[AdiSinghV12]

It’s 555 and I’m not talking about one of my favourite cigarette from my late teenage days but something more relevant to automobile and this forum, of course - completion of my 5th year on Team-BHP, my 500th post and the 5er rival from the Great Britain which turns out to be my latest acquisition from JLR’s stable, the Jaguar XF Portfolio 25t.

I’ll keep it brief and come straight to the business with the pros and cons of the new British kid and then tell a little on how a die-hard BMW fan decided to ditch the blue propeller badge this time and go with its British counterpart; To begin with, here's the list of;
PROS
Handling & steering precision at speeds above 45 km/hr: This thing handles better then anything else in the segment and is more precise then even the new G30 5 Series at speeds over 45 km/hr. Manoeuvring this thing is fun.

Driver’s delight! Acceleration & Exhaust note: Theres an excellent surge of power as soon as the engine passes the 1700 rpm mark and it remains all the way to the redline, and though it doesn't sound quite so bassy and 'big' as 6 cyls but nevertheless it sounds very good for a four banger. (video?) At long empty stretches of tarmac this kitty starts to deliver some serious sporting credentials. At cruising speeds the engine is very very refined and there's hardly any noise from the motor. Luxury at its best, and performance when you need it. A good combo!

825w Meridian sound system; best audio system ever had in a car I owned till date.

All Surface Progress Control: This is more of a low speed cruise control where irrespective of the surface (wet, snow, etc) you can set a speed upto 35 km / hr and it just exactly what the cruise control does. In my Mumbai's apartment, I have to park the car on the 6th level of parking so this is a blessing in disguise for me

360 degree cameras; very helpful considering the size of the car and even during tight manoeuvres within the city. You can also tap to zoom at the front or the rear while using this and the resolution is pretty good.

The looks; the fit and the finish; Strong and clean lines and timeless design outside along with appreciable finesse inside. The leather feels top notch, the tech is good with various different themes for the instrument cluster and overall the car feels more luxurious then our F01 7er from the front two seats. The front seats also have 14 way adjustability and built in lumbar support which is very helpful during long journeys.

5 years service plan; complimentary 5 years service plan from JLR where they are offering service at 50% price. This doesn't include wear and tear parts though.

Made in UK



CONS
No separate climate control or audio control at the rear even after an on road price tag of 70L. IIRC all the Portfolio edition XF sold abroad has this. Not remote control either which is a let down.

No rear seat entertainment; The 5 series has been offering this since the F10 generation and even though its a feature that is not used much I’d have surely liked it in the car

No cooled seats! I don’t know whats the matter none of the manufacturers are offering this in their mid-size luxury segment here in India butt this is one feature thats surely desirable in the kind of climate we have.

Gearbox; even though it uses the same 8 speed ZF thats doing duty in most of the current luxury cars I feel the tuning of it in this particular car could have been better. The engine is a very peppy one but had the gearbox tuning been slightly better it’d have been a total hoot to drive.

Ugly yellow mirror puddle lights; now this is a small thing but the yellow non-LED bulb that lights up when unlocking the car doesn’t go with anything else as all the other lights are white and LED and this looks like an odd man out.

Semi-automatic park assist; its a feature that I have been using a lot and is very handy as well but after having the G30 for over a couple of kms this system just feels inferior as in the G30 you don’t have to control anything neither the brakes, nor the accelerator nor change the gear whereas in the XF, as accurate as the system is you have to accelerate yourself, change gears and control breaks so its more of a ‘steering’ assist only rather then a full fledged park assist like the new G30.

Navigation doesn't show the traffic like Google Maps; Now this is something I'd have really liked specially in the era of google maps where real time traffic is shown. As accurate the navigation is because of this I usually check at the google maps first for the traffic and then select the route in the vehicle

Minimum 91 RON fuel requirement and 93 RON for adequate and spec-sheet performance. During the 2000 kms journey with the XF, I tried logging in various datas to support this claim and came to a conclusion that with the regular fuel that’s available the performance goes down a little (around 7.3 secs to 100) and slightly poor fuel economy (7.5 km / l in the city). I have started using this product called Proctane, which is made in India and costs around Rs. 275 / litre and this has increased the mileage and performance to spec-sheet level. 0-100 is 7 secs flat and mileage in the city traffic is mostly hovering around 9 km / l. The composition I use for this is 4 bottles of Proctane with 65L of regular fuel.

