I just purchased my 2012 XJL Portfolio 2 weeks ago and mine as the 5 liter non-supercharged motor. I have 19 inch rims which is normal and better than the 20 inch. The ride is amazing but firm. If you have lots of heave marks in the road or pot holes, than you might want to think about staying with the Merc. But, for me, this was a car that I wanted to travel in. I wanted a highway car and something that when I am done, my body is still happy. The newer XJ did receive a V6 but they are all supercharged in America. Now, I have driven one and they are slightly more quiet than the V*.
Good luck with your search.

 

Thanks for that Thermo, and after further research I understand if there is a small difference between the front and the rears its better to have the very slightly larger tires on the rear... If you think I have that wrong let me know, but that seems to make good common sense. Cheers..!

 

Thanks, and glad you are enjoying your non-superhcarged car... As for me, we will see, but I feel good about the choices now. The CL and S class's are gernally amazing ride, but the X351 does look rather good.... With yours, as you have the 2012, I've heard they had the firmest of the suspensions till the 2013's where they made it a bit softer, bu there may not be too much in that...

 

My XJL is almost here, the ship arrives in +/- 10 days. So a few last planning steps. Thanks to thermo and all listers for the detailed responses - appreciated. As almost all suggested I will replace the run flats with (slightly larger) non run flats, with no more than 0.7% difference between rear to front, with larger on the rear. They will be either, and most likely, the universally reported extremely quiet and best bump absorbing, Pirelli Scorpion AS Plus 3, or perhaps (the more sporty), Continental Extreme DWS 06 Plus. I will wait until the car arrives before finally deciding, but those appear the best choices for the 19 inch rims if you want have to the qualities I like, and frankly need at my age. (If any listers are interested on my older CL500 I put on, Pirelli Cinturato P7 AS +, and they are by far the quietest and best bump absorbing tires I have had in 40 + years of driving; so perhaps Pirelli's technology is a step ahead of every one right now for quiet and smooth ride. My XJL only has 35,000 miles, and is a 2013. I will purchase and replace the coolant parts that all advise tend to fail, as not doing so could be ruinous. Other than that I will wait to see what is needed (and if the roof pops - thanks for the kit #'s!) I noticed I already have rust on one sunroof rail... But other than that the car looks immaculate from the 100 or so pictures I have. It is smoke silver or gold colour, V6 with black leather. If there is anything else preventative that is a must buy asap, please let me know... Thank you.

 

..

 

OK, so my car is finally here at last... The ship took over 3 months and arrived mid August and I was away recently too. So this afternoon and evening I finally got to pick it up and drive it, and it is already very quiet. You gents were right, I like it more than I thought I would... Much like my CL it is almost two cars in one, whereas an S class seems much more just one type of car... The suspension is much improved over what I had anticipated it would be. Also, no sunroof creaks... It does have the Pirelli run flats on it but they do not seem too bad. I have prepared well on the coolant issues and will replace those parts as preventative maintenance as I go. It is a 2013 and has 35,000 miles. Couple of things I have noticed that if any of you can inform me of what it might mean or indicate, I would be grateful. (i) On reasonably hard acceleration (once the engine was warm) there is a slight hunting? Any thoughts? (ii) low coolant warning came on at one point (will check fluid in the AM), but I watched the temperature gauge like a hawk and it did not move a millmetre above the dead centre position... (iii) On my S class it always drips underneath due to the AC... does the same happen with the X351, or should any dripping underneath be viewed with considerable trepidation? Many thanks everyone, all your help was much appreciated and means that, now it is here I am well prepared, but I am greatly relieved by how much quieter is is than I had thought.

 

OK, I confess, it is incredible. It is like a 4 door CL. I just took it for late night drive and at a little pace. When you turn dynamic mode on, and use the flappy paddle these cars are incredible. I dont know why anyone would need a 5.0 litre or XJR. Mine is just a supercharged 3.0 6 cylinder and its just bonkers. Only criticism so far is the brakes really are weak when you push on in to serious speeds, but I've only had it 5 hours and haven't serviced anything.... So my brakes may be in poor condtion. One other thing I was impressed by, my car was left at the yard / storage where the ship came in, for almost a month and the battery did not go flat... Anyway, these cars are exceptional - literally two cars in one. I feel young again... Wow.

 

My few pennies: Congrads for a new car, enjoy it, and add some pics.
(ii) There might be coolant level sensor going out. Note: The temp meter are dampered, showing user an center as long as engine are in operating temp range. Only when reach high temp it will start to move up.
(iii) On XJ the coolant are dropping on top of exhaust heat shield, so most of AC drop-out are vaporisied before enter in the ground.

Yes, my XJ have been sitting many times for 3-5 weeks without draining an battery. The key is lock your car and carry the remote away from it, because only after that systems will start to set themself on sleep mode. Note: Some devices on OBDII port will prevent systems to go on sleep mode.

