So my wife has a 13 XF 3.0 AWD. I must say I'm not a huge fan of it. Engine is rough and it handles a bit oddly. Both my XJR and XK8 are getting a bit older and I found a really pretty 10 XF Super with under 50k that I'm thinking about looking at. For those who have driven the AWD and V8 cars do the V8s handle less benign then the awd v-6? What all should I be looking for aside from checking to see everything works, checking the dash over good. Checking the coolant pipes and the water pump for leaks. I remember something about rear diff issues on the earlier cars. What should I look for/ listen for on that side? Also, with 19" rims or even 18" rims fit on the supercharged? I will be looking for wheels for winter tires if I get it and really don't fancy trying to find 20" winter tires to fit. Thanks for your thoughts!

 

Definitely look for coolant leaks, water pump, the intercooler pump is a must. If the intercooler pump has not gone out yet it definitely will later. A good way to know is if you can feel the Supercharger boost and/or hear the Supercharger. Handling wise I think it handles pretty good. I don't know about the 2010's but on the 09 they had a differential issue where the diff leaked a lot because the diffs didn't have a breather valve. Some dealers replaced the whole diff without issue some didn't. Also 19" wheels will fit, 18" will not fit at all no matter the fit or brand, the front brakes are too big for those. Do remember though you will have less traction with 19" wheels and most likely will spin the rear wheels quite often. I have experience because I do not like the 20" rims here. There are so many potholes here, and now all my wheels are bent. Not trying to scare you though it is a great car all around. On my 09 XF SC I have Michelin A/S 3+ tires, and they are amazing, I would recommend those. You are looking at a 2010, then yours probably comes with the 5.0L V8, not a 4.2L V8. I have that engine as well in a 12 XJL SC, and it performs amazingly. It gives higher torque in lower RPM's.

 

If you're talking about a 2010 XF SC then that's not correct. The 19inch wheels will not fit. The 2010 SC has bigger brakes at the front and very very few 19inch wheels are workable. You're basically stuck with 20 inch

I don't understand why the wheels should spin more with 19inch than 20inch. That doesn't seem right to me.

 

Yeah like I said I'm not too sure with the 2010's, but on the 09 you could fit 19" wheels. Also, I believe the wheel spin is because the Supercharged has staggered wheels and 19" wheels only come in one size all around. So I guess less traction is due to less tread on the ground. I could be wrong, but just putting in my 2c

 

Yes - as far as I remember the 2009SC has smaller front brakes and can do the 19inch. The 2010 onwards (and XFR) unfortunately cannot

 

Thanks guys. Did either of you happen to drive either the 4 banger or 6 cyl when you bought. As I said I'm not a fan of my wifes. Can't really say what I don't like, it just doesn't feel fun I guess. As for the Intercooler pump where is she located at on the 5.0? How much does it run to replace and how easy of a job is it? I do really like the look of the car. So many are either black or bland colors. I do like black but it will be an outside car and I like clean cars. I can't be washing daily. It does worry me about tires though. Finding big fat snows can be expensive and I have found I can go anywhere in the XJR with snows and traction control. I can go no where in snow in the XK8 with all seasons and no traction control. Still trying to figure out if it is worth a 2.5 hour drive to have a look at her. Oh and did the 10s come with rear folding seats? Can't really tell if it has 'em from the pics. I know Jag was weird about folding seats on the XF line. Some years standard some years an option.

 

I've personally driven V8's only for Jags, but I recently drove a XE Diesel. It was pretty good in gas and handling and had a lot of torque. I'm not liking the fact that it is getting harder and harder to find V8's in newer Jags. Also, the Intercooler pump is where the Radiator is. For that, you will have to remove just the front panel under the bumper. The whole bumper doesn't have to come off just the panel. I would recommend getting the Bosch 010 pump, its a bit bigger and can handle heavy pulls impressively. It is a Mercedes part so you will need to get a wire harness and a Mercedes connector. The wires and connectors total from the dealer were around $12-$15. The pump I got from Amazon for $109. So not that expensive and easy enough for you to do if you know what you're doing. Big Will helped me out a bit. The alternative to that is the OEM pump which was $400. The Bosch pump will fit like OE. If you are interested you can look at Big Will's post or let me know, I can provide you the part numbers. I couldn't answer your question for the seats because as you said Jag was really wierd with the folding seats. On my 09 XF SC the rear seats fold down, but on my 12 XJL SC they don't. So I won't be able to answer that.

