Interested in reading about your experience so far with your XJ/L...

Issues? Performance? What have you had serviced? How's it driving?

Happy with your car? Please feel free to elaborate...

We traded an 05 VDP for an 11 XJL...have had it for 5 days. It is non-SC, but I am impressed with the power of the car. It is Indigo with Navy/London Tan interior...very beautiful car. It has almost new Pirelli P Zero's so we'll have to deal with the noisy, stiffer ride until we get some wear out them and replace them with a better tire.

I was surprised when our sales guy told us that the 11 has a 5 year warranty that covers wear items (everything except tires) and the 12 and 13 warranties do not cover wear items.

No roof creaks...don't know about other 11 specific issues.

We are very impressed with the car so far.

 

Welcome to the XJL owners circle. You color combo is a really pretty one.

I have about 6K miles on my '12 XJL and have no complaints after replacing the Pirelli Zero Nero tires with Hancooks. The Pirellis were unbearably noisy over broken pavement.

Zero problems with the car, great comfort, great looks and great gas mileage for highway driving. Plenty of power from the normally aspirated 5.0, as well as better steering and handling than my '08 XK.

Better NAV than in the XK but, still note the lack of street guidance by voice. I was driving through a downtown area yesterday with really short blocks and the voice saying "turn in 600 feet", instead of naming the street, was not the best guidance. My S3 and my cheap Garmin can both do precise street-voice calling, why can't my fancy Jag have that?

Ok, that is about all the complaints that I could muster up regarding the car. I love it and, hope that you will too.

Albert

 

I have 15k on my 2012 XJ SC with no problems. I just had my first service done and have had no roof pops or other complaints that the earlier versions seemed to have. Service was free under warranty and it was the first time I have been back to the dealer since I bought it.

Overall, I love the SC engine. I had a 2007 XJ8 before and the difference is amazing. I rarely press the pedal more than a quarter way down before I am well over the speed limit. My biggest issue is that the SC came with summer tires and I am waiting to switch over to some all season for better year round driving.

Cheers!

 

I have only had my 2013 XC SC for 2 weeks, but overall I love the car. My comments echo Jagfan's about the power and how well it takes off. Overall the car comfortable and rides well. I don't know how much they detuned the 13 suspension, but I would curious to compare with the 12. The engine noise and growl is sweet. The interior is excellent.

Some minor nits are the lack of sunglasses holder in the headliner. Reaching into the console has taken some time to adjust to. The auto volume control is not as smooth as I'm used to and as many noted the electronics and nav are a bit quirky. A Lexus LS460 is more functional, but would not make me smile as much. I also have summer tires with the SC and Virginia is really an all season tire region. I will need to change them in the fall. Last minor item is the front parking sensors that have to be turned on. They should come automatically below a certain speed.

What kind of Hankooks do you have axr6?

They only thing I do not like at all is the auto start stop. I wish I could disable it.

 

I've installed the Ventus V12 Evo set, the same as I have on my '08 XK. Good handling, thread life, much less noise than the Pirellis and you can get them for rather decent prices. Still, they are summer radials that just happen to work under my local, CA mild winter climates.

I agree with you also on the parking aid; I too wish it would come on automatically, instead of having to activate it with a button. For sun-glass storage I use the door pockets. Plenty of room there.

Albert

 

Ahh, I was hoping they would be the Ventus s1 noble 2 all season. Not too many reviews on those around. There are only a few tires that fit the 20 inch rims in all season. The OEM Pirelli Nero Zero all season, Michelin Pilot A/S and the Hankooks.

Another feature I like is the 8 speed transmissionthat I can still paddle shift in all three modes. Gas mileage is better than I expected as well as long as I lay off the pedal a bit. Seats, super comfy.

 

I have 23,000 miles on my '12 and still very happy with it. As a lot of people have commented, I wish it had better electronics, but no car will be perfect. I still think it is the best combination of beautiful design, luxury, comfort and performance. I wouldn't trade it for any other car on the road.

Had a minor issue with the fuel pump recently, but dealer replaced it and no problems since. Also, dealer replaced brake pads without charge, which I didn't expect, although i'm not complaining.

 

5 years and 70000 miles on my 2007 XJ8. Experienced a cracked radiator overflow tank (warranty); auto trunk closer not working (warranty) and center console door not latching (warranty). Since then only a bad thermostat needed to be replaced. Replaced the original Continentals with Pirelli Zero Nero tires and what a mistake that was. Changed those for Firestones and they're okay but I'll go back to the OEM Continentals next round. After numerous Mercedes and BMWs in my lifetime, the Jaguar is actually much more reliable. It's also so much more comfortable to ride in. I plan on keep this car for many more years.
Cheers
Paul

 

Yes, those Pirelli Zero Neros... I got rid of them after 2000 miles on my brand new XJL. What a terrible tire. Why would Jaguar make them OEM is beyond me. The OEM Continentals on my new XF are excellent.

Albert

 

YOur car is actually the previous model (X350 model series), so not fully comparable with the current XJ (X351). I'm glad to see you're impressed with the car, noting the issues you have had are typical of the X350. The cracked radiator tank is the serious thing. Why Jaguar cannot improve these plastic parts, I don't know. My car is a lot older, at 2003, although less miles than yours, and I have had to have various suspension parts replaced due to wear. It would seem these parts were improved on the later year cars to make them more durable.

 

We've had the 11 XJL for about 30 days now. Car is magnificent in my opinion...

We had the starboard side fuel sender replaced, and the overhead courtesy light circuit board replaced. Both covered under warranty.

We've put about 1K miles on the car, which includes a weekend trip.

We got our first ding last week...under the drivers door handle. Significant enough to see...will cost about $125 to get the ding out. Dings really pi$$ me off.

