Discussion
I did it!
I love it! It's growing on me. Don't get me wrong, but it was just so different, so big and solid when I first drove it, I kind of didn't re-calibrate my brain for it properly... and (don't shoot me!) it didn't feel that fast. But after driving it for nearly 300 miles since I bought it (yesterday!), it's definitely started to grow on me, big time!
Especially after I tried manual shifting, and kept the revs up in second, then stomped it.
Haven't tried traction control off properly yet.
I'm so happy I managed to find one which ticked all the right boxes for me: black leather, premium audio system, post 2000 (well, it's a 2000 one), low-ish mileage (58000), lots of gizmos.
It's also (obviously!) beautiful, and sooo plush, and solid-feeling, in that "hefty", weighty way, if you know what I mean.
I'm sure I'll be back with questions about something or other, but for now, just wanted to share my excitement!
Thanks to everyone here who helped me in making the decision to get one.
I love it! It's growing on me. Don't get me wrong, but it was just so different, so big and solid when I first drove it, I kind of didn't re-calibrate my brain for it properly... and (don't shoot me!) it didn't feel that fast. But after driving it for nearly 300 miles since I bought it (yesterday!), it's definitely started to grow on me, big time!
Especially after I tried manual shifting, and kept the revs up in second, then stomped it. Haven't tried traction control off properly yet.
I'm so happy I managed to find one which ticked all the right boxes for me: black leather, premium audio system, post 2000 (well, it's a 2000 one), low-ish mileage (58000), lots of gizmos.
It's also (obviously!) beautiful, and sooo plush, and solid-feeling, in that "hefty", weighty way, if you know what I mean.
I'm sure I'll be back with questions about something or other, but for now, just wanted to share my excitement!
Thanks to everyone here who helped me in making the decision to get one.
Edited by vladman on Tuesday 24th April 16:19
Edited by vladman on Thursday 3rd May 12:24
thanks guys.
a couple of things, if anyone can help...
on reading the manual, it seems to suggest that turning the sport mode ON, whilst having the traction control OFF, has no effect (basically, you can only get sport mode to work with traction control off). do you guys find this to be accurate? what exactly is sport mode supposed to do anyway? the manual says it keeps the car in gear for longer, changing up further up in the rev range... is that all it does? does it firm up the suspension? alter the map?
another thing, those wheels, if i'm correct, are the milan "R" option wheels? how can you tell standard jaguar brakes, from the "R" option Brembo ones? i'm not sure if i actually have that or not?
do your cars make a noise when accelerating away in first, the noise is difficult to describe, but it's like a whirring noise, almost like a noise an electrical vehicle would make... coming from up front, from the engine... it doesn't sound "wrong", just a bit odd...
also, is my average of 19MPG on a tank of fuel, with about 90% of motorway driving (keeping at 80-85mph, with one or two bursts to, ahem.. .a little quicker), and another 10% of town driving, again interspersed with 5-6 "pedal to the metal" moments, normal?
a couple of things, if anyone can help...
on reading the manual, it seems to suggest that turning the sport mode ON, whilst having the traction control OFF, has no effect (basically, you can only get sport mode to work with traction control off). do you guys find this to be accurate? what exactly is sport mode supposed to do anyway? the manual says it keeps the car in gear for longer, changing up further up in the rev range... is that all it does? does it firm up the suspension? alter the map?
another thing, those wheels, if i'm correct, are the milan "R" option wheels? how can you tell standard jaguar brakes, from the "R" option Brembo ones? i'm not sure if i actually have that or not?
do your cars make a noise when accelerating away in first, the noise is difficult to describe, but it's like a whirring noise, almost like a noise an electrical vehicle would make... coming from up front, from the engine... it doesn't sound "wrong", just a bit odd...
also, is my average of 19MPG on a tank of fuel, with about 90% of motorway driving (keeping at 80-85mph, with one or two bursts to, ahem.. .a little quicker
), and another 10% of town driving, again interspersed with 5-6 "pedal to the metal" moments, normal?Hi,
Great colour I must say (same as mine) lol.