 

I've driven the V6 XF as service loaner. It's fine (better than I thought it would be). But it's 340hp and heavier AWD. The 5.0SC is around 500hp and rear drive. So it's a totally different experience. You should drive the 5.0 SC - it is an amazing car

Rear seats do fold on the 2010 XF SC. (To my knowledge they never fold on the XJ which is one of the reasons I didn't get one as I do use the folding eg for skis)

If you are serious then I'd definitely say worth a drive to take a look. I would get it professionally inspected too. Mine has been almost without fault in the 5 years I've had it. But others have had issues so you don't want to buy a bad car!

 

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I agree her awd 3.0 is "fine" but just pretty boring to drive. It moves, it scoots but so does a Camry. I did find a non supercharged 12 at a dealer a few miles away I'm gonna go take out for a spin tomorrow. Not crazy about the color combo Green and an oatmeal looking leather and will contact the dealer with the SC after I take the non sc out. The SC is 2 plus hours from home so I know I won't be able to find a trustworthy person in that area to check it out but I'm pretty decent with such stuff. Did CR writing for a spell years ago at an auto auction and know all the lovely dealer tricks.

Will post up what I come up with.

 

Got to drive a 2012 Portfolo today. Drives nicer then the 6. The car was not for me. Gorgeous green exterior but not crazy about the brown dash which is bubbling. Found a really low mile 11 Premium I'm going to look at on Thursday. It is black (wife and daughter love it) but I'm sold on a black car. It shows far too many issues as it ages and I keep my cars for quite some time. It does seem to be in as new condition though so I thought it was worth the drive down. Then Saturday I'm gonna look at the XF s.c. that I love that it isn't black (nearly every single s/c or xfr seems to be black). It does appear in the one pic that the dash is peeling up. Might need to see if my wife's dealer will send it out to an upolstery shop when it gets the airbag replaced since the dash needs to come out for that right?

 

Mine is a black SC model. I love the look but it is hard to keep clean... still glad I went with it though

On the dash that will be an issue with many of them. Find one that was garage parked daytime. Mine is and despite being 2010 the dash is still perfect

Dash doesn't have to come out for airbag - and it's close to a $4k replacement part. So I would have the dealer fix it before sale if it's an issue. They can take it out and have an upholsterer do it. I personally wouldn't risk buying one with a bad dash as if you can't get it right with an upholsterer that would drive me crazy to look at. And the replacement is crazy expensive...

 

You sound a lot like me. I did hear back from the dealer my wife uses and your right they go in from below for it. I don't mind yanking it and taking it in but I also thought it would give a good time to have it done (after I beat the dealer with the one that looks like it is peeling up for that same reason). Personally, I'd rather get it done myself then trust a used car dealer to do it or get it done. That way I know it was done right. Today was a nice day so I decided I was gonna take my Triumph for a ride down to DC to look at a non-supercharged one with a very amazing car fax history and less than 20k. Got nearly there and my stupid motorcycle died and wouldn't restart (battery didn't want to turn it over). AAA driver wasn't keen on taking me to a place that had one that fit and waiting to be sure that was the problem as he wanted the $$$ to take me the 2 hours back so I never made it. Of course I can't find anything wrong with my Tiger either. Battery and charging tests just fine. It was black anyways. Will be going back down tomorrow unless it sells. Of course the nicest salesperson I've dealt with ever tells me that someone from NY is trying to buy it sight unseen and is just waiting for the financing to go thru. Again, simply fate to me. At least tomorrow I'll take a reliable vehicle. I'll take the TVR

 

After weeks of searching, driving maybe 1000 miles to test drive dogs and one really nice 11 XF 1 owner with 18k (and by really nice I mean virtually new) at Brown's Nissan with the greated sales guy I've dealt with til today named Erik. (just in case someone in the market). Even inquired as far as California I settled on a replacement today (pending approval for CPO financing at the moment). I am buying a Stratus Grey 15 XF Supercharged out of Georgia with the black out package. Thank you for everyone's help. She was quite a bit more than I originally wanted to spend but in the end it is everything I wanted and a lot of things that were on my wish list plus there is plenty of warranty to take care of any of the issues over the next 3 years.

 

Sounds terrific. Congratulations. Post pics when you get her!

 

Here it is, not cleaned up yet. Got it 2 days after it was traded so it just went thru the service dept.