Exhaust tips: Sporty exhaust tips are a great way to say ‘performance, but the 3" tips that comes with the car looks like a cucumber at the back. (Soon to be replaced)

Complicated locking wheel nuts; 1 out of 5 wheel nuts in every wheel is a locking wheel nut and theres a specific adaptor to remove the same, if broken or misplaced you're in for a good headache. A detailed writeup on this to follow.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _____

The hunt started back in early 2016 when my F30 had started to spend a lot of time at the garage, something or the other kept on happening (steering rack issues, roof rattle, headlamp going off on one side despite numerous replacements to name a few) and even though it was my then-dream-car I had decided that it was time for us to part ways and move on.

I started searching for a replacement with a budget of around 60L initially - almost double of that of my then F30 as it was a great car leaving out the tantrums it kept throwing every now and then so the replacement had to be more special and from a higher segment of course. The immediate thing that came to my mind was a 530d but the F10 was really aging and for my liking it always felt boat like specially after owning an E60 earlier and the F30 that I was upgrading had M-Sport suspension, what further played against the 530d was that few other bimmers are already doing duty in the family - 320d (at that time), the aging E60 525d (my autocorrect kept on changing it to raging, ahem which it surely was), the 740Li and the old X1 (now replaced with the new X1) so spending 3/4 of a crore again on a Bimmer again (specially an outgoing model) and the same badge wasnt seeming like a great idea. I realised that I wanted a different badge, wanted something that runs a DIFFERENT FUEL and something thats more of a good handler and thats when the new XE struck my head. I took a test drive of the XE and was blown with the way it delivered the power and most importantly "the way it handled”. It was a notch higher then even my M Sport suspension equipped F30 and the way it held strong in higher revs was addictive. So, why am I now writing an ownership review of the XE but the XF? Well, as good the XE felt to drive there was just nothing special about it aesthetically inside-out. The car looked boring from outside as Jaguar neither offers the R-Sport or the S package and the basic body kit looks somewhat ordinary, step-inside and the instrument cluster was boring as well, the infotainment system even in the top end portfolio felt like an iPhone 4 even in the era of then iPhone 6S so except a good handler it was just a bit too ordinary. My would be with whom I had visited the showroom had zero interest in it after checking out the XJL and honestly apart from these flaws I wanted something that was desirable and liked by her as well, Jaguar she always liked and even for me it been a dream to own one but this one was just not going to be it.

I also checked out the XJL post that as it has some really mouthwatering deals but it was just too big and for self driving and it was pre decided even before a test drive. What now? I casually inquired about the X260 XF which I had really really liked going by the pics and had read a lot about it and it was then the showroom's director informed me that if I could wait a few months I could get this same engine with more space and more luxury and that was not it, he also mentioned what was a cherry on the cake was the first lot was going to be CBUs, cars built in Jaguar's famous Castle Bromwich factory in the U.K so can be configured somewhat to my liking. That was it, I knew what I wanted and after getting a heads up from a few close ones I didn't bother wasting more time checking out other options and just considered the Maserati Ghibli coz of the huge discounts but ruled out after checking out the car (as a petrolhead I'd love to test drive each and every car out there but it's embarrassing when you know you're not gonna buy it). It was about time then, I waited and waited and in the middle of the wait period got a good deal for my F30 and sold it off and invested that amount in a venture and decided to delay the purchase a little as there were other cars I was using and when the XF finally got launched it was really overpriced at 70L on road JH for the 2.0 Turbo petrol portfolio edition, Mumbai was another story altogether at a listed price of 81L so I decided to wait for a bit until they have some good deals on the car. Half a year passed and we were in the current year in Jan and I was at my hometown Patna for my birthday with family and my grandpa surprised me by booking the car from the Kolkata dealer who was prompt enough in giving me the test drive within 24 hrs of launch and had met my grandparents. That was all, grandpa closed the deal and asked me to take the delivery on my birthday, he was really impressed by the gesture that I had sold the car and invested in business. That's all for the stories...here prowls the new kitty home.










