Cheers, but did you drive the 30T? I've driven the 25T (my wife's car) and the XE 35T (we call it the S) and my daily drive is a F Type S. I just havent driven the 30T (220KW 4) in the XE and thought you had and might have some impressions.

I agree with you on the nature of the engines though, the 25T is good but surgey so you have to drive it in sport + dynamic to get a more direct feel. Even the supercharged 6 has some lag which I always thought was a transmission thing, but the manual f type drivers report lag as well.

 

New to the forum, love your posts! I'm in Houston, and actually will be in Austin this weekend visiting friends. Can you tell me more about the tune? Where can I get it done? I own a 35t AWD prestige. Thanks!

 

See https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...2-0l-t-175327/

 

Welcome to the Forum, you have found the best consolidated resource for consumer oriented Jaguar info out there! Smart move.

For instance, if you do chose to get the tune, you can get 10% off with the coupon code 'JAGFORUMS' just by being here.

So, tuning a modern car is more like updating your PC than opening the hood and using tools...if you are computer savvy you can do it yourself.

VAP will send a small hand held programmer and cable to keep with the tune, with easy step by step instructions, you will want to read them carefully and follow their recommendation of using a battery tender while loading the software.

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...battery+tender

First///Hook up battery tender to charging points indicated in your manual.


Step 1) (Ignition on, battery tended) You plug the ECU tuner into the port already under your steering wheel, download a copy of your engines' software to the device hitting the download icon. (5 Min) (you can disconnect at this time and drive the car while waiting for the file to be modified. ).

Step 2) You plug the tuning device into your PC or Notebook using the supplied USB, and paste the file to you e-mail and send it to VAP.

Step 3) Stuarts' tuners custom tune YOUR SPECIFIC car's software for the better performance, and e-mail your file back to you, you download the file from your e-mail back to the handheld programmer. I had mine back in a few hours.

Step 4) (Ignition on, battery tended) You plug the programmer back into the port under your steering wheel, hit "upload file", wait for completion, you are DONE!

(Welcome to the performance club!)

So you can and should do it yourself as it is best you know how to do it...as when you return your car to the dealership for your service intervals you will need to revert the programming back to original for the dealer in case they do any file updates while the car is in the shop.
(If they try to update the modified VAP file at the dealer instead, it can "Brick" your car's ECU, a very expensive problem.)

If you are nervous you can always look for a local tune shop who will be happy to show you how to do it, for a fee I'm sure...Brink Motorsports and Uprev are a couple I can think of in the Austin area. But if you have ever flashed a bios on a device or PC, this is a very similar process. It's just reprogramming an e-promm chip. It's just super important you don't kick the cable or interfere with the load or power source (thus the battery tender) while loading, or big problems....

Best way to describe the tune? You know the difference you feel switching from 'D' to 'S'? Imagine your 'D' setting feeling like 'S' all the time, and the "S" setting... it is just way more "S". You will chirp your tires more often, and win many more off the line starts (don't forget to take traction control off for this), if that's your thing. It makes a really good car even better.

I hope this helps!

PS: If you don't like that pesky auto start-stop "feature", let VAP know and they will turn it off at the ECU as part of the tune no extra charge!