft touch to satin as well
I want to do a big preventive maintenance this summer; supercharger off, replace all coolant headaches (Y-pipe, heater pipe, water pump...), service supercharger + coupler. And if the diff mounts should be worn out as expected, I would combine exhaust + rust + diff service.
What got me to sign on to this forum is an old post from @Scheffi , who mentioned a german F-Type Whatsapp group organizing a few events - hope that still exists! I can't write private messages yet, maybe you might stumble over this post before I get a chance to write I enjoyed talking to Volvo and C30 enthusiasts years ago, I really want to meet other F-Type (and generally Jaguar) enthusiasts this year. Maybe I did not search enough last year - this year it definitely needs to happen!
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For sure not! I wouldn't have bought the F-Type if I was fully dependent on a Jaguar service center. I can service a lot of the car (basically "everything minus timing chain") with a friend of mine - he's a master mechanic with a lift at home. So I am relaxed regarding the maintenance costs and effort. It also helps that there was not a single other F-Type on the market which I would have chosen over mine, while the F-Type prices seem to rise.
Thanks for the warm welcome, I added location + car details, and my signature should show now as well.
Introducing me and my F-Type V8S from Germany
