My first post to the forum. I bought our Jaguar XF just last month. First time owning a Jaguar ever, always leaned to Audi/BMW personally. I never really gave it much thought but my wife was always insistent on getting a Jaguar for her 40th Birthday. Like a good husband, and a person who loves to buy cars, I decided that I would make her dream come true, but was not overly thrilled with the idea of buying a Jaguar. I decided that I would keep an open mind and check it out. With that off I went to our local dealer, test drove the 2.0 first, loved the styling, inside and out, but was not overly thrilled with the power. I left and did not give it much thought but as my wife's birthday got closer I said that I am going to do this. I did some research online and found out about the V6 and thought this is a better choice. I went back and test drove the V6 and all I could say is WOW!!! Amazing car, so I immediately decided I was going to get this for her, secretly I was in love with it myself. The sales guy was truly amazing, I gave him my parameters for which car I wanted (Black on Black XF Premium V6) and told him that it was a surprise 40th birthday gift for my wife and that I was going to trick her into coming to the dealership on her birthday itself. I also told him I wanted to get a big red bow, cliche I know, but totally worth it. To my amazement, he goes don't worry about that, we keep one here. It took two weeks of back and forth over email and I finally had the car at the dealership, so couple of days before the big day I went over there and made a sign to go along with the bow and gave him my camera to capture the moment and they were going to put it on the showroom floor. My next challenge was how do I get my wife, who could really care less about cars, into the dealership. The answer fell into my lap, her cousin called me and asked me to check out a classic Mercedes for him and there was my excuse, I had to check out another car for him. The big day is finally here, I was nervous like nobody's business, but managed to keep it together. I called the dealership told them I am 10 minutes away and off we went. As usual my wife was distracted on her blackberry, so we walked into the dealership and she looks up to see them taking pictures of her and mutters to me "why is he taking pictures of me?", but then goes back to the blackberry. We stop in front of the car, she is still on that stupid phone, and I have to take it from her and tell her to look up. Once she did that, she got the biggest shock of her life, so much so that she could not even speak. She was amazed that I was able to pull this off. The experience was so amazing the owner of the dealership was enjoying every minute of it as well. Kudos to all of them, they really helped me with this and made me a believer of the brand.

I know I wrote a lot, but figured it would be good to tell on how I got to the point of owning a Jaguar. I have to say I had doubts, but after having the car for the past month I am totally in love with it, more so than my wife I think. The power delivery is amazing, handling is amazing, the looks are amazing, etc. I would have to say that this is the best car I have ever driven.

I am looking forward to some serious motoring fun with this car. We took it out of town a couple of weeks ago and I was loving every minute of driving. We were actually fighting over whose turn it was to drive.

I never gave Jaguar a thought before, but based on the experience so far, I would so buy another one after the one we have now.

Check out the pic attached that shows my wife standing next to her birthday gift.

 

Hopefully Picture is Oriented Correctly now

 

I would say this definitely puts you in the running for "husband of the year". Welcome to the club!

 

Sets the bar pretty high.

The drivetrain is exactly as it comes in the base F Type sportscar.

Once off the line that supercharger really hauls, quicker than the 4.2 V8 by quite a bit and I suspect quicker than the normally aspirated 5.0 V8. Nice growl when called upon to perform yet very smooth and quiet when not asked to haul @$$.

Many improvements were made for 2012 and later XF.

 

Nice story! Congrats on the purchase.

I got a nearly identical black XF (2012, 5.0) for my wife a few months back. My wife is really NOT into cars but, when she saw the XF she was rather exited about it. The only problem is that she is expecting me to keep it washed and shiny all the time. Not a small task for a black car.

Albert

 

Welcome to the forum gjain76,

A great birthday gift. I'm pleased to hear the surprise went according to plan.

When you get a minute, please follow this link New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the New Member Area - Intro a MUST section and post some info about yourself and your vehicle for all members to see. In return you'll get a proper welcome and some useful advice about posting to the forum.

Graham

 

Weclome to the club and congrats.

 

Thanks for the info, I went to the New Member Area and posted my info.

 

Is that Hennessy on Piedmont?

 

Nice work gjain76B! It really doesn't get much better than that. I also nominate you for husband of the year.

 

Yes it is hennessey on piedmont, absolutely great place and the people are amazing there.

 

Gjain76, nicely done. Great story.

 

Definitely not quicker than a normal 5.0.

5.0: 385 hp @ 6500 RPM; 380 ft-lb torque @ 3500 RPM; 4067 lbs
0-60: I believe was 5.0 seconds.

3.0 SC AWD: 340 hp @ 6500 RPM, 332 ft-lbs torque @ 3500 RPM; 4145 lbs.
0-60: 6.1 seconds.

 

Long Islander,

You read my mind. I wasn't going to say anything and upset Jagular about his purchase.

 

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the 3.0 SC engine. It's a great piece of work, and I agree that the handwriting is on the wall longer term about normally aspirated engines in general. Well, the handwriting is on the wall about internal combustion engines in general, LOL (see Tesla!), but the 3.0 SC is not equivalent in performance or visceral experience to the 5.0 NA V8, despite what marketing spin Jaguar wants to put on it. It is even acknowledged on the XJ, as the Portfolio comes with the V8, not the 3.0 SC unless you go AWD. Test reults are all over the board, but the SC AWD will be at least .7 or .8 behind the NA V8 to 60. The non AWD 3.0 will be .2 -.4 behind, and will be left behind at higher speeds.

It does get better gas mileage, though.

 

I have driven the V6SC equipped XJ and the engine performance was smooth, with lots of power. It is a fantastic engine, actually a derivative off the V8.

Just not as quick as the V8.

 

You're thinking of the XFR. The normally aspirated V8 was more like 5.4 seconds. I recall the normally aspirated 5.0 turned out to be nearly as quick as the 4.2 supercharged.

I was referring to the roll on acceleration. These numbers aren't given anymore. Motor trend used to report these figures and so did the British car mags, in the past. 0-60 isn't as useful a number as 40 - 70. Remember the V6 SC has an 8 spd transmission.

Feels very quick once you get off the line. The AWD costs you about 2 tenths to 60 from a standing start. Mind you the Canadian website gives 5.9 as the time to 100 km/hr (62mph) which would be the 5.7 to 60 mph given for the rwd V6 SC on the US site. Maybe Canadian XF are quicker....

 

Great story.........thanks for sharing!

 

Testing at 6000 ft altitude of a NA 5.0 and a 3.0 SC AWD yielded the following times on TFL 0-60: 6.6 sec for the V8, and 7.0 for the SC. That gap will widen significantly the closer you get to sea level, given the fact that supercharged engines lose less power at altitude than normally aspirated (but lose more than turbo engines).

Bottom line is that the 3.0 is simply not as powerful or quick as the NA V8 (and doesn't REMOTELY sound as good IMHO!). And, it shouldn't be - it's down by 45hp, and 48 lb-ft of torque. Only question is by how much. It's still a great engine, gets better economy with the new 8sp., and Jag obviously needed the AWD to compete.

And, mine has an 8 and yours has a 6 - you know the saying... "I coulda had a V8" ; )

 

The XFR sprints 0-60 in 4.7.

The NA XF is 5.3-5.4. I have the brochures both generations of XFs, will have to look the numbers up again.

The V6SC feels quicker than the older 4.2 NA engine, because it has extra 40hp and 20lb-ft torque.