Your brake calibers might have binding sliding pins or cheap/hard pads. Both can cause poor braking power. Brake job are easy DIY. You need 9mm and 7mm allen key for sliding pins. Rear brake piston retracts by turning it same time than pushing it a bit. (youtube have videos for brake job)

 

That is a very good (and somwhat worrying) point about the temp sensor. It definitely had a burning oil smell or burning off of something smell after a longish drive last night. So I think when I am on my next trip away, which is otfen, I will make sure to get it serviced. Temp guage, albeit not very helpfully as you point out, never moved above the dead centre point.

Couple of small things that may be of interest: - 1) it is a one owner car, and I think it may have been a lady as the seat positons e.g. "Memory 1" was so close to the steering wheel that I was taken aback, 2) she (?) had installed special almost one inch thick curly fibre Jaguar embossed mats, which I did not think were that attractive in what I saw before it was shipped, but are clearly designed as very heavy duty black mats. and 3) after some searching on the forum, was amazed to find you can set the analogue clock by the centre screen and that it still worked perfectly in my 10 year old car...

I'll take some pohots this weekend once it is cleaned up and upload them...

 

Quietness, dripping from the A/C system is normally not a bad thing as long as it is clear. What happens is when you run the A/C (even during defrost, yes, it runs then too), what happens is the cold condensor in the dash pulls the moisture out of the air and it falls into a collection pan in the bottom of the air duct. This then has a hole it can drain out of to the ground. As Vasara said, you don't see it too much on the XJ just because of I would say 2 things: 1) the drain is above the exhaust, so the water drips and evaporates, and 2) there is a pan under the whole under side of the car. This makes any sort of dripping from the engine fall on to the pan and not hte ground. So, you have to get a lot of fluid there to finally get it to fall to the ground.

As for your low coolant light, this is a known curiosity of the XJ. In short, this is normally caused by 3 things: 1) coolant level is actually low (if so, fill), 2) the sensor can become "waterlogged" and it will sit on the bottom of the tank and cause the alarm, and 3) you do not have enough coolant in relation to the water in the coolant system. The float is actually designed to just barely float when you have a 50/50 mix of coolant and water. You toss in too much water to the coolant system, the float will actually sink and cause the alarm. Gotta love engineers. If you don't believe me, do a coolant change on the car and as you are flushing out the coolant system, fill the system completely with water. I bet you will have a low coolant light even though the tank is completely full. Unfortunately, without some major work, if you do have a water logged float, the repair is a new coolant expansion tank. Fairly easy job to do as long as you remove the support brace. You try to do it with the brace installed, it can be done, but you are going to be cussing up a storm (TRUST ME!!!!!!!).

As for brakes, like was said, you may just need to use them some to get them past some rust spots on the pins. If you do feel like the brakes can be better, then that can most likely be corrected by simply changing out the pads. This always sparks a debate and I will just put out the info and you can deside which is for you. Most people will tell you to go with a company called EBC. They make 3 different "color" pads for the car (red, green, and yellow). Each one has different properties. As I recall, red is your performance pads (great grip, but wear faster), the green pads are kind to the environment, and the yellows are kinda a run between the red and green pads. Look on their website. It will explain it all. The biggest "benefit" to running EBC's is they are low dust pads. So, keeping the rims clean is really easy (rinse and run). From here, I would tell you to find a quality ceramic pad from a known company. These are going to give you good stopping power and low dust (kinda like the EBC's). Me personally, I am going to be upgrading to ceramic pads along with some cross drilled/slotted rotors. Some say this has no benefits for the car, others say it only benefits under extreme use, blah, blah, blah. Call it a personal preference thing. The concept atleast is as you brake hard, the pad gets hot enough that the pad material gives off a gas. This creates a bubble between the pad and the rotor. Obviously, if there is air between the pad and rotor, it is not effectively stopping the car. The holes and slots give the gas a way to escape from under the pad, allowing the pad to regain contact with the rotor. This may not be the answer for you as you are after quietness and these tend to "whir" some under either first braking in the morning and under hard braking. But, normal stopping, the added noise of the cross drilled/slotted rotors is very minimal.

One thing I did not mention is a benefit to ceramic pads is as they get warm/hot, then tend to grip better. Now, this can be seen as good and bad. In town driving, the pads remain warm, you have instant brakes because the pads are sticky already. The down side: The first stop in the morning/hard braking after a log time on the highway , the pads are going to be cold and not grip as well. Now, are we saying that it will be like not brakes. Of course not. But, if you hit the brakes hard with cold pads, it will be like hitting the brakes after going through a puddle. You have that moment where the brakes are not quite there, then they suddenly really start to work. Safe effect. I do not see it as a big thing. How often are you leaving your house and hitting the car with a 60 mph run without having touched the brakes before then?

