[akj53]

Next day we went to nearby town of Wilmslow. It’s a small town populated by rich English people. Most of upper class car brands were visible, with lots of Jaguars. It was about 30 minutes drive from here and Siddharth easily touched 100 -110 mph many times. The ride was so calm and composed that we always estimated 30-40 mph lesser speed. Although it was raining with varying intensity, rain sensing wipers kept the wind screen clear matching their speed with rain. AC and Navigation system worked perfectly. Phone calls were handled in clear voice. Even in heavy rain, there was no need to slowdown due to good roads, law abiding drivers and a good car. A different experience altogether from back home.

Next day my younger son Rahul came from Cardiff, got the buying details and was very happy to see the car. Next day we setoff for a drive to North Wales. A sulking Siddharth was relegated to back seat with his mom and wife and steering was taken by Rahul. He started tentatively as he was new to car, but gradually gained confidence. It was a rainy day again. On highway, Rahul picked up speed and drove at a steady speed of 70 mph which felt like car was doing 40-50 mph.

We stopped at a roadside restaurant ‘Little Chef’. As you will notice from the photographs that the ambiance of the place is quite different from what normally we get back home.

Rahul with his mom and bhabhi




Roadside view from cafe



Another view



orderly parking, notice the parking for disabled near the ramp



XF at the parking



contd...

[akj53]

Anyhow after lunch, Rahul continued the drive. On the highway stretches without speed cameras, Rahul was driving at steady 90 mph with engine ticking at just over 2000 rpm. At this engine speed, obviously engine can run all day long without feeling any stress at all making the car a perfect highway cruiser. This engine is rated at 275 PS @ 4000 rpm, so at 4000 RPM, the car should obviously attain 280 – 290 kmph, if it was derestricted from 250 KMPH limit.

Please click on the images to open bigger pictures.

Outside temperature 11*C, inside a comfortable 22*C, RPM at 2000 RPM means about 90 MPH speed.



He was saying 'nice car'. Nice background also



A highway scene




The car and the passengers were absolutely stressfree at speeds between 70-90 mph. We were running along seashore on one side and hills on the other.







contd....

[akj53]

The highway ride was getting boring so we took a turn away from highway to explore the countryside and the hilly terrain. The smaller roads were twisting smaller 2 lane roads without dividers so we had to drive slow. Hilly terrain meant lost of turns, inclines and slopes and it was raining also. This was the perfect road to judge the car.

A tunnel under the mountain



inside the tunnel



The lighted window switch



Beautiful houses



Highway again



The mountain road begins

[akj53]

Here Rahul gave the car to me. What was apparent since long that I never felt I was driving a 5 meter long car which with 5 passengers must have weighed over 2100 kg. The body control and balance was superb over turns which could be taken easily at higher than normal speeds, brakes perfect for such a heavy vehicle. Engine power coupled with the perfectly matched gears meant instant power in any speed, any gear and any incline. I switched to Sports mode and tried the pedal shifts. This also provided engine braking on slopes. But I did not try the Dynamic mode as I was having enough fun already. After some time I again reverted back to Automatic Drive mode as I found that to be more convenient.

The hilly terrain, beautiful small towns in between and all round greenry bathed in rain drops was very beautiful and soothing. The attached photographs will give some idea of that.


Entering a small town




A sheep on a mountain. This are is very popular with rock climbers.




I would love to live in that house



Green green every where



Period buildings with green and red decorations

[akj53]

I was behind a smaller car and wanted to overtake. The road was two lane with lots of curves and some oncoming traffic also. We might have been doing around 50 mph and I pressed the accelerator hard, not floored it. For the first time it dropped a gear or two, engine note rose to a growl, it gathered pace like a jet fighter taking off and within few seconds I was far ahead of the smaller car. Back in my lane I eased off and could not believe what I had experienced. The performance was without any drama, no screaming engine, no body swaying, no jerks, simply a breath taking acceleration with a lightly growling engine which was back to purring in few seconds. This was truly an example of Pace with Grace. This car suits its name 'Jaguar' which is a lean & mean and agile animal like our Cheetah which can gather speed or change direction in a jiffy.

