Italian Racing Red Jaguar XFR
Discussion
Always wanted one of these, and collected this a couple of months ago.
2014, Italian Racing Red, 44,000 miles and two owners with a full Jaguar service history. It comes with the Speed Pack which adds a front splitter, boot spoiler tweaked suspension and the speed limited raised from 155 to 174mph. It also has fitted a set of 20" 'Varuna' alloys that are the same as those bolted onto the 550bhp XFR-S.
My thoughts after two months?
it's really stupid, it's a stupid car and completely pointless in the UK with our crappy roads, speed cameras and exorbitant cost of fuel and road tax.
However it is absolutely hilarious to drive, it basically looks like a diesel saloon and nobody knows what it is. It's a proper event every time you start it. It's noisy, wayward and the supercharger whine is brilliant. I love it. I can see why they didn't sell too many of them, a BMW M5, Audi RS6 or Merc AMG are quicker and handle better, this thing just spins it's rear tyres all the time and wants to slide around even with the traction control on, it's a proper muscle car in the American sense rather than a finely honed super saloon in the German sense. I much prefer loud and obnoxious to anything sensible.
The kids love it, even my wife has driven it and enjoys the frankly ridiculous acceleration!
Anyway, this is the day I collected it:
All engine!
]
I bought it from a dealer over the phone in North Wales, unfortunately there weren't many for sale and I really wanted a red one (there were only two of those in the country). I paid a reasonable price and took the train down to collect and then drove the four hundred miles back home.
The car drove great but it isn't perfect, I have a list of jobs to sort out which I plan to get on with over the winter when I'll use my trusty old XJ6 to get around in. Most of the issues are cosmetic - stone chips, lots and lots of stone chips, in fact it looks like the front has just been blasted with grit, the whole front ideally needs a re-spray. The alloys have been cheaply refurbished and look crap upon closer inspection, and I want to tidy up some switchgear inside, it looks like it has been cleaned with a scouring pad.
Alignment is out at the back which I'll sort out at the same time it gets a new set of tyres in a few weeks, going to give it a full service too and make sure everything is purring as it should (see what I did there...?)
The biggest issues I have found so far is the front drivers side jacking point has been mullered, it's clearly been jacked up by a blindman at some point in the past and they have crushed the jacking point. This will need repairing properly or eventually it will rot out - old cars eh?
I actually only found this damage when I noticed a big pool of washer fluid by the drivers side front wheel after I filled up the bottle a few weeks after I got the car. Apparently a common XF malady is for seal around the washer pump to fail and the fluid leaks out. Ten quid for a new pump and seal on Ebay later and I had it fixed.
Stone chip damage and a leaky bottle.
New and old pumps.
A properly minging tank!
I also found quite a few of the small stones that had impinged themselves on the bodywork, I'd be interested to see where this car has been driven!
I gave the big old calipers a clean too and they were a bit manky, quite keen on getting these re-painted black as they would be easier to keep clean then!
Anyway, a bit of a waffly post, happy to keep updated if anybody is interested?
2014, Italian Racing Red, 44,000 miles and two owners with a full Jaguar service history. It comes with the Speed Pack which adds a front splitter, boot spoiler tweaked suspension and the speed limited raised from 155 to 174mph. It also has fitted a set of 20" 'Varuna' alloys that are the same as those bolted onto the 550bhp XFR-S.
My thoughts after two months?
it's really stupid, it's a stupid car and completely pointless in the UK with our crappy roads, speed cameras and exorbitant cost of fuel and road tax.
However it is absolutely hilarious to drive, it basically looks like a diesel saloon and nobody knows what it is. It's a proper event every time you start it. It's noisy, wayward and the supercharger whine is brilliant. I love it. I can see why they didn't sell too many of them, a BMW M5, Audi RS6 or Merc AMG are quicker and handle better, this thing just spins it's rear tyres all the time and wants to slide around even with the traction control on, it's a proper muscle car in the American sense rather than a finely honed super saloon in the German sense. I much prefer loud and obnoxious to anything sensible.