 

Truly excellent post thank you! Fascinating about the coolant system. I think I am going to baby her until I can replace all those coolant parts as we discussed above, but it is so tempting to let her fly. I am still stunned (and exhausted by) how she is clearly two different cars in one, when you want her to be. You can dawdle along at 20 - 25 mph in relative silence (and do a fairly good impression of an S class) or..., well, behave llike something astonishing... OMG. So yes, given it seems some of my predilictions from my youth (from many decades ago) still seem to be with me, drilled rotors make a lot of sense as something to add to the enjoyable to do list, and I like the idea of dust free pads. When I pulled into a local petrol station at about 1am last night, I could not help be amazed at how much high end cars have progressed since 2000. Still, only one thing, I would very much prefer anaolgue gauges, and a temp guage that works...

Also, Thermo, we discussed the ride long before she arrived, and I have to say, it is in fact very good (like you had suggested), I was impresed. And I dont like to sound like a broken record, but the Jaguar is unbelievably sporty when you want it to be; the S class I have does not have also this sports car like ability. The CL does. And the 2012 / 13 Mercedes CL I drove was almost like a Ferrari (from the 1990's perhaps... eg 5 seconds 0 - 60, not like today's insanity of 3 point something) in terms of speed, but silent, effortless wafting when you want it ti be, So, point being, all your reassurances about how good the ride will be, were very accurate (and only going to be better once I replace the run flats) - and overall, the best way I can describe this Jag is to suggest it is like a 4 door CL. And nothing like the floaty wafty older XJ's Ive driven. This thing is quiet when you want, but otherwise... Wild..

Thermo, can this be right - this is a link to various 0 - 60 times and it says the simple 3 litre 2013 XJL that I have has a 0 - 60 time of 5.3 seconds??? Surely, that cant be right?? If so, I may have to sell this car, just to be on the safe side... and stick to my Zimmer frame.
https://www.0-60specs.com/jaguar/xj-0-60-times/

Last edit...! You should see these secondary floor mats she (?) bought for the car. They are clearly Jaguar as they embossed iwth the logo, but they are thick and heavy and some sort of curly, plastic fibre (not my taste) but almost an inch thick... and underneath are the normal nice black Jaguar mats with the attractive white trim.

And in the daylight. I can see my coolant level is low....! What a surprise....😂

...... Coolant level now perfect. But no doubt temporarily..., will see if despite my lack of expertise I can determine what part is leaking...

 

We bought our 2013 XJ SWB in 2021. It had 37k on the speedo and now it is 48k. Took one nice long 2k+ trip and drove really nice and VERRRY quiet....Unlike our 2012 Infinity M37. Hope you enjoy the car, keep it in the garage if you can and when you do your first wash, get some Automotive Clay and clay it after a wash, be sure to use a lot of water when doing it to keep the clay wet, then wash it again and apply a good coat of wax..........happy quiet motoring.....

 

Thank you very much for the advice, Ken - kind of you. I have someone coming to clean it today and will ask him about the clay. As for the garage, my current house has less garage than I would like given my love for cars, so that poses a bit of an issue - but if that's the biggest issue in my life I have a lot to be grateful for. You are absolutely right - it is so quiet. And I still have yet to replace the run flats and service the suspension system (yikes on $$$, I'm sure). You clearly have a great car there. The SWB looks very aesthetically pleasing... enjoy your beautiful car...!

 

I know this is the CLS and not the CL I keep going on about, but perhaps this is Merc's attempt at a 4 door CL.

The writer concludes: - "If these three cars were suits, I'd walk around wearing the Jag"

and,

"Even surrounded by all that natural splendor, aesthetically speaking our three contenders held their own, with the oxblood Jag shining a bit brighter. As Evans observed, all three scream, "I've got money!" But only the Jaguar can say, "Taste, too.""

https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2...50-comparison/

 

Quietness, I am not sure what to tell you about the 0-60 times. Depending on what article you read (hell even sometimes in the same article they call out different times), the numbers are all over the place. I say do not worry about the times, but ask yourself, is the car quick enough for what I want? If you can answer yes to that, then you are golden. Absolute worst case, you can buy a tune for your car that will bump it up from 340 hp up to 416 hp. That should definitely get you into where you want for performance.

 

You made me laugh out loud, no I was thinking is it too fast for me. Maybe an old 1997 S320 / 420 would be better for me - LESS tempting !

It has more than enough power for me. I thought we had speed limits... Just kidding...

 

Oh well,I enjoyed it while it lasted... Car will not start. Dash lights and instuments come on but crickets... Not a peep. Coolant still very good in tank, so no leaks there nor under the car. Did not leave lights on. When I lock it mirrors still fold in so I presume that means the battery is not flat. One key fob does say "low key fob battery", but the other one does not (which I used yesterday and today) and still nothing. The dash on the right side says ignition on. No other warnings. But when I press the start button, sliencio...

 

The first thing to do is press harder on the brake pedal when starting. Next make sure the brake lights come on when you step on the brakes.
I bet you have no problem at all?
.
.
.

 

OK thanks, clubairth - will venture out and try that one right now !

 

Clubairth1 for President !!!

IT WORKED. How wonderful and dont I feel like an idiot...

Thank you - that was great !! What a forum...