Hello all,

I just wanted to start a thread and share my first month impressions of my 2010 XF 5.0 Supercharged.

For the most part I am absolutely in love with this car, but there are a few things that I am not completely happy about, and a few other things that I have noticed that just makes it a very different car to drive, than a BMW 5-series for example.

1. Let me start with the gearbox. Now, I suspect this is an issue with my particular car, maybe the gearbox is a bit worn after 40,000+ miles, but every time I am slowly coming to a halt at a red light, when first gear engages it engages with a shunt, a silent thump. It feels like being rear-ended at super slow speed, but completely silent. This only happens in D mode - if I instead use the S mode the car will stay in second gear even when I come to a complete halt, unless I manually downshift, so I almost never notice the hard downshift.

Does anyone else with an XF have the same kind of "hard" engage of first gear when slowly coming to a halt in D mode?

2. The brakes are awesome. This thing stops faster than my old 330i, and fades less after heavy use, and that's not an easy task. But - they bite a little bit too much from even the lightest touch.

Imagine the brake force is a scale from 1-100, 1 is almost no brake force at all and 100 is full lock. It seems my XF skips the first 10 levels, like my brake force is 0-10-100. 0 is no braking at all, when my foot is off the pedal, but then even the slightest touch takes it to 10. Combined with the above mentioned "shunt" when first gear engages the break bite still, after a month of getting used to the XF, makes my ride kind of jerky at times, at slow speeds.

Do any of you XFR or XF Supercharged owners with the same huge brakes recognize this "overzealous" bite of the brakes?

3. Brake dust. My rims (20" Selena, OEM) will be completely covered in brake dust within two days of having them washed. Since the rims are light silver in color it is very very noticeable.

I am considering having my rims recoated dark gray metallic just to save myself the hassle of having to wash them every other day. The dust will of course still be there but it won't be as noticeable. I drive my car fairly hard, I often brake hard and late, but I did the same with my Mustang and my BMW 330i and I never had any issues with them getting filthy after just two days.

4. Handling. Reading some reviews on the XF had me expecting similar handling to the BMW 5-series. This is not the case. The XF is a far more relaxed cruiser than the 5-series, more comfortable, quieter and eats up potholes and rough roads better than a 535i and a lot better than the M5. But, the XF does not like going through corners as much and as effortlessly as either of the aforementioned BMW's.

The balance in a BMW 5-series chassi is much much better; the car likes to turn, it wants to turn, whereas my XF feels heavy and have quite a lot of body roll, especially in tight bends at low speed.

A little bit of throttle easily stops the understeer though, and you can have a ton of fun letting the rear drift wide and balancing the slide with your right foot.

Don't get me wrong, the XF is not a boring car to drive, it just does not handle anywhere near as balanced as a BMW 5-series. I do apologize if by saying this I step on the toes of a few die-hard Jaguar lovers (or BMW haters) of the forum. Believe me; that was never not my intent. I am merely sharing my impressions of my wonderful XF.

5. No A2DP support over Bluetooth. I already knew about this flaw when I bought the car, but it still seems like a big oversight from Jaguar to not include A2DP. By the time the XF went on sale the A2DP protocol had already been out for four years and was a well established BT standard. Easily fixed through third party accessories (I bought a SoundBot SB360 on Amazon - works flawlessly) but something that simple really should be built-in.

6. The horn is pathetic. Haha. Every time I "double-click" the lock button on the fob the horn sounds and it is just such a weak "meep". Sounds like the horn on a moped.

I am bringing these "flaws" up for two reasons. First of all I want to see if I am alone in having these issues, or if they are typical of the XF and fairly common, and secondly because it might help someone looking at buying an XF make his or her decision.

 

All Jaguar 5.0 6 speed auto Trans have the thump going into 1st as you describe. Totally normal. The later 8 speed units don't do this.

Brake pad "shed" is crazy with stock pads. The only way to fix is change pads. I recommend ceramic pads, it will also help smooth out the "grab" you are feeling.

With regard to handling, you can't have both worlds. You either get awesome handling with poor ride or the other way around. The XF comes as a great balance. If you want to cheat one way or the other, swap tires to the handling you want. Want better turn in, get max performance summer rubber. It will help a ton, but your ride comfort and noise will suffer.

Yes, the horn sucks.

 

Thank you for the feedback! Much appreciated.

I must confess I am surprised that the first gear thump in the 6-speed AT is this hard, but most of all I am surprised that Jaguar were ok with putting the car on sale like that. Seems like a major flaw in an otherwise excellent car.

Good info on the ceramic brake pads. I will definitely look into that!

You are correct about the handling, cannot have it both ways. I suppose the only reason I even mention the difference in handling is that so many XF reviewers had me believing that the XF handles like a 5-series BMW. That most definitely is not the case.

 

The gearbox thump is not normal, but from all reports it happens with some ZF 6HP26 boxes, maybe one in twenty. Neither of my XFs have ever done it. A trans service (drain, flush and renew the trans fluid) might cure the problem, but it's not cheap.
With the brake feel and dust, yes that is how the stock brakes work, lots of initial bite and grab, makes smooth driving in stop start traffic a bit of a chore. It's down to quite soft pads and rotors, and both wear out very quickly. The solution as mentioned by 10 XF Premium is to swap out the pads for ceramic ones, and if your brake rotors are at or approaching minimum thickness consider renewing them as well.

