Jaguar XF Premium Luxury 3.0 V6

It is a very enjoyable car to drive and own. Have had numerous minor problems with electrics and breakdowns. Although only 12,000 miles on reasonable driving need new break pads and 4 new tyres. I have own aa number of high performance cars of good quality but never need such replacements so early

My XF has been a delight. It is the Diesel version and the acceleration is awesome, yet the fuel consumption, particularly on long trips is excellent. Jaguar assist is very helpful too. I made a fool of myself and filled it with petrol one day - many years of using petrol does that to you. They dealt with the problem politely and smoothly and called afterwards to check that I was happy. I was on the road again two hours later.

In nearly a year of ownership, the only problem encountered is that Jaguar wanted to update the software once. This did not cost me time or inconvenience as they collected the car to fix it. The service intervals are huge so there has been no need for a service yet. Tyre wear is OK. Tyre pressures have remained near constant with next to no attention. The automatic windscreen wipers and screen heating work pretty well.

Any gripes? The navigator works fine and the connection to the traffic alert system is helpful but the display is not as sophisticated as on stand alone systems (like TomTom).

The choice of buttons on the dash for controlling the navigator is strange. I would like to choose different ones.

The in car handsfree phone works well but it does not allow enough entries. This is weird but is probably because it has a very poor arrangement for searching for entries; it works by first letter of the entry ONLY.

"As you'll discover in the coming months, the Jaguar experience is truly unique".

"You'll appreciate our meticulous attention to detail extends to every aspect of ownership".

"It goes beyond driving a vehicle with a level of luxury, performance and build quality which other marques can only aspire to".

Those statements were contained in letters recently sent to both my brother and I by Jaguar after the purchase of two brand new Jaguars.

Little did we know how very "unique" this ownership experience was about to become...

We collected our cars, two brand new Jaguar XF's on the 22nd of September 2009, it was Tuesday. We left the dealership at around 4pm. By 5pm I had noticed the first defect of a scratch on the passenger door. A minor trivial issue as it looked like the door had been opened onto an object either during manufacture or at the dealers. I'm sure they will fix the problem when I raise it, but it's a little disheartening to find a fault within the first 120 minutes of owning the car.

My brother however became slightly more disheartened when he saw his brand new Jaguar XF on the back of an AA truck 48 hours later.

On leaving work for home on Thursday, his car decided to pump diesel fuel over the office car park and surrounding road. This fault was pointed out to my brother by a kind driver behind when he was parked at a junction some 150 yards from our office car park. In the 300 yard round trip from the car park and back again, the car had managed to relieve itself of some 30 litres of fuel by our estimations based on the fuel gauge.

My brother called Jaguar assist who took all the details of the fault and the cars present location, they then asked for credit card details so they could charge for any fuel required. This was not amusing.

On contacting the dealership which we purchased the vehicles from, the same one as it had been returned to for a fix, they apologised for the inconvenience and ensured my brother that the problem would be fixed, the car would be given a full valet and that it would be returned with a full tank as it had before the fault occurred.

He was reunited with the car a day or so later. He hopped in to test all was fine, to be greeted with the "please refuel" message and its accompanying tuneful "bong". The dealership had two tasks. Fix the fuel leak problem and replace the fuel. They managed one. It didn't leak.

There was another promise of a full valet too. It appears this was confined to the interior. The reason for our surmising this was confined to the interior was the issue that manifested itself just another 48 hours later whilst my brother and his wife were on their way out for a meal in the evening.

There first appeared a smell of burning. Maybe a local garden fire as they were driving through the country. Though it seemed the smell was following them. There was next a wisp of smoke escaping from the engine bay. Oh dear, all was not well, again. In the few seconds it took them to stop in a local village, clouds of smoke had started escaping from the engine bay and into the car. My sister in law made a quick escape, as did my brother. Luckily the car did not catch fire, probably due to the fact it was diesel fuelled.

Another piggy back ride on an AA truck ensued, its second in less than a week. Not bad for a brand new Jaguar costing over forty thousand pounds.

It transpires the "full valet" and repair of the vehicle did not include replacing the diesel soaked pipe insulation in the engine bay. The words "you'll appreciate our meticulous attention to detail extends to every aspect of ownership" in the letter from Mr Geoff Cousins, Managing Director of Jaguar UK, are by now starting to look a little comical and presumably don't extend to the service provided by the dealerships.

