Quiet frankly; you are a trooper. I would have thrown major fits by now. All the time and aggrevation. Having to tape everything.
I would say, either they fix it once and for all or they give you another car. Why don't they simply replace all the modules in question, reprogram thoroughly test and be done with it. And if that doesn't work, you should get another car.
I don't mean to ask for another car or things like that for a couple of visits and some software updates. But what you are going through sounds a bit extreme. May or may not be dealer inability. May be bad wiring or fiberoptics. Who knows at that point. But Jaguar of NA should be heavily involved at a stage you are at.
After all, despite reading some of the comments here, and despite my own "workover" of some items at a service visit, I still believe it is a small percentage of owners effected vs. the ones having no problems or are having one dealt with a single visit.
What you are going through is unacceptable by any standard. After all, you documented everything and you do NOT sound to me like someone who is picking on the car because of some minute problems. Essentially not being able to use your expsnive Bowers & Wilkins Sound and Entertainment System is not acceptable. Nor is having had possesion of the car 5 out of 25 days. The later alone would make me very very disgruntled. Good luck though. Hope things get better.

 

I'd take the gloves off and visit the dealer with my lawyer.

 

I would be just as relentless as you in getting things corrected. It sounds like the technician doesn't know how to reload the firmware or that one or more components need to be replaced.

FYI, the software upgrade fixed most of the major problems with the nav system, except that suddenly my Android phone doesn't pair up automatically (it did for the first two weeks post upgrade). What I still really hate is the "Agree" prompt and the need to hold each key for a second before the system registers it as a key press. There are about a dozen minor things that need to be changed, but I do pick the worst to complain about.

About choosing your battles, perhaps I should have used another cliche instead: "Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater!" I.E., the car is a good performer and looks good. The electronics are fixable.

I bought a 7 series BMW and found that the engine torque curve was not properly matched to the transmission (fixed in the following year's car), and had a Mercedes that suddenly turned sideways going on an interstate - blowing out two tires -that my wife refused to drive following that experience (also fixed in the following year's car). I won't mention the 1976 Jaguar XJ that barely lasted two years. Those are the things to REALLY get upset about (I replaced the car in each instance). g

If they don't resolve your problem real soon, I would go to another dealer. I will happy to introduce you to mine in Jacksonville.

 

If this makes you feel better, my LS460 had the same prompt when I first bought it and it took about 7 months for them to come up with an upgrade. Now all it does is to show a warning message for a few seconds and it goes straight to the map screen. No more pressing any prompts, I like that!

 

I dropped it back off today, along with a thumb drive with 33 videos, clearly labeled and very well dictated regarding what was going wrong.

They have been and were nice about it. The service manager said he was sending the videos to Jaguar NA and that if they couldn't figure it out, that there is a Jaguar engineer that he could bring in to diagnose it. He said I would be without my car for a while, but would see about Jaguar compensating me since the car essentially costs $60 a day to own. The last car they loaned us was an older XF, blue/tan, absolutely nauseating... my wife said something and they gave us a brand new black/black XF, so it's not AS bad being without the car... but even my wife said it, the XF feels like a kids power toy after having the XJ for the last few days.

All in all. I just want the car to be fixed. We took it to her dads house, about 40 miles away and driving on the interstate, the first time doing so, was terrific. The car is a beast and handles like a wheel oiled machine.

Fingers crossed this is the last time in there!

 

Wow.. good luck man. In my view the Japanese need to learn about design, the British about electronics and the Germans about both! For me if this Jag had decent electronics I'd have bought one already. Thanks for the info and keep us posted on your ordeal.

 

Wow...What about the Germans?? Just kidding. I am German......and.....you got a point, especially in terms of design, in particular interor design. Lot of perfect and expensive engineering and I briefly considered a Porsche Panamera, but the design....no, that, oh no.....I really love my XJ even much more just looking at a Panamera.

 

Go for it. You know you want one. Don't let the less than top notch electronics put you off. This car is awesome--it's a beast in a tuxedo! Definitely worth the extra $15K for the supercharger in my opinion (though the normally aspirated is no slouch either).

 

Listen to HouTexJag the car is simply awesome you won't regret getting one and definitely worth the extra $ for the supercharged IMO. Nothing is perfect all cars have problems at one point or another just make sure you have a reputable dealer in your area and and you will avoid the problems some people in this forum are having. I have previosly owned BMWs Acuras, Infiniti vehicles and was worried about getting a Jag because you always hear horror stories about reliability issues with them but after owning a jaguar xf supercharged for three years I have to say it was as reliable as the Infiniti or Acura and more reliable than my BMW X5 or M3. Most of the problems I have read here about the xj seem to be with software issues and not engine or transmission problems. Software issues are annoying for sure but it could be worse if you browse the BMW and MB forums they seem to be having engine and transmission issues with their cars for example BMW seems to having a lot of issues with their high pressure fuel pumps on their turbocharged cars where the engine stumbles and even shuts off on the highway. As I stated on another post my xj has been flawless so far, jaguar seems to have corrected a lot of the issues of the early cars. Also the bowers and wilkens stereo in this car is insane the best factory system on the market today at any price.

 

In one word...I agree. I would buy it again and choose it again over its BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and if you want Lexus competitors. Having owned all the above at one time or another I may add.