 

For 4, I completely agree. I've had mine for ~6 months now and still miss my 550's cornering.

#5 I fixed using the ViseeO Tune2air WMA1000. Works great, although mine is an 09, so the head unit and infra may be different.

 

So glad to hear the trans behavior and brake bite are not unique to mine!! I.E. mine does the same thing.

I am due for the 60k service on the trans. Will let you know if that changes it.

 

I don't have any "thump" and am guessing it's not normal. I do have a tremendous amount of brake dust however. Personally I love the way the car handles.

 

I don't think the hard down shift is normal...I've seen here others mention the same thing, so it's not rare..Could be a characteristic of the SC versions, I don't know.....On mine It down shifts to 2 and stays there until I take off and it up shifts from there..I know this because when I put it into Sport mode..the the indicator says it is in 2 until I manually paddle it to 1..Maybe a TCM program issue..have it checked, It shouldn't downshift harshly into 1 IMO.

 

Tires make a tremendous difference in the handling. If you have all seasons, it won't handle. I took off the Hankooks summer performance tires it came with and replaced them with Bridgestone S-04's. Night and day difference. I've said before that if you blindfolded me I wouldn't believe that it was the same car or that serious suspension mods hadn't been made.

Brakes - Changed to EBC Reds and couldn't be happier. They are not as dusty and the dust is a lighter color so not as bad. And they are no longer so grabby. Couldn't stand that about when stock. Now smooth as silk and very progressive. Little pressure, little braking. Moderate braking, no longer wiping the blood from my forehead off the windshield. Hard braking, can still put my head through the windshield. As it should be.

As said before, the trans shouldn't go to first unless you do it manually. Depending on whether you are going uphill or downhill, how hard you've been driving it, whether in Drive or Sport, will make the transmission react differently. But if you're on flat ground, in Drive and you haven't been driving aggressively and it's still doing it, there is an issue. Thought I read something about a reflash helped some, but don't remember specifically. Mine feels like the trans slips when I take off on a steep grade. It's actually just downshifting to first because of the load.

The horn sucks. Very dainty. I try to watch for the lights so it doesn't go off when I lock it.

 

My 10 N/A 5.0 tranny thumped going into 1st just as the car was rolling to a stop about 20% of the time. A tranny reflash did not help.

It was present when I bought it with 35K on the clock and did it up to the time I traded it in (75k on the clock) on my 13.

The dealer states that the tyranny fluid is "lifetime" but we all know that is BS.

I was planning on having it changed but sold it before that happened.

 

Congrads on the car, excellent choice, no doubt!
I drive a 2015 XF 5.0 S/C and there is no issue with the gear box "thump", but it is a new, 8-speed unit.
Brake dust is annoying, especially considering how great the wheels look clean!
I agree on your handling observations somewhat: lots of comfort and body roll, less poise than a 5-series. However, it is part of the charm "Gentleman will walk, but never run". This particular gentleman will walk quiet briskly, I might add: recently put my car against 2015 BMW 550i (the one with uprated 450hp/480tq engine) and they ran neck-in-neck, no difference between them.
That is until I felt the leather and the plastic surfaces in the BMW...complete crap. for the same money I'd rather be surrounded by expensive, upscale materials than corner a bit more flat
No comment on the horn...I use throttle to let people know I am coming. IF I feel like it.
Also, the 2015 infotainment system is much, MUCH improved.
Anyway, best of luck with your new car.
I am sure you will enjoy it like we all do.
And if you get bored...tune adds about 50-70hp

 

Just a comment on the horn?

My 2005 STR had a very weak sounding horn and when I checked one of the horns was not working. Replaced it and the car sounded a whole lot better!

Funny thing is I lost another horn only a year later. That's 2 horns in several years and I can't ever remember having a horn go out on any other car or truck. Even 40-50 year old stuff.

So have you checked that both horns are working? It's a left field suggestion.
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Just wanted to thank you guys for all your feedback. Lots of useful info and good tips.

Another thing I have noticed during this month is how awfully slow the "infotainment" system is, and that the maps in the navigation system seem to be from the late 1700's.

Can I do anything about the "infotainment" system, like upgrade the software? I am fairly sure I can buy a DVD with a newer map package for the navigation system, correct?

 

You can but what year maps do you currently have?
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I am not sure. How can I find out? I would guess the maps are the ones the car was delivered with, 2009-2010.

 

The SatNav DVD player is in the boot (trunk), on the LHS, behind a little felt cover. Slide the lock/unlock button over to "unlock", then press the eject button. The DVD should then eject (duh!) and you can read the version/date on it.

 

Many thanks.

It's a 2008-2009 DVD. Very very old. I definitely need to get a newer one.

 

Unless you can get bootlegged one, any other way, better pack in a little KY-Jelly

 

Holy sh*t. The navigation DVD's are 200 bucks? I'm not paying that, I'll just stick to Google Navigation, which is a lot better anyway. Just a shame I can't use that big screen in the XF.

 

Yep, my DVD is six years out of date now and the latest genuine JLR update DVD is an exorbitant $199 AU, and even then it is 18 months out of date.
In the UK and Europe you can get bootlegged versions for a fraction of the OEM price, but nothing for AU/NZ. Maybe a bootlegged version of the latest US/CAN DVD is out there somewhere, worth a look.