We absolutely love the car. It's actually my wife's daily driver. Her boss has told her they now think they are paying her too much...

I am not as affected by the response time of the touchscreen. While it isn't as instantaneous as the control panel on a Federation Galaxy class starship, it works fine for us.

Very comfortable ride, and will be more so when we get rid of the horrible Pirelli tires. Great power eve though it is NA, handles really well. Still no roof creaks/cracks, no noises at all.

I clayed it this past Saturday and put on 2 coats of Zaino. I will put on two more coats next weekend.

Fantastic car...very blessed to have it.

 

congrats on the car, welcome to the awesome XJ club

ive had mine for about 7 months now, i love it to pieces. only 1 issue thus far...drivers heated seat stopped working while i was in canada....battling 5 degree weather

the touch screen response is unbearably annoying. but its been like this on ALL my jags. the touch response is one thing, which i can deal with most of the time. but there are other issues such as the lag between when i put the car in reverse and the camera popping up. sometimes i end up waiting 30 seconds for that to happen. as a software engineer....this is unacceptable.........as a consumer....also unacceptable. the system in my infiniti is 400000 times better on a car thats half the price.

 

Glad you love your car. That ding is a killer. I park my car so far away from everyone that sometimes it takes a hiking trip to get to it. Sooner or later some idiot will still ding it.

I laughed about your wife's boss. My (not really boss) but, person responsible for my pay rates, drives an older S-type. When he realized I got a new XJL he basically said the same; no pay raises for me. Then, last week he glowingly told me what while his S was in service he got an XF loaner. What a great, great, great car it was.... so, I told him that just the week before we also purchased one of those for my wife. His eyes bulged and I knew that no raises are in the forecast for the next century! That's OK, it is time for me to re-retire. Ha...ha....ha....

Me too, no real problem with the touch screen. Slow but, I am used to it by now, being on my 4th jag in the row. Wish navigation would be better, however.

Also, you are right, I have no clue why Jaguar installs those terrible Pirellis as standard equipment. I got rid of them after only 2000 miles for the Hankooks. Much better.

Best of luck with you XJL,

Albert

 

I guess it's not just me.

It amazes me how much the government has forced the society to change, as if buying nice cars or walking outside of the house and not looking like you lost faith is life is a crime.

These days people will look down on you, if you don't equal out to them. Where, many moons ago, raises were based on performance and not need.

 

Hi Albert,
Two questions for you, mate. I had bought the ding protection plan last year when I bought my '11 Silver XJL, and I am thinking about terminating that plan. Just like you, I too park a mile away from everyboody else and then hike it to the place I'm going, but there are times when I have had no other option but to park my baby next to other cars. So far, thank heavens, I haven't had a ding on her as yet but am worried that if I do get one, is it going to cost a pretty penny to get the ding fixed and would I be better off keeping the ding protection plan?

Secondly, regarding the tires, I have the Pirellis on mine so was wondering what are the good alternatives when I have to replace them? You mentioned Hankooks, but also the Continental OEMs in another of your posts above, so was wondering which ones you thought would be better. Also, do you know how the Michelins stck up against these two?

Cheers mate, appreciate the help/advice!

 

A typical ding fix is probably around $200. In my experience they can not perfectly pull out a variety of dings so, you may spend the money and still see the ding in under certain light reflections. So, I hike and if I know that I have to go to a place with crowded parking, I simply take an other car. The pleasures and hassles of owning such a spectacular car...

The Hankooks generally used by many owners here on the Jag forums are the V12 Ventus Evo model. It is a full summer tire with high, ZR (180+ MPH) speed ratings. I use the 19" tires on my XJL. They have considerably stiffer sidewalls than the Pirelli Zero Neros, which may account for the far less noise from sidewall slap over irregular, broken pavement sections. I found the Pirellis noise to be unacceptable. Once the V12s break in their sidewalls (1000 miles), the ride is fine. The V12s also had a much higher threadwear rating than the Pirellis, if I remember correctly. You can check that at Tirerack.com. I had these on my '08 XK, put nearly 15K miles on them and could not really see wear.

The Continental is a ContiProC model with H (130MPH) speed rating. I use the 18" tires on my XF and very happy to have the extra sidewall for ride comfort. Also, the Contis have an incredible 500 threadwear rating that should make them last for a VERY long time. Not sure if these tires would come in sizes for the XJ. Very comfortable, quiet ride, yet great handling. No long term experience with the Contis but, they look and work good out of the gate.

Hope this helps,

Albert

 

Cheers mate, appreciate the help and advice!

 

Thanks mate for mentioning Zaino...I did some research based on your post above and bought their kit (including the leather cleaner and conditioner bottles) and man oh man do I have to say that it is simply phenomenal! Best car care product I have ever bought or used!

 

But wait... there is something better out there. I have been a Zaino fan for more than 8 years until I found a product called "Matrix Ceramic Coating".

This product has to be applied by a professional, takes a full day because the car has to sit under special infra-red lights. It's not cheap, costs about $1,000 to have it done. But how does it compare?... It doesn't, because it's much better.

Not only it makes the car absolutely shine like nothing else, but the beauty of it is that you don't have to do it again for at least 5 years. No more waxing, polishing, nothing. This is air-craft graded stuff. Not many detail shops offer this, nor they even know it exists.

But I'll say while Zaino is a great do-it-yourself product that yield good results, Matrix Ceramic Coating is professional grade that yield excellent results that last for many years. And you can go through as many car wash tunnels you want, the stuff doesn't come off. It is baked onto the surface of the car, making it stay always shiny. All you need to do is wash the car.

Here is the link http://matrixmicrocoatings.com/

 

Lol, thanks mate...you just burst my bubble! The only consolation is that at 1000 bucks a pop, I'm ok sticking to my Zaino!