Hello all.
As a long time BMW driver, I am intrigued by the XF.
And there is a great lease deal right now on the XF Premium.

I had four quick questions for XF owners.
1) Does the tranny blip the throttle on manual downshifts using the paddles?
2) Are the XF exterior mirrors power-folding?
3) Can you program a destination into the navigation system while the car is in motion?
4) Are the standard 19" tires on the Premium all-season?

Thanks for any help.

 

Here is what I actually know for a 2010 model year US spec. XF Premium:

1. It sounds as if it blips the throttle, sometimes. I get the impression it depends on engine and road speed at the time of the downshift.

2. For US spec cars the exterior mirrors do not power fold.

3. No. The system will only let you program the nav when stationary. Very, very irritating.

4. The 19" rims have all season tires fitted for the Premium model.

Hope this helps.

 

1 Yes

2 Not in NA

3 We are about to make setting your satnav while in motion illegal in my home jurisdiction. Studies have apparently shown it is dangerous to do so. I think it is.

4 Yes for NA only. All season tires are not sold in Europe. All season tires are a poor compromise however, the Continentals on my XF are superb.

 

For 3, I completely agree that for the driver it is dangerous, but not the passenger. Although not foolproof it would be easy to sense a passenger was present (they do it for the air bag) and re-enable the NAV screen. I understand that this would still allow the driver to use it if they had a passenger, but there is point beyond which control must be relinquished to common sense.

 

Mine is a J spec and the exterior side mirrors are power fold. If you really wanted to, I bet you could add them afterwards to a US model.

Never did understand why they just don't build all the cars with everything standard, since Jaguar seem to make a very good attempt at this.
My J spec XFR can not be ordered with the blind spot assistance even though it is standard on the lesser XF models here.

 

Gotta tell you, one of my biggest disappointments with the XF is that the side mirrors do not fold either via power assistance or manually. The only bigger disappointment is the NAV, and supposedly, that has been fixed for 2012.

Can we get the European mirrors and retro fit the electronics?

 

I had power folding mirrors on my M5 and in 10 years of ownership can probably count on one hand (well, maybe two) the number of times I've actually used the feature. Certainly on one hand the number of times I've NEEDED to use the feature.

The inability to program nav while in motion is irritating, but there is a "home" button that you can press even while in motion, so you have at least one destination you can set on the fly (and at the risk of pointing out the obvious, it need not be set to your actual home address!).

 

Whoa, the mirrors are fixed in place? You cannot manually fold them in?
I need this feature since our garage is not the widest and the other vehicle is a Ford Raptor.

 

Besides home, you can also select your last destination while in motion.

 

Yes, I know that power folding mirrors seem a little over the top, but I have had several cars that did have them and they were very useful (bank drive thru's, garage parking, etc.). I did not use the feature all the time, but those times when I needed it I was happy to have the feature. I do think that folding mirrors (manual or power) are a necessity, or am I just a snob?

 

On the '09, and likely all models, you can pre-program several (6?-8?) destinations that you can access while in motion. The numbers are spread across the bottom of the destination screen. You can't label them, so you have to remember what numbers you assigned, or use trial-and-error. (When you're stationary, the numbers show on your memory destination screens).

Not familiar with selecting last destination in motion, will have to check that out.

Dick

 

No, you're not a snob. It is a useful feature. I agree that when you need it, you need it.

One more observation: I confirmed that at least on my car ('11 XFR), you can manually fold the mirrors in. FWIW, I think this is more than adequate. I've heard of the power ones' mechanisms (on other cars) breaking when other people unfamiliar with the car try to fold them manually.

 

Most of these electric mirrors have a manual folding "feature" to prevent damage when impacted.

The electric folding feature isn't very useful for most North Americans so it isn't offered. We so rarely need to fold them due to our large roads and ample sized parking spots.

Auto folding mirrors are getting to be standard equipment in Europe, folding every time the ignition is switched off.

 

On my US spec car, the mirrors can be manually folded in slightly (30 deg or so) which reduces width a little but not by very much. They certainly will not lie parallel to the car.

 

I am surprised that more folks are not asking for the folding mirrors. I absolutely need them here in Japan but even with the wider spaces in the US, the XF is a seriously wide car.