The cherry on the cake was that the replacement for the F30 was technically from an Indian-owned brand

Now coming to the more interesting and more relevant bits; how's she to drive? The 25t nomenclature suggests the power output of the vehicle as the case with German marques as well these days but underneath the bonnet is a 2.0L 240 hp / 340 nm turbocharged motor which has also been doing duty in the top-end XE & the XJL and a couple of Land Rovers. The NVH level is pretty acceptable in the city driving and somewhat sporty when you rev the motor hard but if we compare it with the other engine option that is available it's way, way better then the Jaguar's in-house 20d ingenium motor which is one of the saddest engine in its segment IMHO. The 25t Petrol engine is a driver's delight with power delivery right from the word go and a good top-end as well. 0-100 timings are claimed at 7.0 secs which is very easily achievable without much efforts on 93 octane fuel. Now that’s another task which can be termed as a drawback, the regular petrol available in Patna is 91 octane and the performance is a slightly sluggish with regular 91 so I have started using 3-4 bottles of ‘Proctane’ (more about it later) which has totally sorted the issue and even sorted the famous India question of kitna deti hai to which the answer is

Regular fuel: 7.5 kmpl city / 12 kmpl highway
Regular fuel with 4 bottles of Proctane: 9 kmpl city / 13.5 kmpl highway


Engine rating from my end would be 8/10.

Coming to the cat’s reflexes, there's a pinch of body roll thanks to its 5 + metre of size but that aside it handles like nothing else in the segment and IMHO shares the best handler tag with the new G30 5er and I say it after driving both the cars for atleast 200 kms. A6 and E Class doesn't stand a chance here. At speeds above 45 kmph, even 1 degree of steering input moves the car in that direction so precision is very much near perfect. The steering weighs pretty well in the dynamic mode and is otherwise progressively weighted in normal mode. Surprisingly, the DSC can be switched off completely viz a viz BMWs and this car is certainly very tail happy thanks to the option of "holding revs" indefinitely in the "S" mode. Sliding the tail at the corner was one of the major reason I fell in love with the F30 and was worried if I can do the same in such a long car at all but what a satisfying solution to that it has to offer. For outright rear seat ride quality, I’d term it as on the stiffer side and this is where the E-Class is invincible. Overall, the F-Type inspired front double wishbone and integral link rear suspension, the extensive use of aluminium in the architecture and the other small things makes it a great handling package and hugging the corner is just too much fun. If only it had more power! 9/10 on the handling part to the kitty.

At the inside: Step in and be prepared for the drama to begin, the start button starts beating as soon as you just step in the car and do nothing, press it and the rotary air vents open up. Nothing special here but nonetheless a dramatic startup. Proceeding further the cabin is plush and apart from few plasticy buttons here and there which feels ill-fitted in otherwise is what is a luxurious cabin. One of the first thing that catches the eye is the trademark yacht inspired riva hoop which curves and flows into the door panels from the top of the dash which gotta be my favourite bit and not to mention it looks even classier from outside with windows open. The top of the dash and the seats are wrapped in top notch windsor leather with seats being both perforated and quilted. The steering is good to hold and I have already done a couple of small cosmetic mods. What impresses here is attention to the detail with even the paddle shifters makers being lit-up. Overall, Its pretty well tech laden cabin and has stuffs like the 360 degree camera with zoom feature, very handy park assist, HUD, Full TFT display, 10.1 inch in-control touch pro infotainment display which if we compare to the infotainment system of the lesser models it would be like comparing an iPhone 4S with the iPhone 7 Plus. Will upload more pics and write more on the tech features of the car in the upcoming posts, so far everything including the park assist has been quite useful. Other features I’d have liked would be cooled seats, rear seat entertainment and a remote control which my grandmom misses while travelling in the rear seat and apart from that the sunroof opening is too small and saying that it has ‘panoramic sunroof’ is misleading, Overall 8/10 here in the interior department!












^The thank-you call to granpa post delivery and thanks for reading! That’s all for now folks, That’s all about the car for now. I have done 2000 kms as of now and knock on the wood everything is smooth other then a couple of issues; which I’ll highlight in the next post in detail. Cheers!

[M00M]

Congrats on the new JAG. She sure does look nice. Wish you lots of trouble free kms with her, did you end up customising anything ?

[AdiSinghV12]

Thanks a ton!
For the customisation, yes. Here are the mods done till now;

1. OEM Mini Union Jack Door Projector
2. 15mm Arden Spacers - Rear
3. F-Type style steering wheel trim
4. Carbon Fibre diffuser
5. BMC Air Filter
6. Locking Wheel Nuts deletion (trust me it caused severe headache. Will post about it soon in detail)

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Initial Ownership Section. Thanks for sharing!

[karan561]

Hi Aditya,

Good write up, pictures & particularly love the thread name/title

Also glad to see your Jag finally have a dedicated thread on TEAM-BHP, Enjoy

[Jeroen]

Great write up.
I love the XF. I think its gorgeous in a very understated way and it drives really well. I have had one for a few days to try out from my friendly local JLR dealer.

