Sold the 350Z when my new dad-wagon finally arrived - an XF Sportbrake 3.0S V6 Diesel.

Despite being coal-fired, it goes pretty well and handles nicely. It's a world apart from the car it replaces, but then I needed back seats and the ability to swallow a pram and associated baby paraphernalia!

That looks rather nice!! :)

That looks evil!!

Good choice, XF's are a lovely drive, and go in as one of about 6 new cars I actually like.

Heap of shit mate scrap it

what a sexy bastard!!

Surprised by all the positive comments, cheers dudes. Shameless whoring - pic in the sun from the other day:

So far proving to be a competent dad wagon and very comfy daily driver. Suspension's very decent for wafting around, but needs the 'Dynamic Mode' button pressing if you want to throw it about without it rolling around too much. Not bad considering I heard they let the mongs do the Sportbrake suspension... :p

Best bit is the electric tailgate for when your arms are fully of shopping/baby/pram, so you press the keyfob and it opens wide for you to throw it all in.

Worst bit is the electric tailgate when you press the button to open it automagically and realise you're nearer to that wall than you thought...

I'm not a parent, but a quick tip if I may.

Don't throw the baby in the boot of an estate car.

The sound proofing's nowhere near good enough, you'll still hear them even with a jag sound system

Should loosen up nicely mate, chassis will bed down after 1000 or so miles, engines losen up nicely, MPG and power improvements will be noticed.

And yeah unfortunate they did let special people loose with the suspension - sorry :(

Glad you seem happy with it though, it's nice to hear feedback from a car straight off the line, if you've any issues or things you wanna ask dynamically give me a shout, probably got a way of resolving it lol

So, best economy on a tank was 44mpg. Worst (first tank!) was 28mpg. About 35mpg with mixed usage seems about right. It's loosened up, but also fair to say that economy is hugely drivecycle dependent - as you'd expect in a big heavy motor with a diesel engine.

The electric boot struts popped off whilst away with the in-laws with a full boot, but apart from that it's not set a foot wrong. They could do with updating the sat nav/HMI though, it's not changed significantly since the X-type over 10 years ago and needs more processing power and a neater interface.

I love the XF, especially the Sportbrake, so that's pretty much my dream daily right there.

XFs kinda dated now really, not quite as bad as XK but yeah.

Got a massively exciting Sportbrake to play with at the minute hehe.

Economy sounds about right really

Yeah it's the S-Type underneath, and a Nineties Lincoln (?) iirc under that. But I still think it's the best looking, most charismatic car in its class.

They are good - just stuck in a reputation of being an old mans car

Going to be a fair while 'til the current platform XF is replaced in 2017 though, so hopefully it's still got some legs in it.

Does amuse me when we talk about car X being a car Y 'underneath' in an implied derogatory manner. Bit like the old Saab 9-5 being Vectra underneath - which in reality meant that some suspension components were shared, or had common DNA, but the body-in-white is in reality quite different. Sometimes it's appropriate e.g. outgoing RR Sport being a ladder-chassis'd Disco underneath vs new one being nice light monocoque, but a lot of the time the DNA/lineage of the chassis isn't wholly relevant. E.g. XK being X350 XJ-derived, but not really driving like one!

They're totally different, people say an x type is a mondeo but it's not really the amount that changes.

JLR products seem quite sensitive to little changes, you can make or break a car so easily.

Must admit my favourite thing about an x250 is the steering

Yeah, that's my point. I reckon if it could've been kept a secret, at no point would a journalist or end customer have come back saying "the X-type drives just like a Mondeo", because it doesn't.

Plus it's usually only when the donor chassis is from a lesser brand or model that people whinge about it. Hardly ever see owt in the press about the EUCD platform which means the Volvo S80, LR Freelander and Ford Galaxy (amongst countless others!) share DNA.

Technically all current Jags are basically the same, but drive a non S version of yours and it will feel a totally different car, let alone a different engine derivative or a different body etc, like you say lots of cars share components and designs but are still massively different.

I'm glad you're liking it anyway mate - nice to hear some "real world" feedback on a production built car as opposed to one being driven and scored on our "points" system in comparison to a nominal car :)

I wasn't being derogatory Andy, and I'm not implying it drives like an old Lincoln, just agreeing that the platform underneath has been around for a while which is (I thought) what Harris was saying.

I was referring to the nav and dash lol!

Ah ok, that's never bothered me. It's a bit Tron with all the blue outlines, but I like it.

For the record though, I'm well aware of how platforms work and that two cars sharing even the oldest of platforms (or in some case the same bodyshell) won't drive the same. My comment wasn't derogatory in the slightest.

I was just rambling generally to be honest haha, nothing aimed at you mate.

Anyway sorry for chatter in thread Andy - shall I moderate myself? :p

I wasn't being derogatory Andy, and I'm not implying it drives like an old Lincoln, just agreeing that the platform underneath has been around for a while which is (I thought) what Harris was saying.

Wasn't a dig at you at all - apologies if it came across that way! X-type/Mondeo is the classic one though where it's always mentioned as though it's a terrible thing, some of the Pistonheads threads are comical.

Guess it works the other way too, number of people you hear being told to get a Skoda Fabia because it's a Polo underneath etc. Just amuses and irks me in equal measure that the pub car-expert types so smugly point out the origins of a particular car's chassis as though they've caught you out. Yet component and platform sharing is the only way to make money these days; and in reality should be viewed as a positive thing given that it improves robustness and drives down cost - unless of course we're talking about someone basing a new 4x4 on a Reliant Robin chassis!

Nav is a bit crap because it's nowhere near as configurable as a £50 Garmin or whatever. It shat itself in the South-West where the main roads are 30mph or 40mph limits, and farm tracks are 60mph - so it had a penchant for single-track roads as it thought I could do 60mph down them all! At least on the TomTom you can tell it that unclassified roads are all slow. Browsing the route is almost impossible too, but I understand that these issues are being addressed.

Yeah I was having this conversation with my Dad when he bought his C30, he'd heard it was based on Ford bits and I told him it was based on a Focus. He wasn't overly impressed. But as I said to him, it won't drive like a Focus (not that it's a bad thing anyway), the bits you touch and see are all Volvo, and the two cars are set up very differently.

Similarly I had someone moaning at me on Facebook the other week for saying the Mazda3 MPS isn't as well set up as a Focus RS or ST, on the basis that they use the same chassis so my argument was invalid. It's essentially just a layout of components, they're two entirely different cars. So I'm with you that platform sharing is a Top Gear factoid that people like to tout around. I just point out that the "Golf in drag" TT doesn't drive anything like a Tiguan and it's not that simple.

Interesting on the sat nav front. I like the display overall but the nav feels like a re-skinned version of the old Volvo units from about ten years ago. On the way back from Berlin last year the XF I was driving diverted me around motorway traffic near Cologne using rat runs around all the Ford buildings. Obviously the maps are bought in from elsewhere but it was ironic that it knew the roads around its former parent company as if it was an employee.

Can't beat a TomTom though, especially with HD Traffic. Even the best manufacturer systems don't come close.

It's a Denso system I believe and likely common software between many cars