Hi all,
I'm thinking about a 2015 XJL and I was hoping to ask the members here on the forum for some insight on the car. I love the styling and interior, the only things holding me back were the slightly dated technology (just as it is with my F Type) and a ride which is just a shade firmer than I'd expect for a car in the class. How has it been from an ownership perspective (it will be my new daily driver) and any insights on must-have options etc? I'm looking at a 2015 XJL AWD. The car is moderately well equipped with the upgrade stereo, massage seats etc. I'm also looking at the 7 series which has better technology but isn't as agile as the XJ. The AWD I drove did seem a little more supple than the RWD car I tested, perhaps as it had different tires, I was just wondering how owners had found the ride over time?

Any input and advice gratefully received!

 

OK, here are my thoughts:


Up's:
excellent ride and cruiser on the highway's!!! Overall happy with it from ride quality.
Stereo (Base system) is very nice, would have liked the 770w, but happy with this Meridian System (NOTE TO OTHERS, don't laugh, I like the system in my XJ, and hate the system "STILL", in my F-Typs :-)!
Gas is fine and the 6 cyl. engine is a good one, and in dynamic mode is plenty peppy to drive this beast when pushed very effectively
Styling, looks are excellent, and really makes me happy to own it.
Technology, well that is in the mind of the beholder, is it Japanese standards? Not yet, but getting there.
I owned many German cars, never a BMW, because I am not a big fan. However the 7 series I am a fan of. If I had to do it all over again, I would probably go for the XJL, as every time I go into this as my daily driver, I say I am happy I have it.


Downs:
Can't avoid this on any car, but the "ECO" is a pain in the ***, period end of story. Understand why it exists, but still I hate it with a passion, and now that I am still trying to condition myself to turn it off, and when I forget, and it shuts down at a light, I hate the feeling, and hate more the feeling of when it fires back up. Just feels rough to me, but not enough to be an inhibitor of purchasing the car.




There are not too many things that I could say are wrong with this vehicle, and feel that the only way I will leave Jaguar going forward is if they don't correct my Audio system, out of sheer principle. However this point is my personal "branded gripe", and not your problem. The system in the XJL is fine and clearly gets it done in a good way musically.


Let me know if you have any further questions please, and hope this helped.

 

That's great feedback. Many thanks! The car I'm looking at does have the upgraded stereo and I agree it's much better in the XJ than in our F Types.

Cheers!

 

The 2015 XJL Portfolio AWD delivers 0-60 in 6.1 seconds and 24 MPG.
The 2015 XJL Portfolio RWD delivers 0-60 in 5.7 seconds and 27 MPG. plus has a MSRP $3,500.00 less than the AWD.
Why pay more for a model that is slower and delivers poorer gasoline mileage, especially if you don't live in a snow belt area?
Assuming you drive 15,000 miles per year, you will pay an additional $242.90 a year for gasoline, plus higher finance and insurance costs, and higher CA taxes for the $3,500.00 more expensive model.
The AWD model also weighs 269 pounds more than the RWD model; this suggests the former would exhibit longer stopping distances, and poorer handling, than the latter. It's like having an extra, really fat passenger aboard all the time. Out of warranty the AWD model will also have higher repair costs

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not necessarily set on the AWD model, but we looked at it as we also have a place at a lake a few hours away from here that gets much colder weather than we see here in the Bay Area. It was interesting that it rode a little better, that may be connected to the extra weight. I'm hoping to go back and drive the RWD model over the weekend.

 

You can handle the ECO mode very easy. In the trunk is a small secondary battery.

Unhook this and ECO is over. For good!
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.
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Did you get it?

 

Not yet! Still working on the numbers with the dealer. Maybe by the end of the month

 

Hope you got it this weekend?

One thing I really like about owning this automobile is I have only seen one other Jaguar with this new body style in my town. As for BMWs, M-Bs, Audis, Lexus, Porsche, etc. I see too many of these vehicles and they don't really stand out like the XJL.

I like being a nonconformist and that's one reason why I went with the XJL.

 

Hi Retriever, I did indeed! Closed the deal yesterday and pick her up this afternoon (they are detailing the car this morning). I'll try to post some pics later today!

 

My sentiments exactly. Although I must say that since I purchased mine I am starting to notice a few more XJ brethren here and there. Still not many of though.

 

Congrats!

 

Congrats mate, and welcome to the family!

 

Congratulations! And by the way, regarding a previous review: "Technology, well that is in the mind of the beholder, is it Japanese standards? Not yet, but getting there".

Japanese "standards" have recently resulted in the largest automobile safety recalls in history, with seemingly endless more recalls yet to be announced. Air-bag devices that go off like grenades and kill innocent drivers and passengers.

The myth of superior Japanese quality was long ago found to be a sham. They visually inspect and sort the heck of their products, with cheap "temporary" labor, which also enable them to claim "they never lay off their "regular" workers", a total lie.

Built-in technological superiority? The Japanese are only really good at copying western technology, and then producing it cheaper with underpaid laborers.

 

Thanks guys! Really loving the car. I'll try to take some pics and post in the next few days.

 

I will say to this that Japanese technology is and will continue to be the reference point for the foreseeable future. You talk about western technology but we make nothing in the west. Say a few bespoke companies every part of almost every so called western tech is made in Asia.
When you talk about underpaid laborers you are obviously talking about the Chinese. And when did wage pay equate to quality. If that were the case McDonald's would have some of the best food on the planet in the U.S.

Asians are good at tech because the culture is different than in the U.S. We have for the longest with our corporate culture valued earnings over everything. Even the most valuable company in the world's products are produced in Asia.