As for the 'sport' button as far as i know it's main function other than holding the gears a little longer is that the gearbox drops down into first gear when you come to a halt, when not in 'sport' mode it actually pulls away in second gear.
Yes you have the 'R' Brakes fitted, they are the brembo calipers and discs visible in your pics.
The possible noise you mention? best guess is it's the whine from the supercharger, nothing to worry about they should make that noise, will get louder/higher pitched with more revs/load.
19MPG sounds right, done 300 odd miles in mine on saturday with cruise set to between 90 and a ton, and showing 19.3 for that journey.
Enjoy it, they are absolutley fantastic cars for the money!!
Great colour I must say (same as mine) lol.
As for the 'sport' button as far as i know it's main function other than holding the gears a little longer is that the gearbox drops down into first gear when you come to a halt, when not in 'sport' mode it actually pulls away in second gear.
Yes you have the 'R' Brakes fitted, they are the brembo calipers and discs visible in your pics.
The possible noise you mention? best guess is it's the whine from the supercharger, nothing to worry about they should make that noise, will get louder/higher pitched with more revs/load.
19MPG sounds right, done 300 odd miles in mine on saturday with cruise set to between 90 and a ton, and showing 19.3 for that journey.
Enjoy it, they are absolutley fantastic cars for the money!!
Thanks guys!
VERY interesting! Are you sure about this? I've never come across this mentioned anywhere else. The manual is very uninformative, all it says is that it changes gears higher up in the rev range. What about that thing (again in the manual) which suggests that Sport mode doesn't work with Traction Control ON?
That would be incredibly exciting! Again (sorry, I'm not suspecting your knowledge, just want to be 100% sure), are you sure? Do the normal calipers look very different? Can anyone possibly post a picture of the normal calipers on a 2000 XJR?
The odd thing is that this noise is most audible at very slow speeds, mostly when moving off from standing still... It seems to be (but I may be wrong) only audible when in first gear (and maybe second, but quieter). The car is VERY quiet from the inside - almost too quiet for my liking - I would've prefered a little bit of powerful noise from that great engine.
DTYPE said:
As for the 'sport' button as far as i know it's main function other than holding the gears a little longer is that the gearbox drops down into first gear when you come to a halt, when not in 'sport' mode it actually pulls away in second gear.
VERY interesting! Are you sure about this? I've never come across this mentioned anywhere else. The manual is very uninformative, all it says is that it changes gears higher up in the rev range. What about that thing (again in the manual) which suggests that Sport mode doesn't work with Traction Control ON?
DTYPE said:
Yes you have the 'R' Brakes fitted, they are the brembo calipers and discs visible in your pics.
That would be incredibly exciting! Again (sorry, I'm not suspecting your knowledge, just want to be 100% sure), are you sure? Do the normal calipers look very different? Can anyone possibly post a picture of the normal calipers on a 2000 XJR?
DTYPE said:
The possible noise you mention? best guess is it's the whine from the supercharger, nothing to worry about they should make that noise, will get louder/higher pitched with more revs/load.
The odd thing is that this noise is most audible at very slow speeds, mostly when moving off from standing still... It seems to be (but I may be wrong) only audible when in first gear (and maybe second, but quieter). The car is VERY quiet from the inside - almost too quiet for my liking - I would've prefered a little bit of powerful noise from that great engine.
vladman said:
Thanks guys!
VERY interesting! Are you sure about this? I've never come across this mentioned anywhere else. The manual is very uninformative, all it says is that it changes gears higher up in the rev range. What about that thing (again in the manual) which suggests that Sport mode doesn't work with Traction Control ON?
That would be incredibly exciting! Again (sorry, I'm not suspecting your knowledge, just want to be 100% sure), are you sure? Do the normal calipers look very different? Can anyone possibly post a picture of the normal calipers on a 2000 XJR?
The odd thing is that this noise is most audible at very slow speeds, mostly when moving off from standing still... It seems to be (but I may be wrong) only audible when in first gear (and maybe second, but quieter). The car is VERY quiet from the inside - almost too quiet for my liking - I would've prefered a little bit of powerful noise from that great engine.
