Hi all, I have been lurking here for the past few weeks gathering as much information as possible before a new car purchase. So far this forum has been really helpful and I narrowed down the search to the XFR.

As a little background I have been into cars for a long time. I grew up with imports, having owned a WRX and an STi (hence the name). Built up the WRX to ~300awhp, went a little bigger on the STi and built it to 565awhp (was one of the first built / bored 2.8L STis in the world). I have had a slew of modded cars and trucks since then... 3 Toyota trucks, an IS300, TL Type S and my current car an 08 CTS 3.6DI. I recently sold my 5.0 HO swapped '66 Mustang Coupe to help pay for the ring on my now wife's finger

After about two years in the CTS I was ready for an upgrade. It is a great car but there is nothing super exciting about it. I really missed having a car that I genuinely felt excited to drive and I needed something to help me blow off steam from work and daily stresses. I had my short list narrowed down to:
2012 GT500 - Test drove one, awesome sounding, crazy good engine, laughable to drive and extremely barbaric. I have driven some very high horsepower and crazy cars but this by far was the most stressful to drive.
2011+ ISF - Could not find one to test drive in my area. Great performer from reviews but the interior has not changed since that body style came out and it is very average for a car of that caliber
2013 ATS Premium - Incredible car, beautiful interior with red carbon fiber / red leather combo, tons of tech, lightweight super fun to drive with the magnetic suspension and 3.6DI engine. Terrible depreciation hit brand new and doesn't have that wow factor. This will be a great car to pick up in 2 years off lease for $35k, but is tough to justify at the $50k price range right now.
2010+ CTS-V - Also great engine, great performer but the interior is identical to my car and most of the usable power is in the upper rpms at which point you are going way too fast
Infiniti M56S - Also could not find one to test drive. Love the interior of these but the long term reviews are rough...tons of electrical problems, rattles, etc. Infiniti hasn't quite figured out the upper mid level luxury market yet.

The 2010+ XF Supercharged and XFR were the last on the list. What sold me was the very high build quality and materials on the interior and absolutely incredible engine performance combined with the not harsh ride quality. It is really hard to find that combination of a luxurious car with tons of power and a performance suspension that doesn't crush your spine.

I test drove several XF Supercharged and XFRs in different states and had about 5 dealers eyeing their networks for a good example of either. I finally settled on a CPO 2010 XFR from Milwaukee. The previous owner recently passed and the car was sold by the widow back to the original dealership of purchase. The PO was an enthusiast and apparently the car has not seen rain (wife mentioned that he drove her car to work if the forecast looked iffy). The garage it was kept in was climate controlled and had Jag banners and posters everywhere. I promised the sales manager that it would see the same level of love and detail as the previous owner as he promised the widow it would go to a good home.

It is black on black with only 13.8k miles. Was able to negotiate in another 6 year 100k warranty from delivery date (versus original sales date from the CPO warranty). I don't have any pictures as they were taken down after we finalized the paperwork but it should be here by next week and I can post up some pics.

Excited to be a part of this community and hope to be able to contribute to this group of enthusiasts as I have in the past with the others I have been a part of! If any of you know of enthusiast meets and greets near the Charlotte area I would love to hear about them. Thanks for reading!

Lee

 

Congratulations! Great story. Look forward to your future posts.

 

Lee, welcome to this fine gentleman's club!!!!

Congratulations on your XF.

Give yourself a few months of getting to know the car, it's limits and you will be exclusive to Jaguar brand forever.

Add some pictures later if you get a chance

 

Great search story! Glad to see others had a similar search story. One thing I found too is there's almost no way to find any of the other brands w/ such little miles. Many Jag owners only put a few thousand miles a year on their cars. Don't get me wrong -- many use as their daily drivers. But in my search I found a few XK's that were a few years old w/ only 2-3 thousand miles! Anyway, best of luck w/ your new ride. I wish you the best w/ it

 

Hi and Welcome aboard....It's a fine little kitty..enjoy

Just a word..I originally was born and raised in Milwaukee and they have some hellaitous winters and use lots of salt on the roads..Look the underneath over real good and get it desalinated with a good under carriage freshwater wash down...Just saying, it's worth the effort...
I can remember as a kid my dad buying a new car and the first thing he did was get it undercoated and rust proofed with/by Zebart.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! And good advice DPK. No matter how much that car was babied I am going to give it a good look over once it gets here.

