Beautiful car that operates very well, but has some design flaws keeping it from being a masterpiece:

1. Sunshades too short, allowing sun to fry the side of your face.
2. Seats too far forward by about two inches. Regular size passengers have their legs pinned against the glove box, and futilely attempt to use the seat controls to move the seat further back. I'm 5'9", and have the driver's seat all the way back.
3. Cheap thin floor mats.
4. When going into "manual" mode with the J-Gate, apparently the driver is only making suggestions to the computer, because rarely will you get the selected gear. Another shifter complaint, there isn't even a choice for first gear.
5. Exhaust is silent, should have a growl when accelerating.
6. Car looks a bit wimpy. Rear wheel arches need to be flared, with wider tires in the rear.
7. Bumpers look like the car got a fat lip.
8. Transmission gears are plenty high for good fuel economy, and rear differential should be geared 10% lower, for faster acceleration.
9. For max acceleration you have to switch off the traction control, every time you start the engine. There should be a way to keep traction control switched off, and not have to do it every time.
10. The rear differential should have been limited slip. This doesn't matter with the traction control keeping a wheel from slipping (and the car from accelerating) or the high geared differential (also keeping the car from accelerating). But with traction control off and geared lower, limited slip will be needed.
11. Speed limited to 121MPH. A Honda Accord will outrun Jaguar's flagship model?
12. No V-12 engine!

Ok this car was made for image, not acceleration or velocity. But there's much more too it, placing the XJ above most all vehicles produced. The light all aluminum body is matched by no others. The wood and leather interior is the classiest among modern cars. The engine/air suspension/handling are world class.

My XJL will be receiving custom made leather covered sunshades, machined seat mounts 1 1/2" further back and 3/8" higher, deep pile custom sewn floor mats, custom built J-Gate and reprogrammed computer with true manual shift from 1st to 6th gear, a cat back exaust with internal bypass valve, flared wheel wells and 19" wheels with larger tires in the rear, stock bumpers and underlying structure removed and replaced with light custom made and svelte shaped fiberglass covers, lower gears and limited slip differential installed, speed limiter and traction control disabled.

Those changes will provide a very comfortable interior, a body that will get appreciative looks as it goes down the road, and performance that will smoke most other vehicles.

It will cost a lot to do it, so why not buy something else that is already faster and more trendy? Because Mercedes S-Class, BMW 7 Series, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Aston Martin, Bentley, Rolls Royce etc., have their own design flaws, and will cost more to purchase than perfecting the Jag.

It's just too bad Ford/Jaguar didn't do it perfectly the first time.

 

Complaints:

1. Cheap headliner
2. Somewhat unabsorbing suspension (compared to Lexus and German rivals)
3. Short list of standard options
4. Braking action is somewhat strange (when brakes are cold, will brake smoothly until almost at a stop, at which point the brakes suddenly bite and kinda jerk the car to a stop)
5. Rattling tachometer
6. 320watt Alpine stereo disappointing
7. Manual shift mode is really a "maximum gear" mode

 

I also don't like that more settings cannot be changed from the touch screen. It's there, and it's apparently connected to the computer, so why not make everything customizable?

And why did they get rid of that switch for the rear passenger/driver to move the passenger front seat up?

 

Wow, I am a few inches taller than you and my seat is no where near the rear stop. Have you tried adjusting the pedals and the steering wheel forward?

Regarding max acceleration, according to the X350 Training Guide the gearbox has a launch control mode:

Launch Control
The launch control feature maximises the standing start performance.

This is achieved by satisfying entry conditions which include:
Speed < 18 mph (30 km/h)
Lateral Acceleration < 1 -2 m/s2
Vehicle Acceleration >0.3g

The launch control minimises the brake intervention and optimises the engine torque in order to provide the vehicle with optimum acceleration.

During launch control activation the customer may experience some tyre noise.

 

Well, I drove mine in the rain for the first time today, so I have another gripe.....seems like all the intermittent settings for the wipers are just about the same amount of delay, which is not much.

 

2008 XJR has the same problem plus. The wipers are unpredictable on automatic or intermittent. On rare occasions they even work as they should. On steady slow they sometimes go to a 1 second intermittent when stopped at a light. Last trip to the dealer the wiper motor was replaced without effect. The next trip to the dealer is coming soon and this is my top complaint.