The car is once again reunited with its owner, my brother, a few days later. At this time my brother decides to go over the car with a fine tooth comb to ensure any other niggles and faults are found. Sure enough it doesn't take long to find one.

There is an auxiliary socket allowing the driver to connect a device such as an Ipod to the car stereo. It doesn't seem to work in my brothers car. It is very handy that we have two of these cars in order to test if it is the 99 pence cable which looks a bit rough round the edges or the brand new £40,000 vehicle which is at fault. After a quick test in my car, we determine the 99 pence cable is just fine.

My brother places another call to Jaguar to report another fault. This time it is fixed by a mobile engineer visiting the next day, at least saving the car from its third trip on the back of an AA truck.

So what about my car? Has it exhibited any similar faults?

Well, to answer that question I would have needed to drive it, which I haven't. Since a couple of days after taking delivery it hasn't been used. When admiring the car one sunny afternoon, I noticed what I thought to be a dent on the rear nearside door. I was not pleased.

Anyway, to my astonishment it turned out not to be a dent, but a paint fault causing the appearance of a large dent in the door. It appears that there has either been a painting defect during its manufacture, or a bodged repair to damage prior to my collecting it. The "meticulous attention to detail" again seem to be lacking.

I reported the matter to the dealership and had them take a look. They advised that it could be resolved by taking the car to their approved bodyshop and having it sprayed. Brilliant, just what I want to happen with a brand new car, have it taken away and re-sprayed like some accident damaged second hand banger.

Of course, given the literature sent to me by Jaguar congratulating me on my purchase and boldly blowing their trumpet with regard to the quality of the vehicles they produce, I was extremely displeased that Jaguar would send out a vehicle with this defect, let alone think that partly re-spraying a brand new vehicle would be an acceptable solution.

I rejected the vehicle in writing to both the dealership and the "Jaguar Customer Relationship Centre". Jaguar responded with a letter advising me that my contract of sale was with the dealership and that I should address my concerns to them. In a very short letter they washed their hands of the issue, showing no concern what so ever that they had produced a faulty vehicle.

I also received a letter from the dealership, Hatfields in Sheffield, reiterating the previous telephone conversation that they propose to take the vehicle away and have it sprayed.

It is impossible for a vehicle to be sprayed in a bodyshop to an EXACT match of the vehicles factory finish. Areas unaffected by the fault have to be sprayed, the new paint has to be "blended" into the existing paint to try and mask this subtle difference. For this reason the dealership are unable to provide me with a repair which will return the vehicle to an as new factory finish. I will be left with a vehicle that is no different to one which has been damaged and repaired. The only difference of course is that I will have paid for a brand new one.

I therefore proposed to the dealership that I should be offered some form of compensation if I were to accept a re-spray on part of my vehicle. As I believe my vehicle will be degraded and devalued by such repair work, I proposed that Jaguar upgrade the vehicle in another area - perhaps the sports seats, which were not available at the time I placed my order, but became available shortly afterward. I considered this to be very fair and reasonable.

After chasing the dealership for an update by telephone a few days later (you see Jaguar Customer Relationship Centre nor the dealership have EVER called or written to me without my prompting them first) I was advised that my proposed solution had been rejected. The reason being that it would "alter the vehicle from its factory specification". This is quite strange, as I am informed that the factory specification is due to change imminently to include the sports seats as standard on the "S" model which I purchased.

I then decided to take the matter to Trading Standards. As I believed, it does not matter if the item costs £1 or £1 million, it is still covered under the sale of goods act, and should that item not be delivered free from defects or blemishes I can reject the item. The reason it is more difficult with vehicles, is that should a manufacturer or dealership accept the rejection, it will cost them a substantial sum of money. The cynic within me may suggest that this should be used as some form of motivation to screw the cars together and paint them properly in the first place.

That aside, Trading Standards advised me to put my proposal for an amicable solution in writing to Jaguar and the dealership.

I again wrote presenting two options, either a full refund for the vehicle, or the acceptance of my reasonable compensation proposal. I wrote to the Customer Relationship Center (who incidentally advised me that I would be called back "tomorrow" just over a week ago now), I sent a copy of the letter to the dealership and I also sent a copy to Mr Geoff Cousins. As Mr Cousins is all too happy to put his signature to the trumpet blowing letter sent to me, perhaps he would be interested in personally responding to a customer when they raise objection to the "meticulous attention to detail".