DTYPE said:
As for the 'sport' button as far as i know it's main function other than holding the gears a little longer is that the gearbox drops down into first gear when you come to a halt, when not in 'sport' mode it actually pulls away in second gear.
VERY interesting! Are you sure about this? I've never come across this mentioned anywhere else. The manual is very uninformative, all it says is that it changes gears higher up in the rev range. What about that thing (again in the manual) which suggests that Sport mode doesn't work with Traction Control ON?
DTYPE said:
Yes you have the 'R' Brakes fitted, they are the brembo calipers and discs visible in your pics.
That would be incredibly exciting! Again (sorry, I'm not suspecting your knowledge, just want to be 100% sure), are you sure? Do the normal calipers look very different? Can anyone possibly post a picture of the normal calipers on a 2000 XJR?
DTYPE said:
The possible noise you mention? best guess is it's the whine from the supercharger, nothing to worry about they should make that noise, will get louder/higher pitched with more revs/load.
The odd thing is that this noise is most audible at very slow speeds, mostly when moving off from standing still... It seems to be (but I may be wrong) only audible when in first gear (and maybe second, but quieter). The car is VERY quiet from the inside - almost too quiet for my liking - I would've prefered a little bit of powerful noise from that great engine.
-traction control does not affect sport mode in any way, sport mode will hold onto gears for longer, kickdown with less pressure required on the pedal (also will kickdown more than one gear for overtaking - to the lowest gear possible in the rev range if you put you foot right down therefore giving maximum overtaking)sport mode does not affect engine map or suspension in any way.
- d-type is indeed correct these are obviously 'R' callipers as they are painted grey with Jaguar script -std callipers are anodised or black finish with NO writing on them and MUCH smaller in size...this is obvious even on your pics.
- if not the supercharger the noise you describe could be diff whine which is very common on these (x308) models and is generally nothing to worry about.
they are indeed milan BBS split rim alloys and 19mpg is spot on. Yes they are too quiet! (i believe paramount performance have various sports exhaust options?)
lovely car by the way
Mattmeister said:
-traction control does not affect sport mode in any way, sport mode will hold onto gears for longer, kickdown with less pressure required on the pedal (also will kickdown more than one gear for overtaking - to the lowest gear possible in the rev range if you put you foot right down therefore giving maximum overtaking)sport mode does not affect engine map or suspension in any way.
- d-type is indeed correct these are obviously 'R' callipers as they are painted grey with Jaguar script -std callipers are anodised or black finish with NO writing on them and MUCH smaller in size...this is obvious even on your pics.
- if not the supercharger the noise you describe could be diff whine which is very common on these (x308) models and is generally nothing to worry about.
they are indeed milan BBS split rim alloys and 19mpg is spot on. Yes they are too quiet! (i believe paramount performance have various sports exhaust options?)
lovely car by the way
- d-type is indeed correct these are obviously 'R' callipers as they are painted grey with Jaguar script -std callipers are anodised or black finish with NO writing on them and MUCH smaller in size...this is obvious even on your pics.
- if not the supercharger the noise you describe could be diff whine which is very common on these (x308) models and is generally nothing to worry about.
they are indeed milan BBS split rim alloys and 19mpg is spot on. Yes they are too quiet! (i believe paramount performance have various sports exhaust options?)
lovely car by the way
Thank you!
Does that mean that the car is actually an XJR-R? So the extra "R" wasn't really considered a separate model (no extra "R" anywhere on the car), simply an option?vladman said:
Thank you!
Does that mean that the car is actually an XJR-R? So the extra "R" wasn't really considered a separate model (no extra "R" anywhere on the car), simply an option?no such thing as an XJR-R im afraid, just various 'R Performance' options available for the car at the time.
Edited by Mattmeister on Tuesday 24th April 13:08
Hi vladman,
I am confident in what I stated, as for the gearbox dropping into first only when in sports mode give this a try. Accelerate upto about 25 to 30 mph gently so that the box starts changing up through the gears, lift of the throttle completely and let the car come to a halt, then do exactly the same thing again but before it comes to a halt select sports mode (red light on button on) you should feel it drop one more gear (now in first).