 

Interesting, mine seem to work just fine. Then again, I don't expect them to grab every drop of water

 

That actually sounds pretty smart.....
In any case for me, wipers with a mind of their own won't be a huge problem because I don't intend to drive mine when there's any chance of bad weather. The other day when it was out in the rain it just about made me sick - took a lot of time cleaning it once it was back home in the garage, to the point my wife eventually came lookin for me

 

I would have to say that I love the car but for the sake of bonding I would say:

1. The boot is small
2. The tempreture indicaor needs A/C on.
3. Cup holder is small (for you americans with big drinks) but drink gets on your way.
4. TV and mobile (pobably common) is somehow weak (you loose signal at -1 parkings)
5. The key is bulky and i tend to push to lock the car when turning the ignition.
6. Radio doesnt have a station freqency selection
7. Beeping sound if you dont have your seat belt on (managed to cancel that)
8. lights being sprayed by water if they are on when windshield is sprayed (usualy ruining a good grill wash and polish)
9. Girls harrasing me and flurting on my way to church on sundays ...

 

Yeah, harassment by attractive women...
Usually I don't mind, but my wife gets annoyed (by the attention I get) on the way to church.

 

What, Your wife gets harrassed by women on way to church!

 

Hah!

 

Just got my 2008 XJR Saturday but thanks for the input. Now I have a few things to look at.

 

1. One piece sun visors is not enough.
2. The recess seat too low when open the door.
3. 3.Side Mirror didn’t fold.. I guess I might not have that option.

Other than that I love it !!!

 

BLIND SPOT - I attached a small convex mirror to the side mirror. problem solved!

TURN SIGNAL - I miss the grandfather clock tick tock sound in the old Jags (XK8 and X308). The new mechanical sound leaves me cold.

NAV SCREEN - slow to the touch, non-QWERTY keyboard! I get around the issue entirely by using my Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone's excellent GPS voice guidance + Plantronics Voyager Pro headset.

CUP HOLDER - I like the fact that it can be hidden; I put 8oz. mini water bottles in it. They look cool and don't fall out.

CD CHANGER - I have both single CD (front) and changer (trunk) functions, so I'm happy. Yeah the non-Alpine basic stereo sounds pretty anemic. Again, I use smartphone + bluetooth headset for podcast listening, so the lack of iPod/aux connectivity doesn't bother me.

SEAT LEATHER - scuffs and wears easily especially the sides.

SUN VISOR - doesn't extend horizontally like in my old XK8.

TRUNK - no power trunk lid. I find the space sufficient for 1 large suitcase, 1 carry-on plus several shopping bags.

AIR SUSPENSION - harsh ride/crash noise over uneven surface. Maybe I'm losing air?!? My old (R.I.P.) 1986 SIII VDP rode a lot more smooth and didn't rattle in the crazy Santa Ana winds (granted that thing weighed nearly 2 tons).


Cheers,

Wolfy
Los Angeles

 

I'm surprised this one has not come up; if you own an iphone4 and sit in the passenger seat the airbag sensors interfere with the reception on the phone. I also can't figure out how to turn off or end a trip with navigation system. And lastly is the back seat controls for the audio system. Why can't a separate radio channel be heard through earphones back there?

But overall I love this vehicle.

 

My main complaint is the high failure rate of the headliner. After that, it's minor things, like the cramped leg feeling on 100 mile trips, and the stereo-it needs to be even LOUDER so I can crank Black Sabbath and be heard 50 miles away! ha ha

 

Compared to the '89 XJ6 which my '04 replaced:
Ride can be a bit jiggly over poor surfaces. I'm assuming the low profile tires have something to do with this.
A little susceptible to crosswinds on the highway, (although not nearly as bad as the rental car I was using yesterday).

Other:
The auto windshield wiper seems to have a mind of it's own. I need to replace the wiper motor on my car since after about 10 - 20 mins driving, the wipers park in other positions than the bottom of the windshield, but I doubt a replacement will understand any better when to decide to wipe the windshield.
Ford's greatest simple invention never made it to my jag - the double sunvisor. I currently have a Mercury Mountaineer that has this. The first sunvisor can be swung around to keep the low sun from blasting in through the side window. The one underneath swings down as normal. Great when traveling towards the sun on curvy roads. Probably a $3 cost adder.

Otherwise, I love this car!

Regards
Paul.

 

Thanks Paul for verbalizing what I had been thinking (if posting can be loosely construed as "verbalizing" ha ha). Mine also feels jiggly over moguls. I was ready to shoot it a year ago; the hop was so severe, it felt like the Cat was going to change lanes by itself.

I threw on some new P-Zero tread to replace the horrid Nitto and most of the shudder went away.

However, it still makes me wonder if a hydraulic unit has failed, even though the airspring system is fine and dandy.

I'm serious about the sound system- set to 35 (full volume) it sounds great, I just need more!

 

whenever i reach a destination and turn the ignition off the car doors lock down and I have to repush my key lock to on in order to step out of my vehicle ... can that be reprogrammed to cancel?