The good:
The car has just under 10,000 miles on it and the engine feels like it has loosened up considerably. Acceleration perceptually is faster and the engine note seems deeper. i guess a little coating on the mufflers helps the cause. the car is comfortably quick. You can keep up a steady 100 -110mph cruise when road conditions permit with ease. Seats are comfortable and the seat ventilation is nice on longer hot journeys. Cruise control is surprisingly good so long as it's not raining. Bluetooth works as does the ipod connectivity - so it's a great long distance tourer.

What's not so good:
Steering feel is not great. There's a worrying lack of bite on turn in - you're just never quite sure enough if it's going to understeer straight on or actually grip and turn. The only way to be sure is to trail brake and then boot it out of the corner.

Which leads to the other complaint - lack of traction coming out of corners. You can feel the traction control "bog down" the engine as it cuts power even in Dynamic. I'm making an assumption that the Dunlops are the real culprit. They're also poor in the wet. I've asked a friend of a friend who is part of the handling group what a better tire recommendation would be - Pirelli's? Michelins?

And that leads to poor brake feel. They might stop well enough but there's a lot of slop at the top of the brake pedal and it's hard to really modulate your braking without better feel. I've also asked the "insider" if there are better friction pads or a different brake fluid that would give more feel.

The ride is pillowy even in Dynamic, but somewhere in the damping there is still "porpoising" in high speed corners as if the front and back of the car are not in synch. Does the car need a stiffer setting or lowering some more, or is the chassis now not stiff enough?

The final "could be better" elements are the navigation which is truly very poor compared to even 3rd party nav systems from Garmin or TomTom. I use the Garmin instead to avoid wanting to do a Basil Faulty on it. And compared to the latest Audi's and Mercedes the interior feels flimsy. The new XJ looks much better in both respects.

Two bent wheels and one cracked windshield later it's still a god long distance and commuter car, just not a sports car. Let's see what the next generation XFR's like compared to the new BMW M5 and Panamera Turbo.

 

Panamera is way more expensive and very ugly. Basically a sedan version of the Cayenne.

Steering feel is a very subjective experience. Most North Americans expect "sporty" cars to have heavy steering which is not the same thing as steering with feel.

If your XF is porpoising then there is something wrong with the suspension.

Nobody, but nobody does suspension as well as the British and Jaguar is about the best there is.

Brake feel is also subjective and again, a heavy pedal is not the same thing as a pedal with feel.

Most European journalists put the XFR ahead of the M5, albeit the newest version.

 

The suspension was checked along with the alignment - all as it should be. I noticed the same thing at the track when I drove a Jaguar owned car and then when Davy Jones drove it: same sensation.

Neither the steering nor brakes need to have more weight - that's not the issue. The issue is a lack of granularity in terms of what the steering is telling you: but I blame the tires for that.

With the brakes there's too much mush at the top of the pedal and it's hard to modulate the bite point and release it smoothly, which throws the car off balance coming into a corner.

The current M5 is old, has a poor gearbox and an engine that's not great for the road (you have to rev the n*t's off it), and brakes that are not strong enough. But what it does do is offer better steering and brake feel.

Panamera is too big and steering feel is not great. The platform though is completely different from the Cayenne. It's better finished that the Jaguar, but then it should be with about a 25% premium.

 

Thats the first time i've heard anyone complain about the interior, i think it was on motortrend's ten best or something. A similarly priced panamera can't come close in terms of performance and as jagular said most reviews put it ahead of the M5 in terms of best performance/comfort combo. I have heard complaints about the nav, but not the braking or suspension. Hopefully they update the nav soon.

 

The interior looks good - it's stylish and it's different from the mainstream. But the center console wobbles. The HVAC and radio controls feel tinny. The glovebox door opens one in every 5 attempts and feels cheaper than it should. there are rattles where other cars don't rattle at this price point. While the front doors get "Vodka Bar" lighting the rears do not. It's the kind of stuff Audi does better than anyone. If Jaguar wants to build on its success one area it needs to match or beat is Audi on the interior.

 

Audis cost more for less car. Frankly, Audis are very boring cars to drive and they still cannot get their suspension right.

The Jaguar XF has superb handling. If the steering was not spot on then it would not be so easy to drift. With the DSC OFF in winter I find I can select the drift angle with the throttle and steer the car easily. I can feel every nuance of the road surface through that "light" steering. Mind you, the X Type was criticized for "light" steering with no feel and that was also incorrect. Very few cars have steering as good as Jaguar, SAAB springs to mind especially when you remember that all SAABs are front wheel drive and all have excellent steering feel.

As for the Panamera and the Cayenne being "different" well, a little. The Cayenne is a monster and the Panamera a mini monster. The engines are the same, the new facelifted Cayenne hood is the same, the Panamera is very heavy for its size and seats only four.....I dunno, I think Porsche laid an egg with this car.

Stick with Jaguar.

 

Just dumped my 2009 Porsche Cayman S as it was the single worst ownership experience ever. The salesperson tried to get me into a Panamera or a 2011 Cayenne S. I bought the 2010 XFR.

Uh..its not even close. The Porsche cars are waaaaay overpriced, the options are few and the ride was marginal, albeit fast (esp the panamera PDK). The stereos in these cars are simply the worst hi end production stereos ever, rivaling middle of the road GM products. The interiors are stark, but functional. The cayenne is very "manly-esque" and just feels wrong...either be a rough SUV or be a Lexus. This is some weird hybrid I just couldnt get a handle on

My wifes' quote: "The Panamera looks like a turd" (well it was brown and curved)

Stick with the Jag or go BMW. M45 might be of interest.

My 2cents.

Mark

 

The Cayman is pretty much pure sports car. The ride definitely takes a back seat to handling, which is superb. The noise level is unpleasant when the throttle is wide open but the car does go.

Apart from the weak stereo (which I couldn't hear most of the time I was test driving) and the hard ride were there other issues with your Cayman? (and, yes, all Porsches are overpriced but not by as much as all Ferraris).

 

It's funny but I just drove a friend's Cayman and it was SO nice to drive a Porsche again. The car handles brilliantly, the controls are spot on, steering magical and it's amazingly comfortable even with PASM on sport.

Porsche puts the money into making it a driver's car. If you want heated seats and electric cup-holders and smooth ride you bought the wrong car - that's what the Mercedes SL offers - all the plush doodads to make you look good at the golf club but a failure at the race track. If you want to turn your sports car into a mobile bordello you pay extra for that in a Porsche. Let's face it, the Cayman (or Boxster or 911) are sports cars not a family sedans. The Cayman is a truly great sports car, but it was the wrong car for you, not that Porsche made a bad car.

 

As far as the tire question you may want to look at the new Nitto Invo. It has a pretty radical tread pattern and is developing a huge following. Many friends have recommended them to me and I recently put them on the STR and love them. Am going to put a set of them on the XF next.