Just about to pull the trigger on a 2014 XFR-s Italian red. First experience with jaguar. Always had BMWs but felt in love with this car.

How reliable are the new jag? I am stuck with old perception, not reliable.

500+ hp rwd is not your typical winter car but I use to drive my Beemer all year round here in canada. Anyone has experience with this car in snow condition with winter tires and a very light right foot?

 

Great color. Can't speak directly to the XFR-S, but I can to the XFR, which is not that far off power-wise. I was also new to Jaguar when I bought mine in February.

From a reliability standpoint, I have yet to have any major issues of any kind. I've had niggling initial build quality issues (sunroof knocked out of alignment, defective front left strut, creaking seat, squeaking seals), but all have been addressed by the dealer and I've been mostly trouble-free for quite a while now. Aside from getting only 13mpg (I have a lead foot, haha), I've been very happy with the car.

Since I live in Texas and I just got the car in February, i have yet to drive in the snow. To be honest, I'd be pretty scared driving my car in the snow (and i'm 40hp below the 550hp of your future XFR-S). Mine came with summer-only Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tires, and I believe the XFR-Ss come with summer-only Pirelli PZeros. It only snows once every 2-3 years here, and it's usually just a light dusting (although there have been some major exceptions in the last few years). I could see myself being OK with it 1-2 days a year if/when it snows. If it snowed regularly, I don't think i'd be comfortable with it, even in "snow mode". At a minimum, i think you'd need all-season tires or snow tires, which kind of defeats the purpose of the XFR-S in my mind. Even with all-season/snow tires and in snow mode, I would imagine 550hp RWD is not fun to deal with in any amount of snow/ice on a regular basis.

Just my 2 cents. Still think you should get the car though! I would have gotten the XFR-S instead of my XFR if I had found one in Stratus Grey and without the shopping cart spoiler.

 

Regardless of the power get real snow tires and the car will do fine. The difference tires make is night and day.

These have a big reputation.

http://www.tirerack.com/winter/bridgestone/blizzak.jsp
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Yea, the right tires are all you need. This isn't a COPO Camaro from the 60's. All the electronics will help in the snow and keep you from flying off the road as long as you don't act crazy.

And Jag reliability is just fine from all the Jags we have owned. They are no worse, and probably better, than any other American or German car. They might still struggle against Japanese, but people shouldn't make their Jag buy/no-buy on reliability because it's on par. That was a real 70's and 80's problem.

 

I love the Italian Racing Red.


I am in Calgary and have taken the car to the mountains several times in the winter. I have the Nokia WRG2 All Weather on my XFR in 255/35/20 all around. These have been a great tire. Although you have 500+ HP the car does better than my BMW with dedicated winters. Keep in mind you have paddle shift. I find that in the winter the car sometimes does not shift soon enough so I use them.

 

Thanks Guys. on my way to buy the car ;-)

 

Don't be afraid of this car in the winter. I had a '10 XFR and now have an XFR-S, and I have a 1/2 km lane way which regularly gets snowed in. I will assume based on your sig you will have plenty of experience with winter driving, and at any rate you will be running winter tires by law, not that this topic even needs to enter the discussion for people who value their own skin...

As long as you don't try anything silly like driving through snow deeper than your ground clearance or getting started on a slope, just put it in winter mode, have a sympathetic right foot, and you can expect similar performance to any other RWD car. That is to say, WAY less capability off the line, in deep snow, and uphill than AWD, but by no means undriveable in a Canadian winter, and quite amusing in corners!

As to reliability, I had a couple more issues with my XFR over the lifetime of its lease than with my wife's last Bimmer (X5), all fixed under warranty and nothing I would consider a deal breaker. But don't take the word of a few sporadic responders on an internet forum: I think you will find that the car compares favourably with the Germans with those who look at more statistically significant numbers of responses, such as J.D. Power or Consumer Reports.

Last point: I have no idea what nate96 is talking about with paddle shift and the car not shifting "soon enough" - winter mode on both the XFR (6 speed) and S (8 speed) I find pretty much ideal.

 

This is my first automatic car. I have always driven manuals. Just use to the full control. I find that even in "winter" mode that the vehicle would shift after some wheel slippage on ice. This is not every day just sometimes. In Calgary we get "Chinooks" where it goes above freezing and then the temp drops. Makes the roads like skating rinks.