I do recognize most of the Con's you listed. I think the whole entertainment system, although nice, could/should be better. The other day I had a little Vauxhall Astra and its navigation system was a whole lot better than on the XF.

The complicated wheel nuts are there for a reason; to protect against theft. Dont know about India, but in many European countries if you have fancy wheels, they are likely to get nicked. Hence the complicated lug nuts. But indeed, if you havent got the special adaptor on you when you need to change the wheel, you have a problem!

Enjoy your new car!

Jeroen

[behaln]

Heartiest congratulations on your new ride. I am too in market for a Jag. Initially I too was interested in XE but you have raised serious concerns over its interior.
How would you rate back seat of XE vs XF? We are a family of 3.

[V.Narayan]

Congratulations on your new wheels, Really a very handsome car. A head turner. I love than topaz brown interior colour and the brushed metal parts. Happy driving. Could you share more HD photos of the interiors please.-Narayan

[rahul_jo]

Oh man, that aggressive front of a JAG. Absolutely astonishing looker. I've been looking at the XE lately and have been tempted to pull the trigger multiple times. XF is definitely more mature and classy looking and is a brilliant choice. Many congratulations.

My only doubts with JLR so far have been about reliability and after sales. I am seriously tempted to trade in my 3-series for an XE.

[AdiSinghV12]

Originally Posted by karan561

Hi Aditya,

Good write up, pictures & particularly love the thread name/title

Also glad to see your Jag finally have a dedicated thread on TEAM-BHP, Enjoy

Thanks Jag had to be here as she is the first British car I got and only other luxury brand other then the Bimmer which had me addicted

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Great write up.
I love the XF. I think its gorgeous in a very understated way and it drives really well. I have had one for a few days to try out from my friendly local JLR dealer.

I do recognize most of the Con's you listed. I think the whole entertainment system, although nice, could/should be better. The other day I had a little Vauxhall Astra and its navigation system was a whole lot better than on the XF.

The complicated wheel nuts are there for a reason; to protect against theft. Dont know about India, but in many European countries if you have fancy wheels, they are likely to get nicked. Hence the complicated lug nuts. But indeed, if you havent got the special adaptor on you when you need to change the wheel, you have a problem!

Enjoy your new car!

Jeroen

Thanks Jeroen, the nuts would have been ok if they required a special adaptor to open which was if lost / broken then easily ordered through the VIN / special code. I listed it as a serious drawback is because IMO its poorly designed and can be troublesome. What happened in my case is after installing the spacers and tightening the nuts, the adaptor cracked even though I had applied a very normal pressure. I k ew that this is unique for each car but hoped that JLR would be able to get me a new one using the VIN or the adaptor code. To my surprise JLR said that I'll need to send the car to them where they'll need to remove it using a "special tool" after which I'll have to order a new set of 4 costing INR 15,000. I sent the car even though I had decided that I won't opt for the locking nuts again once removed not just for the price but coz of how troublesome they could be. The horror wasn't over yet. A couple of days later of sending the car I get a call from the dealer saying that the "inside" of the nut is "moved" as I might have tried using the broken adaptor and now they can't remove it even with their special tool and they needed assistance from JLR technical team before doing anything and also mentioned a scenario where they might have to CUT them open. They assured that they'll give the best and take utmost care but still didn't guarantee that the rims will be as good as new / untouched. Indirectly they had mentioned that they'll try but if there's any damages JLR or them won't be directly responsible. I took the car back and took it to a local mechanic who does small non-electrical works and he simply welded the adaptor and tried opening the locking wheel nuts. 1 out of 4 opened easily without much ado but the rest were just not getting removed. Few mins after trying and modifying the adaptor more and more he too observed that actually the "inside" of the locking nuts had moved and the adaptor was no more the culprit here. Not only did they move from inside but also loosened up so it was literally very tough to open them now. He then tried his own way and finally it was a removed. Here's a just for laugh and DIY in case anybody experiences the same. I'm just assuming what would have happened if I was repairing a puncture and this adaptor cracked on a highway? Really not worth the hassle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRaUbb1DPl0

Originally Posted by behaln

Heartiest congratulations on your new ride. I am too in market for a Jag. Initially I too was interested in XE but you have raised serious concerns over its interior.
How would you rate back seat of XE vs XF? We are a family of 3.