 

Yeah I had my share of muscle cars so I know how HP and torque feels like. Now, I admit I have been spoiled with the Lexus because this car (LS460) has been absolutely worry free for me. What it doesn't have is the design which I think the XJ does have, in spades.

Now, I just can't feel good on dropping close to 90k on a car that will lead me to irritations, being them software or anything else. I have other family members that have German cars and it's all complains too, as mentioned above.

So, by reading posts here and talking to actual XJ owners is an invaluable resource. I am over all the marketing hype of all car companies at this point and I believe cars that are really good sell themselves. In the end I will probably end up buying a XJ but I will wait a little more and keep my eyes open for new developments and more feedback. The other thing that scares me about Jags in general are their depreciation. Will it be as bad as they have been for the older models?

 

Concerning depreciation, I usually watch the manufacturer's lease residuals for a guideline. Jaguar was quoting a 55% residual on a 3 year lease when I bought mine in June, which is a little above normal (compared to Mercedes S Class and BMW 7 Series). I usually keep my cars 2 - 3 years and if I can come away with no less than 50% on a trade in at the end of 3 years I'm pretty satisfied.

 

Depreciation is tough to predict but the new warranty which includes scheduled maintenance for 5 years should help improve the resale value not to mention save a lot of money in servicing costs. Now if they would only cover the tires as well that would be awesome. I don't know how long these dunlops will last but I hope they last longer than the pirelli's on the xf I previously owned those only lasted 5k miles before they were totally worn out and at almost $500 per tire that can get expensive.

 

OK, comparing to a Lexus when it comes to quality will almost always leave the Lexus come out ahead. But not just with the Jaguar, also with Mercedes and BMW. And being born in Munich Germany, next to BMW building makes this a bit hard for me to even write. But it is a fact. Toyota/Lexus just are palying it save and their quality and reliability is top. But playing it save is also preventing them from making cars fun and give them a better design. That applies to their entire line. The fun factor of those is minimal. They are just too....well...perfect and well rounded.

Again, after I read all this here (after I bought the car) I though, here we go, I will have lots of aggrevations. But, they fixed my car in basically one visit (first "workover" was at time of delivery so it doesn't count) and all seems fine since.

But much more imortant....we are all talking 1st year production cars. with Vins lower then 15,000. ALl the items, (which are in part so minor but causing so much aggrevation) had been addressed at the factory. They are learning what to look for. That is normal at a new model.

No, don't ask how Lexus does it. Do they give away the first 10,000 cars and throw them away? I wonder.

 

I don't think the OEM Dunlop tires will last long--looking at the wear on my rears at less than 5,000 miles I will be lucky to get 8,000. The fronts still look pretty good, so I will probably be changing them out every other time I do the rears. The torque of the supercharged engine (along with my heavy foot) really eats up rear tires--I had a 2007 Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT that I couldn't get 5,000 miles out of the OEM Pirelli's in the rear, also at $500 a pop.

 

Thanks for the info, I guess that's the price we have to pay for performance.

FYI. Hankook makes a very decent tire for about half the price. Not exactly the same performance as the pirreli or dunlops but very close.

 

Yeah, the last (4th) set of rears I bought for the Maserati were Michelins at about half the cost of the Pirellis too, but they weren't nearly as sticky. I traded the car on the XJ before they wore out, but it looked like I was going to get about 10,000 miles out of them.

 

Nope. The annoyances are not - in any way - tolerable. It takes all of the enjoyment out of owning and driving the car. And isn't that what it's really all about?

I, too, owned an LS460 - and I thoroughly enjoyed the car. I, too, change cars frequently - just because I enjoy doing that. I no longer own the Jag XJ. And I don't miss it. It was just one thing after another - popping roof, software issues, disappearing gauges, sunroof shade problems, audio system not working, etc. The list goes on. The car was in the dealership FAR too often, as far as I was concerned. And I heard - far too often - that they (mechanics) just "couldn't duplicate the problem".

It's a beautiful, sensuous car. But it's got too many things wrong with it - too often.

 

Well I have to agree with these statements, unfortunately. It seems to me that Jaguar is trying hard, but if they keep their $30k service attitude on a $90k car, they will not conquer a decent slice of this market. I don't have time to deal with car annoyances on this price range. It's my understanding that people in this market DEMAND quality and reliability. At the same time I really want Jaguar to succeed, but if the product is sub-par and the dealer network is sketchy at best, that's the unfolding of disaster. I test drove an XJL Supercharged and it's awesome, but the aforementioned annoyances will prevent me from buying it.

 

I got a call last Thursday regarding my car. At this point, they have had my car 22 days out of 31 (bought it on the 2nd of December).

I was told now that the VCM (Video Control Module) is bad and that when there is a CD in the cd slot, it causes 15 different sub systems to go haywire. I can understand this part causing audio related issues... but to affect the NAV and parking sensors/back up camera, I find this a stretch. He said, "when we take a CD out of the CD player, everything works fine. Now, they don't drive the car around for miles a day like I do, they just sit in it. So the true test, if this fixes it, will be to take it home for the day and field test the hell out of it.

At this point, I forgot what the car looks/drives like and after driving a new XF as my loaner, I feel like all the other cars on the market are just sub-par. LOL

We'll see what happens this week (I hope). About the only benefit of having the car in the shop is the fact that I've had to go on two out of town business trips and miles didn't get put on my car...