The kids love it, even my wife has driven it and enjoys the frankly ridiculous acceleration!
Anyway, this is the day I collected it:
All engine!
]I bought it from a dealer over the phone in North Wales, unfortunately there weren't many for sale and I really wanted a red one (there were only two of those in the country). I paid a reasonable price and took the train down to collect and then drove the four hundred miles back home.
The car drove great but it isn't perfect, I have a list of jobs to sort out which I plan to get on with over the winter when I'll use my trusty old XJ6 to get around in. Most of the issues are cosmetic - stone chips, lots and lots of stone chips, in fact it looks like the front has just been blasted with grit, the whole front ideally needs a re-spray. The alloys have been cheaply refurbished and look crap upon closer inspection, and I want to tidy up some switchgear inside, it looks like it has been cleaned with a scouring pad.
Alignment is out at the back which I'll sort out at the same time it gets a new set of tyres in a few weeks, going to give it a full service too and make sure everything is purring as it should (see what I did there...?)
The biggest issues I have found so far is the front drivers side jacking point has been mullered, it's clearly been jacked up by a blindman at some point in the past and they have crushed the jacking point. This will need repairing properly or eventually it will rot out - old cars eh?
I actually only found this damage when I noticed a big pool of washer fluid by the drivers side front wheel after I filled up the bottle a few weeks after I got the car. Apparently a common XF malady is for seal around the washer pump to fail and the fluid leaks out. Ten quid for a new pump and seal on Ebay later and I had it fixed.
Stone chip damage and a leaky bottle.
New and old pumps.
A properly minging tank!
I also found quite a few of the small stones that had impinged themselves on the bodywork, I'd be interested to see where this car has been driven!
I gave the big old calipers a clean too and they were a bit manky, quite keen on getting these re-painted black as they would be easier to keep clean then!
Anyway, a bit of a waffly post, happy to keep updated if anybody is interested?
Lovely cars. I had one- 2011 pre facelift for 4 years. Timing chain tensioner issue curtailed what was an otherwise enjoyable ownership experience. Fortunately it was under warranty, unfortunately they must have got a bunch of apprentices to put in the replacement engine.
Exhaust/ back boxes are a must- Spires are rated v highly, I think mine were Borla but they didn’t half release the noise of the V8. There is a smaller supercharger pulley if you want even more power.
I loved how it had such a split personality. Exec saloon when dropping my son off at nursery, total loon when out on deserted country roads- I’d have a well sorted example again in a heartbeat!
Exhaust/ back boxes are a must- Spires are rated v highly, I think mine were Borla but they didn’t half release the noise of the V8. There is a smaller supercharger pulley if you want even more power.
I loved how it had such a split personality. Exec saloon when dropping my son off at nursery, total loon when out on deserted country roads- I’d have a well sorted example again in a heartbeat!
Lovely car in a great colour. Those stones look very similar to the ones used up in the nordics during winter. They heavily grit the roads rather than salt. Any hire car I have had up there has always been peppered with stone chips.
I would hazard a guess that a PO had an epic road trip to see the northern lights.
Enjoy the ownership.
I would hazard a guess that a PO had an epic road trip to see the northern lights.
Enjoy the ownership.
Martyn76 said:
Very nice, looks great in red!
Andy665 said:
Very nice, been tempted by these in the past, great value for money and fly under the radar of most people
Lucky_Jim said:
Lovely !
Thankyou for the kind words.LC23 said:
I also have an Italian Racing Red XFR. 5 years into ownership and I still love it. No idea what I'd replace it with.
I'd be interested in hearing how you've got on with the car over the years? Any hints or tips to get the best out of it.ChrisCh86 said:
Oooh I love these. They're a comparative bargain compared to the XKR which is usually quite a lot more money.
It's all about that 5.0 Supercharged V8!