He wasn't.

I received a reply "on his behalf" which rather than selecting either of my two options, re-iterated their proposed solution of re-spraying the vehicle, it also proposed no other alternative for compensation. I am expected to roll over, accept the re-spray on a brand new Jaguar and not darken their doorstep again.

It appears Jaguar do not want to accept what I believe to be a very fair compensation proposal, contrary to their various items of literature suggesting I will be treated with great respect and being subject to a "unique ownership experience", they have sold me the car and now they couldn't care less. Who is to say that after the paint fault has been rectified I wont suffer the same mechanical issues that my brother has. After all they were built on the same day just a couple of minutes apart....

The dog certainly seems to be wagging the tail as far as the dealership are concerned. They could have decided to accept my proposal and taken responsibility for a dissatisfied customer where Jaguar themselves can't be bothered, but they haven't. They too have not proposed any alternative compensation for me having a brand new vehicle subject to a partial re-spray. Indeed I have had a telephone conversation with the service director at Hatfields who has confirmed they are unwilling to offer any level of compensation.

I was informed that taking my vehicle away, repairing it and returning it to me whilst ensuring I suffer the minimum inconvenience possible was, and I quote, "more than adequate".

How very silly of me. I must have an incorrect knowledge of the sale of goods act stating that the repair to my satisfaction without inconvenience is the bare legal minimum they are obliged to offer.

People would do well to note that trying to dress up the bare legal requirement under the sale of goods act as doing me a favour, does not go down well in most cases.

It also appears that Hatfields have forgotten all about the troubles my brother has had. They were supposed to be contacting him with an update on what could be offered given the troubles he experienced with his brand new Jaguar. He has been waiting around a month now and no communication has been forthcoming. This has hardly come as a surprise though.

Now, I find myself with a decision to make. I could just roll over and accept that Jaguar have not lived up to my expectations, chalk it down to experience and never darken their door again.

I could alternatively continue this argument all the way to court, which is an option I have been giving some serious consideration. This means continuing to tax and insure another vehicle (which I have been doing for the last two months this has been going on) and spending a considerable amount of time arguing this, ultimately ending up with the case in front of a Judge who will no doubt have lost a few marbles from his bag and have no understanding what so ever of the case he is presiding over. I could stick a finger in the air and I'll have a 50/50 chance of success regardless of how valid my points are - such is the great British judicial system.

My other option is not just to accept it, but to accept it and ensure it happens to nobody else.

Rather than spend copious amounts of time arguing my case through the courts, I could spend just as much time telling as many people as possible the story of the cars my brother and I have purchased and the subsequent level of service we have received.

If Jaguar themselves and the dealer Hatfields Sheffield are content to supply faulty vehicles and then offer just the bare minimum in terms of rectifying these faults with such prestigious vehicles, whilst sending me literature advising that they offer levels of quality that in their own words "other marques can only aspire to" then I have to question how sincere these communications from Jaguar actually are.

I am not prepared to sit idly by whilst people who through no fault of their own could find themselves in the same situation as myself. Feeling that they have just spent £40,000+ on what should have been a very special purchase and being hand built in England, should be very proud of. I would not wish to see them feel as disheartened and disillusioned with such an expensive purchase as both my brother and myself now do. Moreover should someone find themselves in the same situation, I would not wish for their dissatisfaction to be increased further by a dealer and manufacturer who appear not to stand behind their statements and own words when a customer raises a concern; Hence my open and honest account of our experience here.

Also, potential customers may wish to consider that the Jaguar XF has just recently been awarded the lowest mark in its class for reliability by a US publication.

Maybe my brother and I were unlucky, perhaps it was just fate that of all the cars on the production line that day, it was just my brothers and my own, separated by just three build numbers that were destined to have the faults. Or could it possibly be that the hundreds behind them on the line and all those in front also have minor problems just waiting to make themselves known once in the hands of the owners? Who knows? Can anyone guarantee that they don't have similar issues just waiting to be picked up?

Got £40k+ to spend and fancy a new luxury car. Go and buy a Jaguar XF. Just ask yourself one question...

Do you feel lucky? Well, do you?