Now I know the enjoyment jagxf and Siddharth might be getting when they floor the pedal.

Perhaps this was the result of technology involved. The Jaguar XF Diesel S is claimed to hit 60mph in 5.9 seconds. The new V6 has a whopping 600Nm, that's 443lb ft, of torque from just 2000rpm. Jag says 369 lb ft of that twist is on tap within 500 milliseconds of idle. Impressive stuff, on paper at least...

The new V6 employs parallel sequential twin turbocharging: most of the time, a variable geometry turbocharger does all the work, leaving the secondary turbo dormant. But when the revs hit 2800rpm, this smaller, fixed-geometry blower kicks in to provide additional puff.

It's different from other twin-turbo systems that use a smaller turbo for low revs and a larger secondary blower for the big work – and Jag claims its system, which isolates the smaller turbo from exhaust gases until needed, reduces pumping losses, consumption and CO2. Also helping the headline figures is a new, third-gen common-rail system using piezo injectors operating at 2000 bar for more precise fuel measurement.

We stopped at a small town which was breathtakingly beautiful. How I wish we had such clean and green places back in our country.





How many shades of green can you see



Road from parking to market



Unlike us, Welsh people accord a higher status to their own language over English.

[akj53]

Crossing the market street



Market ahead



The local railway station had a small railway museum. This coach is a functional cafe.



The toy train

[akj53]

The railway station



line to even more beautiful scenery


Happy toy train driver



The beautiful bazzar



Flowers and greenry every where




Concluding part follows

[akj53]

After some shopping and eating we headed back for home. The topology soon changed to flatlands what you see below. These were the roads to enjoy higher speeds on, but I preferred to drive sanely.

(Sorry photographs not getting uploaded due to very poor server response. I have few photos left. will post them later)

When we reached home, we had driven 210 miles. It was a very enjoyable journey with no stress to passengers or driver.

To summarize in addition to what I have written above, this is a car which:

• Is very luxurious and comfortable
• Is brimming with features
• has a powerful diesel engine
• has sports car like performance with superb dynamics
• is a ideal highway cruiser with good economy.
• Has a very high feel good factor
• Will have a higher brand / showoff value than the Germans, in India (in my opinion)
• Has very good FE for a car of its size and weight. Our current overall FE figures are 25 mpg (8.85 kmpl) which had risen to 26.8 mpg (9.49 kmpl) after our tour of Wales. Jaguar claims 42 mpg (14.87) combined cycle under standard test conditions. I hope to get about 35 mpg (12.39 kmpl) overall, after the car has done 2-3000 miles.
• Jaguar XF won the top spot under the best Executive/Luxury car and came second overall as the most satisfying car to own as per the UK JD Power survey 2010, so reliability should be good. Jaguar as a brand came 3rd in reliability ratings in the same survey.

The negative list is very small comprising of slightly lesser leg room and head room in rear for tall passengers. Lack of a service package and below par dealer experience are things which can be improved by company and the car cant be blamed for that.

On a scale of 10, I will rate it at 9.0

With this I rest my case.

[jagxf]

@akj53: lovely drive! I would love to drive an XF or an Aston through the country roads, the XF shines only when driven through twisties or winding roads! There is a smile on my face every time I drive our XF here, the A roads I can imagine!!! would have loved to get the car sideways on those curves the rims on your car are HOT!!

[noopster]

Originally Posted by akj53

With this I rest my case.

What....NO! This has been one of the most enjoyable threads on TB recently. You can't stop, surely!

Am sure more than a few people have lived vicariously through your wonderful posts, akj. A lot of us will never drive a Jaguar in our lifetimes. Thanks again and I hope my kids someday provide me the same pleasure!

[akj53]

Originally Posted by jagxf

@akj53: lovely drive! I would love to drive an XF or an Aston through the country roads, the XF shines only when driven through twisties or winding roads! There is a smile on my face every time I drive our XF here, the A roads I can imagine!!! would have loved to get the car sideways on those curves the rims on your car are HOT!!