 

Agree it is nice to have the control of a manual. But why would you want to be in a lower gear anyway if it is that slippery?

Haven't driven in winter in Calgary since the 90's. Are they salting the roads now?

 

I drive an XK8, which is a 14 year old Jag. As long as I'm regular with maintenance and drive the car regularly, it is very reliable.

I imagine the new cars must be better.

I'll tell you one, the v8 engines on the XF are the same as the one in my car but they have been tuned and updated over the years. Bulletproof engine right there.

 

No, you shift up to the higher gear. Less torque. Reason the car starts out in second gear. The way the car shifts it great most of the time. It is just when it gets really icy or with a decent snowfall it is nice to shift earlier.

Instead of sand Calgary has started using "liquid" salt at the warmer temperatures (-8 deg C and higher) and boulders when it gets colder. It is a reason why so many people go through windshields here. Even if you manage to go all year with out getting a crack, the windshield is so pitted it looks like someone sand blasted it and you need a new one anyways.

 

The new Jaguars are as reliable as the best of other brands bar Lexus (which can't be beaten by anyone it seems). I had minimal reliability issues with my '09 and zero problems with my 2013 awd. My perception is quality continues to improve at Jaguar. Warranty service has been excellent with no questions asked, although the only serious issue with my '09 was with the transmission selector in my '09, a well known issue due to a faulty component supplied from outside Jaguar, since upgraded and totally fixed. I have not needed any warranty work done on my 2013.

Yes, drove my 4.2 for 5 years with minimal issues. Being only 2 wd and rwd at that, you may get stuck occasionally parking in the very deep stuff, but no more than with most rwd cars. The ground clearance is good although yours will be dropped about an inch lower than standard XF ride height.

The traction and stability controls are excellent. With four winter tires the Jaguar handles winter with ease. Jaguar sets out a little chart in their Handbook of recommended settings to use in different conditions. I tested them all and they are all correct.

Best settings to dig out of getting stuck are Sport, paddle shift selecting 2 and DSC OFF.

Best settings for slippery roads with loose snow are D with DSC set to TRAC.

Of course, with over 500 bhp and stiff roll bars you will need to exercise appropriate restraint on the gas pedal with your top line XFR S, but that would be as true of any 500 bhp car.

 

The last Jaguar I had (sold in Spring and now have another) was a XKR and I bought a set of 'Coventry' wheels for snows one I first bought it and a set of Yokohama snow tires. My own experience has been that the Yoko snows are better than the Pirelli snows and I put the same size (fronts) all the way around.
In snow mode and a light foot it handled as good as any rear wheel car I've owned.. only issue was to not get 'high centered' in deep snow as the XKR is fairly low.
The reason for using the front size all the way around was that a narrower tire is a bit better in deeper snow and slush.
As far as reliability, this is now my third Jaguar (this one is F-type R, also Italian racing red) with no issues to speak of.
Lawrence

 

I just recently picked up my XFR-S, coming from my 11' XFSC. I also moved to florida from philly, so dont have to worry about snow anymore. I can tell you my Supercharged with pirelli snows was like a tank in the snow. I would put it into winter mode and no problems. Hope that helps, good luck.

 

For best snow grip you need to fit less than high performance snow tires. The Pirelli Sottozeros are great winter tires on bare roads or packed snow but there are better winters for soft snow and ice traction.

The winter ability of these cars is positively affected by softer and grippier snow tires, but bare road performance suffers accordingly.

Continental makes very good winter tires at the moment.

Michelin's latest Pilot Alpin PA4 is supposed to be excellent also.

I also agree with the suggestion to fit "square" i.e. not staggered winter tires and rims if feasible, same size all round.

 

Indeed. And so the questions are: 1. In what conditions will most of your winter driving be? and 2. Are you going to want to drive your RS in the sporting manner it was modified for? If you answer "most of my winter driving is on regularly cleared and maintained roads" to 1. and "yes" to 2., my advice is go with the Sottozeros.

In theory I would agree. And so I drove around on such a setup on my '10 XFR for 4 years. Last winter was the first with my XFR-S, running a staggered setup (same sizes as summers) and interestingly, I detected no significant difference.

 

I concur.

For well maintained winter roads I fit Sottozeros and would fit stock sizes.

For la belle province with its known severe winters I would use perhaps a more judicious approach.

Quebec winters can be the worst in Canada, just not every year.