Absolutely, who doesn't love a big V8!?It's all about that 5.0 Supercharged V8!
danmarr14 said:
Wonderful colour on one of those! Massive want, even with the MPG being lower than mine walking back from the pub
I think red is definitely the fastest colour! MPG around town is abysmal, on a good run it seems to do about 30mpg - 70 mph in top is about 1400 rpm!Ali_GTS said:
Lovely cars. I had one- 2011 pre facelift for 4 years. Timing chain tensioner issue curtailed what was an otherwise enjoyable ownership experience. Fortunately it was under warranty, unfortunately they must have got a bunch of apprentices to put in the replacement engine.
Exhaust/ back boxes are a must- Spires are rated v highly, I think mine were Borla but they didn’t half release the noise of the V8. There is a smaller supercharger pulley if you want even more power.
I loved how it had such a split personality. Exec saloon when dropping my son off at nursery, total loon when out on deserted country roads- I’d have a well sorted example again in a heartbeat!
That looks lovely Ali and thanks for your response.Exhaust/ back boxes are a must- Spires are rated v highly, I think mine were Borla but they didn’t half release the noise of the V8. There is a smaller supercharger pulley if you want even more power.
I loved how it had such a split personality. Exec saloon when dropping my son off at nursery, total loon when out on deserted country roads- I’d have a well sorted example again in a heartbeat!
I've already been on the Viezu website, apparently an exhaust, remap, larger intercooler and pulley change will release about 650 bhp! However I'd want to know more about the effect on the engine first. Plus I want to get it cosmetically sorted before I actually do anything to it.
The tensioner issue is an interesting one, my car is bang in the middle of the period where they cause big headaches. I've got no record of them being done my engine so I think this is something I'll have to swallow when it goes in for its big service over winter. I'm already saving up for the work...
English expat said:
Lovely car in a great colour. Those stones look very similar to the ones used up in the nordics during winter. They heavily grit the roads rather than salt. Any hire car I have had up there has always been peppered with stone chips.
I would hazard a guess that a PO had an epic road trip to see the northern lights.
Enjoy the ownership.
Quite possibly, one thing I have noticed on my car though is it seems to have been somewhere hot for some time, the red sharks fin aerial on the roof has faded pink and the tops of the wiper arms are also sun bleached, some of the soft touch buttons on the dash have also have also gone sticky which also seems to happen in hot climates. I would hazard a guess that a PO had an epic road trip to see the northern lights.
Enjoy the ownership.
Luckily all the parts are cheap as they are shared with the normal models.
Car has been mostly trouble free. Outside of routine servicing and tyres, discs and pads etc. I've replaced the supercharger hoses and air con condenser. New battery. It was on its original at 10 years old. The bonnet vents had lacquer peel so I resprayed those myself. Oh the little metal flap in the fuel filler neck came loose so i just removed it. Can't think of anything else I have needed to do.
Not sure what tyres yours is on. I use pilot sport 4s.
Not sure what tyres yours is on. I use pilot sport 4s.
Oooh very nice, well done!
I've had a couple of XKRs (last one was a 5.0) and my wife had an XF S estate with the 3.0 V6 twin-turbo diesel. A friend and fellow PHer has one of these in black too. The XF S was a lovely thing to drive and I did often wonder what the XFR would be like. Maybe once I've had my fun with my C63...
I've had a couple of XKRs (last one was a 5.0) and my wife had an XF S estate with the 3.0 V6 twin-turbo diesel. A friend and fellow PHer has one of these in black too. The XF S was a lovely thing to drive and I did often wonder what the XFR would be like. Maybe once I've had my fun with my C63...
I love these, and it looks great in red!
I've had it's 'little brother' the S type R (4.2 supercharged V8) as a daily for the past 8 years now, and keep looking at these in the classifieds.
It's comfy, it's fast and it sounds brilliant. And I love people just assume it's a boring old man's car until they get in the car with you
I've had it's 'little brother' the S type R (4.2 supercharged V8) as a daily for the past 8 years now, and keep looking at these in the classifieds.
It's comfy, it's fast and it sounds brilliant. And I love people just assume it's a boring old man's car until they get in the car with you
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