Thanks. Even yesterday we went for a long drive in hills. This drive was even better and the views fantastic. I will try to post pics of this drive also.

Originally Posted by noopster

What....NO! This has been one of the most enjoyable threads on TB recently. You can't stop, surely!

Am sure more than a few people have lived vicariously through your wonderful posts, akj. A lot of us will never drive a Jaguar in our lifetimes. Thanks again and I hope my kids someday provide me the same pleasure!

This is the most touching compliment I have received on this thread. I will try to post the balance pictures today and to keep updating it and answer all the wonderful responses.

Have faith in God and I am sure that you and your kids will get to drive an even better car. Thank you very much indeed.

[Raja]

@akj53
Congratulations on the car. The Jaguar is a real beauty.

You have written a great travelogue.

As you have used the car quite extensively recently, what is rear seat comfort like, especially with 3 in the back? How comfortable is the rear centre person? Does the transmission tunnel get in the way?

One option I personally would have gone for is the Bi-Xenon headlamps. I miss them sorely after having used them in my previous car, but I am unable to fit them in my current car. Any particular reason you didn't go for them?

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by akj53

Can anybody guide me please if there is any spray paint can available for repairing metallic paint scratches and do they really work. I would like to avoid getting the bumper opened for such a small issue. If there is any other remedy, please advise.

When I was in college about 40 years back there used to be a lot of DIY paints available in UK. Get a primer and a black can. Rub the exposed part with an extremely fine wet & dry sand paper, dry the rubbed part with a soft cloth, apply primer in two coats, drying between coats. Then apply two or three coats of paint. Oh, use masking tape after sanding to mask the area around the scratched portion. You should get a reasonable paint job and at the same time save the metal from rusting.

In case you cannot find the metallic paint, use the primer ASAP to prevent rust, and then get it painted professionally later on. Or you can use one of those bumper stickers to hide the primer.

[akj53]

I am posting the balance pictures which I could not post yesterday

Last of hilly area




The flat lands begins



Sparse traffic on narrow roads



No trees in sight but still green, quite different from other UK areas



Thats a lake in the distance



A long straight but road dips and rises, had to be careful



Notice the curving road in the distance. Great road to evaluate the chassis balance and body control



I was enjoying the scenery and taking photos while Rahul was driving

[akj53]

Originally Posted by Raja

@akj53
Congratulations on the car. The Jaguar is a real beauty. You have written a great travelogue.

As you have used the car quite extensively recently, what is rear seat comfort like, especially with 3 in the back? How comfortable is the rear centre person? Does the transmission tunnel get in the way?

One option I personally would have gone for is the Bi-Xenon headlamps. I miss them sorely after having used them in my previous car, but I am unable to fit them in my current car. Any particular reason you didn't go for them?

Thank you. We did not feel cramped at all with 3 in the back. But with large people, it may be a tight fit, cant say about that. The rear seats are very very comfortable but the leather is exceptionally smooth due to which passengers slide sideways while cornering under high speed. The transmission tunnel is big but the middle passenger can place one feet on each side easily, so not an issue. I have HID lamps in my Altis. The delivery period with Xenon lamps would have increased as that would have been a factory fitted option so we did not order for that.

Originally Posted by Aroy

When I was in college about 40 years back there used to be a lot of DIY paints available in UK. Get a primer and a black can. Rub the exposed part with an extremely fine wet & dry sand paper, dry the rubbed part with a soft cloth, apply primer in two coats, drying between coats. Then apply two or three coats of paint. Oh, use masking tape after sanding to mask the area around the scratched portion. You should get a reasonable paint job and at the same time save the metal from rusting.

In case you cannot find the metallic paint, use the primer ASAP to prevent rust, and then get it painted professionally later on. Or you can use one of those bumper stickers to hide the primer.

Thank you for the tip. Today I will go in the market to find out the best available solution. The exposed area is quite small and I think that it has a zinc coating underneath. But this being a very wet area, it has to be done immediately.

Where did you study in UK? Have you been here again?

Thanks once again for taking the time to post the tip.