I bought a 2010 XF last year and love it. However, I am now thinking of moving up to the XF Supercharged.

I test drove one yesterday and it is an awesome car. However, I have to say I hate the "rich" oak wood. Actually it looks more like plastic laminate. Really!

My XF has the satin walnut and it both looks and feels like wood, which it is. In my opinion, the glossy wood finish hides the real character of the wood to the point it looks fake!

Another item I dislike are the 20 inch wheels. Again, in my opinion, they are strictly cosmetic and do nothing to improve the ride or performance. In fact, they detract from the ride.

If I end up buying a Supercharged, I would have the dealer swap the 19 inch wheels on my XF with the 20 inchers on the Supercharged. Then I would have them swap out the walnut from my XF with the "rich" oak on the Supercharged. Again, this is my opinion, but the customer should be able to "pick" the finishes and not be limited to what the manufacturer feels is best.

(I am also considering a Maserati Gran Turismo. Fortunately, Maserati doesn't limit the buyer's choices.)

One last comment. I hope this isn't a result of Tata taking over Jaguar, but the "new" 2011 XF brochure is incredibly tacky. I have the 2010 brochure, which is a great little booklet that provides a ton of information regarding all the XF models.

The new brochure consists of all of four sheets of heavy, oversized stock that has been stapled in the middle for a total of sixteen pages versus about 40 in the 2010 brochure, which has a number of larger fold-out pages as well.

The 2010 brochure has what appear to be actual paint chips for the various body colors whereas the 2011 brochure has incredibly tacky printed colors that do no justice to the actual paint colors.

Similarly, the 2010 brochure has simulated swatches of the various leather options while the 2011 brochure again has tacky printed photos.

The 2010 brochure provides three view photos of the XF with all of the appropriate dimensions. The 2011 brochure has nothing. The 2010 brochure lists the specifics of the Portfolio package while again, the 2011 brochure lists exactly nada.

I know no-one is buying the brochure, but come on now. We aren't talking about buying a Toyota or Datsun/Nissan here.

The brochure for my GMC Denali makes the 2011 Jaguar XF brochure look like something a high school advertising class might come up with. In fact, I think my high school could come up with something much more suitable for a Jaguar than the one sitting in the showrooms now.

Oh, and it may just be me, but I do keep all of the brochures from the new vehicles when I purchase them. Unfortunately, the new XF brochure is just a throw-away.

 

I have every brochure from every new car I purchased. I opened up my drawer to look as I thought I had an '11 brochure that was also 40 pages. But it was the '10 like you mentioned... The '11 is so bad my dealers were giving me that one!

Love the Maser -- but that's a BIG price difference. But Wow what a car!

 

Wheel swap is a no brainer for the reasons you mention. Even the 19 inchers ride too hard. Heck, my 18 inchers are firm enough with the new feel Jaguar suspension tuned to be more "German" for reasons not obvious to lovers of traditional English suspension. The firmness was an attempt by Jaguar to move towards the high end German sedans, which don't handle nearly as well as a Jaguar but feel more "sporty". I think the base model XF suspension is borderline too firm, the SC is harder yet although the continuously adjustable shocks do compensate for that firmness.

Wood swap is likely to be tricky as some of it is probably integral with the door panels and not designed for separate replacement.

I have the traditional burled walnut with glossy finish which I think is rather Jaguarlike. The Oak is American Oak, ironic really. It was intended to be trendy and a move onwards from the stuffy burled walnut so beloved of traditional English coachbuilders.

 

I've looked at the 18 inchers for my '10 XF as well. I guess I will have to find out about the wood.

When I bought my Denali, I had to look all over Dallas to find one that didn't have the "hip" 20 inch wheels.

No offense to anyone, but what is the practicality of these oversized wheels especially on a pickup truck?

As for the Maser, I'm not considering a new one, more like a 2009. To spend $140K on a car (unless you are Charlie Sheen - just heard this morning he spent a combined $900K on two new cars, one for him and one for his new girlfriend!) to me is unfathomable.

I read the comparison between the Jaguar and the Infiniti M (don't remember which model - 560?) in Automobile magazine and the writer commented that the Infiniti made the Jag look plain - he/she said the Infiniti looked more "catlike".

Well I guess that just goes to show you that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, because the Infiniti to me, looks bloated.

As for the brochure, I have a feeling that was a leftover from Ford cutting costs as I'm sure that brochure went to press before Tata took over ownership of Jaguar. Since buying the Jag, I have received several mailings from Jaguar and they are more in line with the 2010 brochure than the 2011 brochure.