Not a new Jag owner by any stretch but have been out of the tribe since a semi pushed me off I95 into a cable barrier which sawed off the front quarter of the car in CT while driving back to PA from purchasing a house in MA in my '17 XE (only had 12K miles on her in 2 years!) back in '19. Still had a 2000 XJ8 and '98 XJR which I passed on to my wrench a couple years later.


Came across a pretty nice '12 XF, 89K miles, full maintenance history, clean interior, one 1" ding in the front fender that the PDR guy said "give me a 20 and I'll make it disappear..." Probably need tires in the next year, but what's on there is useable for now.


So...while my garage is currently occupied by a '73 Lotus Europa JPS twincam special (I have the papers!) project, thought adding the XF to the stable to compliment my '15 Jetta TDI would be an appropriate retirement gift to myself. Decent mileage for the year, V8, no noises, really nice pickup (my XE was the AWD V6 supercharged...what a screamer, still miss it.), and a color I've not seen very often on a cat. It's got the light cream interior, Portfolio package. Pretty sure, having owned an XF before, I'll be happy to use her to cruise down the interstate.


I pick it up Saturday. Need to find either an OEM or pattern windscreen shade to protect that expanse of leather on the dash, and a set of front weather resistant floor mats. And some touch-up. But going to enjoy her while I bring her up to MY valet standards. Maybe blacken the eggcrate grille (leave chrome ring). Or leave as is.





Bryan's new 2012 XF

 

And..because I like to have fresh stuff...believe or not the windshield sunshield that is made by covercraft for the US market is still available...and for the same price as covercraft has on their website (and even comes with the logo!), so picked one up (it was in stock at the local dealer). Still want to pick up mud guards...but they are on order, so will install when they come in.

Along the way, the OEM key fobs have seen better days. One would think (but, they are probably Ford parts) that a car that was north of 50K USD would have somewhat classier fobs...like covered in nice matching leather with metal trim instead of cheap chrome flashed plastic? Well...anyway, did some searching around, and the local key fob shop down here in PA had replacement shells. Picked up a pair (because the originals looked like the one on the left in the photo) and swapped over the battery and electronics. Hard plastic, and the trim is chrome metal. The emergency key fits just fine. They look a lot nicer. The shop tested to see if I was transmitting, and I was...so...at least I have fobs that aren't embarrassing to pull out of your pocket. OK, they don't have the leaper on the back...but the silicone covers I ordered off line do...

 

Welcome back. I have an original Jaguar windshield sun shade from the dealer parts counter, but I much prefer the performance of the cheap, aftermarket, mylar bubble-wrap versions. The Jaguar one is made of some sort of solid hardboard and gets hotter'n'hell, burning my hands just trying to fold it up. It looks more professional and it does block the light, but it sure seems that hardboard would transfer a great deal more heat into the dash compared to the mylar ones.

 

You make a good point...never thought of that; up here in the northeast, it gets what we consider hot, but not as scorching as the TX sun (I lived in Houston for a couple years...!!!!). Never had it burn my fingers...but something to think about. I have a covercraft shade for my Jetta, and while it's gotten beaten up over the last 1 years of ownership, still in decent condition. We'll see how it works out!

(Now, if those dang splash guards would come in...)