Should You Buy a Used JAGUAR XF? (Test Drive and Review)

Hello again, welcome back. So today I'm in a Jaguar XF. Now the Jag XF has been around for about 10 years now and you can now pick them up, well you can pick up early high mileage examples for about four grand. So I'm driving around in this one today to try and figure out if it's any good and whether or not you should buy one of these or just stick to a 5 Series BMW or E-Class Mercedes because they're the sensible options. Now I've always been a big fan of the Jaguar brand, I've had lots of them myself. When I was about 22-23 I had a 2005 Jaguar S-Type three litre V6 petrol which looked really good because it was grey but it had the like the R-Type grille and the R-Type kit so it looked really good even though most 23-year-olds are driving around in a Golf GTI or 3 or something else, my dad's car. But I enjoyed it, I had it for the best part of the year, nothing went wrong with it. So yeah, trouble free, trouble free car that one. I sold that and bought a six three litre Vogue. So yeah I've always been a fan of the Jaguar brand, I've even got today a 1998 XJR supercharged which is currently having some light restoration work but then as soon as that's ready and back on the road I'll do it, I'll do it because that's quite an interesting car that one. Now I'll be the first to admit that in my lifetime at least Jags haven't been very good. Now just bear with me a minute because I know there will be some loyal Jag fans, as am I to be honest, I do love the brand but yeah they've just always been a bit naff haven't they, if we're totally honest about it, they've always been a bit rubbish until the last, you know, the last few years when they've been taken over. They've always been a bit of a joke option really. Like if you look at the the S-Type, even though I had one, it had a dopey gormless front end, front grille, you got the radio out of a Ford Transit, you got the key out of a Ford KA, they were just a bit naff and the X-Type was supposed to be like a 3 Series rival or a C-Class Mercedes rival but it was just a joke, everybody knew that it was based on the Mondeo so people would refer to it as the Mondeo with the Jag badge. Even the old XJ which is probably the most iconic Jag after the E-Type, it couldn't compete with an S-Class Mercedes or a 7 Series BMW. They were just clinging on to this nostalgic British image of drinking tea and playing cricket and red phone boxes and all that sort of stuff but they were never as competent or as capable as the German rivals but they still have a loyal fan base. So today I'm trying to figure out why that is, why would you choose to drive something that's worse than something else? It doesn't make any sense does it? But yeah I'm guilty of it myself. Now I'm currently driving a 2010 XF, this is the premium luxury model and it's a 3 litre turbo diesel which produces about 245 horsepower. They also do an S version of this which I had a couple of weeks ago which I was going to do a video with but then it sold right away so I didn't get a chance to do it. But yeah that was the S version so that was the same 3 litre turbo diesel but you got an extra 25 horsepower and more torque so that thing really flew. But yeah this one's no slouch either, in fact this is the engine that I'd choose, it's the same 3 litre diesel that you get in the Range Rover Sport and in the UK at least anyway where fuel prices are crazy, you're better off buying the diesel. The early ones had a 2.7 V6 diesel which I'd avoid, they're kind of sluggish and noisy and a bit coarse. It's the same 2.7 TD V6 that you'd get in the Discovery of that sort of time and the Range Rover Sports, the early sports but they were better suited to four-wheel drives because you can live with it a bit easier but in a Jag that's supposed to be luxurious they just weren't very good, didn't sit well with that car. So they replaced it in late 2009 with this 3 litre version which is far better. So if you're considering buying an XF you really need to look from 2009 onwards, look for a 3 litre diesel. Now they also do a 3 litre V6 petrol and a 5 litre V8 that's either supercharged or non-supercharged but here in the UK it's a bit pointless, no one's going to buy those as much as I'd prefer that. Petrol costs £1.30 a litre so no one's going to try running a 5 litre supercharged V8. For everyday driving this 3 litre is more than adequate, yeah you've got nearly 250 horsepower, loads of torque, it really does provide enough power. The petrols just don't make much sense whereas this gets 40 miles per gallon and you really don't need to go much quicker than this, not than this, I'm probably doing 28 I mean than this car provides. Now I love the styling of the XF, it's been around like I say for 10 years now and it still looks stylish and quite modern. I don't think it's, it hasn't really aged or if it has aged it's aged well. I think the proportions are just right, I love the shape of the bonnet, the grooves on the bonnet, it's just a handsome looking car this. Now the interior feels modern even 10 years later, as soon as you get inside you've got the start stop button that pulses like a heartbeat and you press that and the vents spin round, it's all very futuristic and it still feels modern to get it in 2018, 10 years after its launch. Now you've got the twisty gear selector like you get in the Range Rover Sport which as I said with the Range Rover I'm not a big fan of because although it looks really nice the design of it's good to use, it's not the easiest, it's not the most intuitive to use. Now although the interior feels modern they have left just enough wood in here too not to frighten off the usual buyer. You've got the leather stitched dash which looks really nice and you've got just enough silver trim to lift it and make it feel quite quite contemporary. Now one thing I don't like is you've got to go through the the touchscreen infotainment system just to turn the heated seats on or off. Now a lot of manufacturers are doing that these days but Jag must have been one of the first in 2008 and I don't know why they don't just give me a button when I'm driving along and my back's on fire because my heated seat's been on for an hour. I just want to press a button, I don't want to have to fiddle