For a family of 3, assuming the 3rd member being under 18 I'd say the XE should just be fine. If you can wait I'd say wait for a few months as globally the XEs now come with slightly better equipment inside i.e XF like digital instrument cluster and a couple of more additions. Exterior, to each his own. If you like it then XE would just fit your need perfectly. As far as the comparison is concerned, the XF has more leg room and a lot more thigh room at the rear but for the kids of people around 5 ft 8" it should just be fine.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Congratulations on your new wheels, Really a very handsome car. A head turner. I love than topaz brown interior colour and the brushed metal parts. Happy driving. Could you share more HD photos of the interiors please.-Narayan

Soon

Originally Posted by rahul_jo

Oh man, that aggressive front of a JAG. Absolutely astonishing looker. I've been looking at the XE lately and have been tempted to pull the trigger multiple times. XF is definitely more mature and classy looking and is a brilliant choice. Many congratulations.

My only doubts with JLR so far have been about reliability and after sales. I am seriously tempted to trade in my 3-series for an XE.

Thanks Rahul. I had the same concerns over the reliability but knock on the wood, except the locking wheel nuts everything is running smooth. Reliability these days with so much electronics being used in the cars could be a question mark not only for JLR but any brand other then Toyota My F30 was the most troublesome car I owned and I'm a part of a BMW owners group where a friend is having reoccurring electrical issue where all the electronic including the lights goes off and he had a tough time sorting it. I guess there's a thread for the same as well. All said and done, I'd say only move to the XE from a 3er if you're getting a 'petrol' or else the 320d is still the king in terms of acceleration when it comes to diesel in its segment. Jags 20d ingenium IMHO is very loud, very boring and very non motivational. Cheers!

[Pacifica]

RE: the very last picture, the one showing the steering wheel. Rather surprised to note the lights/washer stalks on the "wrong" sides. I can understand American cars like that, but a British one?

[AdiSinghV12]

Originally Posted by Pacifica

RE: the very last picture, the one showing the steering wheel. Rather surprised to note the lights/washer stalks on the "wrong" sides. I can understand American cars like that, but a British one?

Until the first time I sat in a British car (which was a RR Evoque) I strongly believed that British cars would have the lights/washer stalks on the "right" side unlike American / German cars but soon this bubble was bursted when I observed that its the same even in a Rolls Royce (And after your post did a little research and asked a couple of friends and they said same with Aston Martin and Bentley as well). I fail to understand the reason maybe someone on this forum can shed some light.

[AdiSinghV12]

4000 kms update
The car went to the workshop as the wipers were appearing really noisy. Sent the car to Navnit Motors and;

- The wiper blades were replaced under warranty
- InControl touch pro software update
- Realignment of the exhaust (you can see the right side is lower then the left side in the pics)
- Window films removed
- A nice wash

Bill amount: 0

Only gave ₹500 for the removal of the films.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Beautiful. As is the environment where you have taken your new treasure to live: love the mosaic!

I always look through review and ownership photos with some impatience, especially with luxury vehicles, to see the interior. However great a car may look from the outside, it is the interior that owners and drivers spend most of the time looking at and hopefully being comfortable in. They didn't disappoint! Magnificent!

Had a giggle at the British red telephone picture on the phone info

Locking wheel nuts. Yes, they are supposed to deter the all-too-common thieves in that part of the planet. Owners of far more humble cars have lost their wheels in UK. My second-hand Rover 620 had lost its adapter: I had to buy the Rover part. Pity, after seeing that video, I now know such things are a joke. But had long suspected that the determined would have a way around them,

[AdiSinghV12]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Beautiful. As is the environment where you have taken your new treasure to live: love the mosaic!

I always look through review and ownership photos with some impatience, especially with luxury vehicles, to see the interior. However great a car may look from the outside, it is the interior that owners and drivers spend most of the time looking at and hopefully being comfortable in. They didn't disappoint! Magnificent!

Had a giggle at the British red telephone picture on the phone info

Locking wheel nuts. Yes, they are supposed to deter the all-too-common thieves in that part of the planet. Owners of far more humble cars have lost their wheels in UK. My second-hand Rover 620 had lost its adapter: I had to buy the Rover part. Pity, after seeing that video, I now know such things are a joke. But had long suspected that the determined would have a way around them,

Thanks for the beautiful words Very true on the interior part, it plays an important role for me too before finalising. I sorely miss the ventilated seats inside though. If there was a feasible retrofit for it I wouldn't think twice before doing it Better interior shots soon, looking forward to get her detailed along with ceramic coating for exterior.