I don't say any of this to pick a fight but have you seen our infotainment system? It's ridiculously slow and let's not even discuss the nav system which is about a decade behind a 300 dollar stand-alone. I don't even get album art in a 100k car. We can debate what makes a car a car but I believe a great car has a balance of everything. Astrolabe between engineering and technology. Ours have a lot of one and very little of the other.

 

ExpatJag -John

 

[QUOTE=johndahlheimer;I guess when I think of technology I'm thinking about things like computer technology, virtually all of which came from Silicone Valley, or advanced aircraft, tanks, ships, etc., none of which comes from Asia. Where something is manufacture is not a reflection of technology, but usually labor costs.[/QUOTE]

Computer technology comes from Asia. The design comes from america but all the parts and manufacturing comes from Asia. Defense equipment because of security reasons have to come from America but I will tell you the Asians aren't any less formable just smaller. But I assumed the talk was of consumer equipment. Even the A bomb was developed by the German as was the jet engine.

Labor costs in China are low, as they are in India, and many other countries. Much of Japans' corporate manufacturing is done in back-alley mom and pop shops. And even when carried on in corporate factory's, is done by "temporary" help, who may work in their plants for years with no corporate benefits, and who can be laid off at the drop of a hat, without being considered a layoff of the corporations "regular" employees.

Be that what it may the world produces the major of their products in China. And most of the chips and parts that power all electronics come from Asia. India while they have a large major of their people in poverty a large part are highly educated and well trained. You must remember in India as in China they have over a billion people. We could send every man, woman, and child to work in America and they would still have three times that in reserves and in China it would be 1.5 billion. I don't think we understand how large of a labor force that is.

Once again, the GPS navigation system is totally a product of American technology, as is the world wide internet system. the Asians didn't invent any of these things

And again I would tell you none of that is possible without the Asian's ability to produce in large quantities and low manufacturing defects the parts necessary for those devices to exist. We created the television. How many do we sell now? How many GPS' are actually made in America by American with American parts? Who owns the world market in GPS'. Is it the inventor or the person who capitalizes on the invention who gets the spoils. I think your last statement makes my point clearly. How many things and markets have we created that we no longer whole the lions market share in? As I sit here and right this response on my MacBook Air all made in China with Chinese parts watching Game of Thrones on my Sony tv made in Japan.

But I digress. The point of the matter is we live in a global society and while the outside of a product may be defined by its maker the truth of the matter is most products are never really produced in full by the brand that is selling it. We Americans use Japanese tech because it is better and more reliable and is cost affordable. Would you really buy an RCA tv if they started selling them again? There is a reason the Americans got out of that business. We cared little for research and development, quality control, and value to customer. The almighty dollar won and in the end America lost.

Great discussion.

 

ExpatJag-

 

"Design" is "technology".
I will tell you design is just design. If what you said was the truth then every single patent troll would be right. What's on paper can't come to fruition without technology. Planes and flying to the moon was thought up and even designed decades even centuries before the actual technology existed for it to happen

The atomic bomb was developed by American scientists, in Chicago, not in Asia.
The atomic bomb was created by Germans who we brought to America.

Once again, the GPS navigation system is totally a product of American technology, as is the world wide internet system. the Asians didn't invent any of these things.
Again yes we invented them originally for military because it was a military project. But all commercial GPS devices use Asian technology. The same goes with the internet that was ARPANET in the beginning. And again you aren't doing anything on the internet without your DLINK Router.

Labor costs in China are low, as they are in India, and many other countries. Much of Japans' corporate manufacturing is done in back-alley mom and pop shops. And even when carried on in corporate factory's, is done by "temporary" help, who may work in their plants for years with no corporate benefits, and who can be laid off at the drop of a hat, without being considered a layoff of the corporations "regular" employees.

You keep saying that most of corporate manufacturing is done in back-alley shops. First thats an oxymoron and second it's incorrect. I'm not sure where you are getting your information from but it is far from the truth. Please point me to the article or reference for this information. I studied Asian economics and Japan was and still is a manufacturing powerhouse made efficient by the teachings of Edward Demmings. They listen where American companies refused to.

We use to use Japanese low cost labor manufacturing sources, and have since switched to others, like China. Yes their plants are modern, and use quality control techniques, and mass manufacturing techniques developed in America, but their "success" is still attributable to the fact they will work for a bowel of rice or noodles, while Americans want a "fair" wage, based on their contorted definition of "fair".

WE didn't really use anything. At the time Japan became a technological powerhouse we where still doing things in country. Made in Japan use to be a joke until the modernized and started producing better products. And it sounds like you have never been to Japan because nobody is work for a bowel of rice or noodles there unless they are selling rice and noodles. Even at the dawn of the industrial age American worked for next to nothing 10+ hours a day in the crappiest working condition imaginable. But things changed. Again you can't phantom how many people is 2 billion. A new billionaire is made every day in China.

They still sell RCA TVs here in North America, just go into your local Walmart Store (the largest retailer in the world).
Of mostly Asian technology. And talk about people working for rice and noodles. And RCA hasn't been an American company since the 80's. Can anybody say Chrysler?

Two things caused American products to be produced "off-shore"; namely minimum wage laws and unions, both of which artificially elevated American factory wages way beyond what they were worth.
I will tell you what caused American products to lose out. The American Corporate mentality to maximize SHAREHOLDER value over all things else and the misuse of human capital. Unions and minimum wage are a direct result of Corporate abuses of workers.

Patrick.