When they first announced the mpg figures all I could think was "you are all a bunch of idiots if you don't bring the diesel overseas."

What else could I think? They have been putting diesels into their cars for years and not bringing it to the US, along with nearly every other manufacturer even though a huge part of the market it people trying to save money by being efficient.

Thank god they announced the diesel will be available. I remember seeing something like 60mpg US. This may just start the diesel trend in the US. Cars overseas have been making 50+mpg for years and the range on the twin turbo jag shown in top gear was nearly 800 miles.

 

diesels are very common here is Australia. One of my business partners has a diesel A5, it gets 40mpg plus and still goes from 0 - 100kph in about 6 seconds.

There are a few downsides to the ownership - the fuel pumps tend to be dirtier (that is improving now, so you don't get the oily residue on your hands), the engines sound pretty average (also improving a little) but the biggest issue is that they really are (or at least were, it might have changed) not much good unless you are driving decent distances fairly regularly.

Essentially the particulate filter (DPF) fills up with crud over a period of time, then the engine waits for a time where it has been running for a distance and is getting warm before it triggers the burning off of the crap.

That usually involves an extended run. If you aren't doing that, then eventually you have to go off to the service guys to have it fixed, which I understand involves them running the car for an hour or so.

So if the car is just for short trips around town with very rare longer trips, petrol is probably still the way to go.

 

Bruce, I don't know how the XE will be, but I know the trucks in this area with the DPFs installed will actually not allow the owner to shut off the engine if it is in a clean cycle.

You can turn the truck off, pull the key from the dash, lock the doors, but the truck will remain running. Once it decides that it has cleaned the DPF enough, it will then shut the truck down on its own.

Doing a few runs occassionally where the exhaust can get up in temp for say 10 seconds or so will also help keep things cleaned up. So, one of the best things that you can do is to do a hard pull from say a stop to highway speed in a rapid manner.

This will get the exhaust temps up and convert some of the carbon build up into CO2. Otherwise, the motor is going to clean the DPF by simply dumping in some extra fuel on the exhaust stroke so it will then cause the DPF to heat up and convert it then.

 

Had a similar issue recently on my aunts Renault Laguna, about to fail an MOT.

A quick service, oil change and filter, then adding some Millers fuel additive and going for an extended run sorted it.

It involved travelling on the motorway at approx 70 mph but in 3rd gear, so high revs for around 20 miles or so, thus getting it up to temp and burning off the crud.

Worked a treat, passed the MOT and the light hasn't returned

 

It was a hot topic on the UK based XF forum for quite a while. And it is a common issue in Australia with various diesels, something that people never realise until after they've bought them.


Not knocking diesels, the point is that they are not for everybody. See for example Motorist is told his £45,000 Jaguar keeps breaking down because he is not driving FAST enough | Daily Mail Online


But driving the XF 3.0 diesel TT - no diesel clatter at all, just the sound of air being sucked into the engine, and a great surge when you put it under the hammer - it was a better drive than my 4.2 V8, IMO. Too bad the XE wont have that engine, it is an absolute cracker.

 

Based on the online configurators it appears our XE will come more well equipped as standard than those in the UK. I'd go for the HIDs in either market though, the halogens look kind of dumpy.