Until it gets here, here are a few pictures of the past vehicles:

The WRX

The STi



The IS300

The TL Type S


The swapped Mustang coupe:



A video the previous owner (friends of mine) made of the car idling and doing a little burnout
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOK6MhGi3y0
Current CTS:

 

congrats on the Jag! waiting for it to come is the hardest part.

 

Congrats! I'm also new to Jaguars and your decision making process was a lot like mine. Couldn't find anything else with the balance of luxury and speed.

 

I asked the internet sales manager to put the pics back up. He relisted it for a few more days so the pics would be back up even though they've got my check. Here is the link

Used 2010 Jaguar XFR For Sale | Milwaukee WI

And some pics:





Interior is flawless, car has less than 14k miles on it (~3500/year)




On top of the CPO warranty I negotiated in an extended 6 year / 100k warranty from day of delivery. Gives me lots of peace of mind to really enjoy this car.

We're working out transport because the bank took its sweet time so it should be here by next week

 

Very nice! Have fun with it!

 

It looks brand new. Best of luck with it. Keep us posted with your impressions of it.

 

Good Luck with the new purchase.. There are more and more options coming out for you to personalize her if you desire.. I know you can't wait to get behind the wheel. Keeps us updated and have fun.

 

I have an '11 SC in black. I switched out the front grille to the black with chrome surround. With those XFR front lower grilles the look would be quite menacing.

 

Nice yeah, of course I already had been looking at mods before the car even arrived! Honestly though I have a feeling I am going to leave this car 99% stock. I feel like jaguar really did it right with the elegant styling of the xfr. The car will get a high quality tint job because it's almost impossible to drive a car down in the south without it...especially a black one with black leather. The only other things for now I considered were the Mina gallery carbon fiber front fascia additions because they are really subtle, don't take away from the lines of the car and add a little more of an aggressive look to the front.

At least for right now there are no plans for performance mods. A well tuned 510 hp engine is plenty for me and that suspension is world class.

 

One Word...WOW!

 

Congrats on the purchase. I'm sure you will love your new ride as much as the rest of us. As far as enthusiast meets in Charlotte, the best one I've been too is Cars and Coffee on the first Sat of each month out on NC Music Factory Blvd. Tons of cars of almost every thing you'd want to see. I go to daydream about the exotics (secretly hoping to purchase a Maserati next year). There's a ton of Vettes and Mustangs. Plenty of Porsche, BMW, etc. Surprisingly I don't see very many Jags. A couple of XKs and the occasional S-type but not much more. I drive a 2010 XFR as well so it will be nice for my baby to have a twin. Mine is also black but I have the red interior. I've only seen 2 other XFRs in Charlotte (maybe 3). There's another black one and I've seen one in the Kyanite blue. So if a little bit of exclusivity is important, you'll be very happy. Plenty of room in Charlotte for another XFR! And I think you'll like the service over at Scott Jag. Those guys are pretty good, especially the service advisor I work with (Russ Brown). I say pretty good because in the past I've driven Benzes and the guys over at MB of South Charlotte treat you like a king. I drove a CLS for a couple of years and you would have thought I bought a fleet of SLSs the way they tripped over themselves to make me happy. Miss those guys, but like I said, the guys at Scott Jag are good too. Good luck with the car and I'll keep a look out for you on the roads. I work in the South Park area and I've got the red interior in my XFR so I'm hard to miss. Beep if you see me!

 

Nice! Yeah I still havent made it over to the C&C @ NC Music Factory yet! My friend and I made it up to one up in the Lake Norman area last year (he has a built Saleen). I would love to head out there to see all of the rides. There are a couple of good Ferrari / Maserati meets down my way in Ballantyne if you are into those...they get together every now and then at 131 Main.

I will definitely give you a beep/wave if I see you! My wife and I were just up that way the other night grabbing dinner at Brio and enjoying this incredible fall weather we are having already

The Caddy is leaving tomorrow and hopefully the XFR will be soon behind. I will be rocking my wife's new Elantra Limited until it arrives (honestly it's a great little car, Hyundai has really stepped up their game).

 

That's awesome! I have the same model and year. You will love it. A lot of the 'comp' vehicles you mention in the first post aren't even in the same class.

Like the R decal on the ACC radar, but I wonder if it affects the ACC performance at all?

I have the same interior trim. I replaced the shift knob with the new one that has the leather topper. Looks great and a nice upgrade for $80 or so... Also the 'official' Jaguar sunshield is very high quality and a necessity for protecting the leather dash IMHO. Can be had for about $40 with shipping from some of the dealers out there...

Cheers,

- Will