In August this year I purchased an exquisite 2012 XF portfolio, BRG with London tan interior and 19 inch caravela alloys with original Continental tires showing very little wear. The car had 19,500 miles at purchase and is indistinguishable from a new car, inside or out.
I wanted a 2012 model for the 5 liter V8 and the revised front.
The car, so far, has been utterly reliable and is superior in every way to my traded in and much unloved E550.
I do have one criticism, however, which I would appreciate some advise on. The ride, while better then the Mercedes, is inferior to my last 2 XJ's and is too choppy and not at all supple. Tire pressures are correct so I wonder if the XJ air suspension [unreliable as it was] was so superior. Two other factors which might contribute to my problem are the 19 inch tires and the extra 300 lbs weight over the XJ. The local Jag dealer says mine is no different to others.
Thanks, in advance, for any comments or advice.

 

Try dropping the tyre pressures by a couple of PSI, the "correct" pressures are often a little high.

 

Air Suspension is superior for old person's comfort ride (I'm old so I can say that)..so no comparison. But the XF in it's OWN class is a nice firm but refined ride..It is called a Luxury SPORTS sedan...I run 37 PSI in my 17" and the handling and ride is everything I expect with this class of car...No disappointments here.


Also, if you lower your Tire pressure too much..look for premature tire wear and a swishy ride.

 

To set a baseline, you have already admitted that the ride is better than the Mercedes that it competes with. Yet you want a ride that is as plush as an air ride equipped XJ with tires that I'm assuming have much more sidewall? It's just not reasonable.

You can run the tires at 32-34 lbs. for some relief. I've often noticed the longer tires are on the car, the worse they ride. I'd wait until you need new tires, then choose those that ride best and then judge.

 

Many of the present Jaguar models have ride characteristics that can be unpleasant, at times. I simply hated my '12 XJL for its ride. I took it back several times to the dealer, but, Jaguar declared it "normal" and my test drives of other XJL showed the same ride.

Our '12 XF and even our '10 XKR have some of the same ride characteristics but, not nearly as bad as the XJL was. Over some road surfaces, particularly new blacktop, there is a harshness in the ride that introduces minor, yet irritating, vibrations in the steering wheel and even in the seat. In the XJL I ran my tire pressures in the low 20s, trying to eliminate that harsness, to no avail.

I can live with the XF and the XKR, even though I often still curse the Jaguar suspension team for allowing such vibrations to exist in these cars.

 

AXR6,
Do you have the checkered flag dynamic button? If so, try it. I hate the way mine rides without it on. The suspension isn't tight enough and I feel every little ripple in the road through the seat and he wheel. With dynamic on, I only feel the bigger bumps.

And I'd never run tires at that low pressure. All kinds of bad things can result.

 

Thanks for the advice. Yes, I tried it in the XJL. Did not help, at all. I have not tried it in my XKR or XF, yet while cruising on the freeway. I will, however, this week when I will drive the XKR for about 300 miles. Same thing, I feel every little ripple, all tens of millions of them.... particularly in a luxury limousine, such as the XJL, that is unforgivable.

Regarding tire pressures. I used to set my cold tire pressures to 14 psi for my GT-3 class racing car with much taller sidewalled Goodyear slicks. That worked out to be near 20 psi,hot. Never an issue with the tire separating from the wheel, even though in racing there are substantial cornering forces involved.

 

Tires change the ride comfort as well.

A max performance summer tire will ride much harsher than an all season.

The Dunlop Sportmaxx rubber is very stiff, I changed to the continental extreme contact DWS and the ride is much smoother.

I would not run anything less than 32psi on any low profile tire.

I would set the pressure at 35 psi.

 

Hankooks ride better and handle worse than the Bridgestone S-04's I have now.

 

Yes, I agree. Given all the good reviews of the DWS 06, I changed my Dunlops on my XKR to the DWS 06. However, driving hard over my local twisty roads, I am very disappointed with the DWS; the sidewalls, even on the 20' XKR sizes are, like mush. Lost a LOT of steering accuracy, picked up ugly understeer and my traction control is busy cutting power on the engine while trying to exit corners under power.

Yes, the DWS rides noticably better than that Dunlop but.... WOW... you give up a LOT in handling. My plan is to keep the DWS for the winter months and change to something much better for the rest of the year. In the meantime I upped the tire pressures to 40 psi which does help somewhat with the steering accuracy but, guess what..., at the expense of ride quality...