through sub-menu after sub-menu, it's just annoying. Now it drives very well this, it's effortless, I think the steering is perfect, it's not as heavy as a 5 Series BMW but it's also not as numb and light as an E-Class Mercedes so it's a perfect combination of the both I think. And also while I'm sat here driving along at 60 miles an hour I'm averaging 38 miles per gallon so it's quite cheap to run. The road tax for the diesel here in the UK is only £250 a year whereas all the petrols even the 3.0-litre V6 are in the 500 plus bracket. And the engine's quite smooth and quite refined, you'd never know that you were in a diesel when you're driving along at this sort of speed. It doesn't sound like they've got it from a transit van like a lot of diesels do. It grips well too, I mean it's not as engaging to drive as a 5 Series BMW but anyone that wants one of these cars I don't think they'll care. Round town you'll average 30 miles per gallon, on a run you'll get in excess of 40 so you can't beat that really. Now prices start from about £4,000 for an early high mileage 2.7 but if you want my opinion I would try and spend between £9,000 and £10,000 and get a 2010 or 2011 3.0-litre diesel with sensible miles and good service records. This one that I'm in right now has done 77,000 miles, good service history and I'm hoping to get about £8,500 for it. So it's an awful lot of car for the money when you consider how much equipment it's got and how well it drives and how good it looks. People that don't know much about cars would assume that this was a £20,000 car. Now reliability wise I've had a few of these recently and I've never had any warranty claims such would, never had any issues. They do have a cam button though which needs to be replaced at about 100,000 miles but as long as you look after it and service it every 10,000 I certainly haven't heard of any common issue with them. Now the rear legroom isn't as good as an E-Class Mercedes but it's more than adequate. Now the boot space is quite good, the only negative is the actual boot opening isn't as good or as wide as a 5 Series or an E-Class but the actual boot space itself is plenty big enough and the rear seats fold in a 60-40 formation. So they fold completely flat so you could carry something large in there which is quite unusual for a saloon car. So the 5 Series is more engaging to drive, the E-Class Mercedes is more practical, the Audi A6, the Audi A6 to be a bit bigger, I don't know, there's no real advantage of buying the Audi, I've never really been a fan of that model or this era of A6. So yeah given those options I'd rather have this. I think to live with on a daily basis is the best choice of the, so yeah I mean even though it's technically not the best in its class I'd still pick this one, I prefer it over the others. I don't know why but I kind of feel more, more of a connection to this than a 5 Series or a or an E-Class Mercedes. Now one thing I would recommend is going for at least the premium luxury model like this or better yet a portfolio because you wouldn't want to have one of these with a worse spec than this. This one's got a sat-nav reverse camera although that's another thing actually, the reverse camera is appalling. I've not seen a reverse camera that bad for a while, I'm surprised it's not in black and white, it looks like something from the 90s. The display is poor compared to my BMW or Lexus or anything else that I've been in recently, not as sharp. But yeah I've got automatic lights, electric windows, mirrors, electric seats, memory seats, heated seats, sat-nav, reverse camera, Bluetooth, cruise control, I've just got all the optional extras that you would want and I wouldn't want to be without any of those extras. So yeah get the premium luxury or the, now the newer versions of this they also offer a 2.2 litre which I haven't driven to be honest so I can't really comment but surely you'd want the 3 litre with the extra power. Now although Jag have tried to lose the old man image there is still a bit of a whiff of OAP about this which isn't a problem to me because I quite like it but it might put some people off. There's still a bit of wood inside, they haven't replaced it with carbon fibre or anything like that. There's a cubby hole here for your driving gloves, there's some storage there to keep you where there's original, there's enough room on the back shelf there for your Panama hat and your box of tissues, plenty of space on the windscreen for your National Trust sticker and enough space in the boot for two sets of golf clubs. So they haven't completely alienated their over 60, over 70 fan base. It's just a dream to drive this car, it's so easy, so effortless, I do really like it. I think the colour looks really good on this one too, it's grey with the black leather interior and yeah I haven't driven a car this comfortable in a long time. So I've to share this with you, right I've just stopped at a petrol station to get some coffee and I tried to put it in the cup holder but the lid for the cup holder wouldn't open all the way. I don't know if you can see this. So yeah the lid for the cup holder was kind of jammed there so I was thinking this is typical Jag build quality, something's obviously broken. So I managed to get my girly slender hand behind there to see what was blocking it and it was a Werther's original packet and some cocodermal. So it's just exactly what I said about the over 60, over 70 demographic. Couldn't make it up honestly, I haven't made that up I promise it's true. So if you're considering one I'd get one, I think you'll love it. If you're a Jag fan then you wouldn't even contemplate buying a 5 Series or an E-Class so I think you'll love this. I can't think of any negative. I honestly think if I hadn't just bought my BM and I just love this kind of car, I mean I'm not even 30 yet and if I had the choice of this or the Polo GTI that I did a video on last week I'd pick this every time. Most 20 odd year old wouldn't say that they'd pick the GTI but I just prefer this kind of car. Big comfortable cruiser with loads of options, loads of features. So thanks for watching and I'll see you next time. Make sure you subscribe and yeah give me a thumbs up. If you've got any questions let me know in the comments below. Thanks for watching.