I should mention I own an independent Jaguar specialist company, I have driven literally hundreds of these cars and have demonstrated the technique mentioned above to others including a well known Jaguar magazines 'practical feature' writer.
If you wish for your XJR to have a little more growl send me a PM. Or if you require any other work/advice.
This is a pic of my beasts engine as it is now. Also if it's worked a collection of pics of a well known race car within the JEC series which I built/prepare/maintain so you know I'm not fibbing. Hope you like them.
I am confident in what I stated, as for the gearbox dropping into first only when in sports mode give this a try. Accelerate upto about 25 to 30 mph gently so that the box starts changing up through the gears, lift of the throttle completely and let the car come to a halt, then do exactly the same thing again but before it comes to a halt select sports mode (red light on button on) you should feel it drop one more gear (now in first).
I should mention I own an independent Jaguar specialist company, I have driven literally hundreds of these cars and have demonstrated the technique mentioned above to others including a well known Jaguar magazines 'practical feature' writer.
If you wish for your XJR to have a little more growl send me a PM. Or if you require any other work/advice.
This is a pic of my beasts engine as it is now. Also if it's worked a collection of pics of a well known race car within the JEC series which I built/prepare/maintain so you know I'm not fibbing. Hope you like them.
Edited by DTYPE on Tuesday 24th April 20:24
why is the supercharger whaling anyway?
theyre trying to stop it you know...........
www.mmcta.org/whaling.html
Just been out to play a little...
Very much enjoyed it, but a little concerned about something. I could not get the car to spin its wheels. I put it in Sports mode, turned Traction Control off, and pressed the pedal to the floor, but it didn't happen. Not even a little bit. I tried several times. It was dry and the tyres were warm though, but I was under the impression (from reading so much about this car) that it would easily spin its wheels in any conditions, with Traction Control off. I did see the amber light and letters AVC flash once only, and that was when moving at about 10mph, then flooring it, but never from standing still. Then I couldn't repeat that either.
There also seems to be like a sort of "hiccup" pretty much every time when setting off from standing still if I press the pedal hard... Like the engine picks up, then loses power momentarily, then picks up again. And no, it's not Traction Control kicking in, as I watched the dash closely, and the light didn't come on, or even flicker (with Traction Control ON obviously). This "hiccup" doesn't happen if I press the pedal more gently.
So my question is, is it normal the car will NOT spin its wheels under full throttle and with Traction Control off, when dry and with tyres warmed up?
It's almost as if something is still restricting it off the line, but once it gets going I can feel the power rapidly building and it pulls quite ferociously.
I'm a little worried (and hoping I'm just being paranoid) my car might be (perhaps significantly) down on power for whatever reason... Does what I describe sound like that may be possible, or is this how it should be? How much power do these cars lose with age and mileage anyway?
Thanks guys.
Very much enjoyed it, but a little concerned about something. I could not get the car to spin its wheels. I put it in Sports mode, turned Traction Control off, and pressed the pedal to the floor, but it didn't happen. Not even a little bit. I tried several times. It was dry and the tyres were warm though, but I was under the impression (from reading so much about this car) that it would easily spin its wheels in any conditions, with Traction Control off. I did see the amber light and letters AVC flash once only, and that was when moving at about 10mph, then flooring it, but never from standing still. Then I couldn't repeat that either.
There also seems to be like a sort of "hiccup" pretty much every time when setting off from standing still if I press the pedal hard... Like the engine picks up, then loses power momentarily, then picks up again. And no, it's not Traction Control kicking in, as I watched the dash closely, and the light didn't come on, or even flicker (with Traction Control ON obviously). This "hiccup" doesn't happen if I press the pedal more gently.
So my question is, is it normal the car will NOT spin its wheels under full throttle and with Traction Control off, when dry and with tyres warmed up?
It's almost as if something is still restricting it off the line, but once it gets going I can feel the power rapidly building and it pulls quite ferociously.
I'm a little worried (and hoping I'm just being paranoid) my car might be (perhaps significantly) down on power for whatever reason... Does what I describe sound like that may be possible, or is this how it should be? How much power do these cars lose with age and mileage anyway?
Thanks guys.
Edited by vladman on Thursday 26th April 23:44
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