[JLRnumber5]

I only meant to go for a test drive ... but the weather was "car buying weather" wasn't it?

Maybe it was the "you can take this corner faster than you think" encouragement from the salesman (Tom @ Harwoods Croydon - boy he knew *everything* about the car - mind you he had just come back from driving it at 155mph around a test-bowl!)

So after a few demonstrations of how the dog's tail won't be chopped off by the touch sensitive tailgate, and how cheap it is to buy a full size spare wheel with 22" alloy, I'm hooked. But then this is my 5th car from the JLR stable in the last 9 years so I guess I had "sucker" plastered across my forehead.

The deposit is down on a 3.0d V6 S and so far the spec is:

Ammonite Grey
22" Black Helix (plus a bargain full size spare - I wonder if I can order a few more?)
Jet/Red Taurus (really wasn't sure about the red until I saw it)
Privacy Glass
Sliding Pano roof
14 way seats
InControl Touch Pro with 825W Meridian
AdSR
Gesture Tailgate
Rear Seat release levers
Cupholder cover (really???)
Blind Spot Monitor

Surprising how quick a £34k car becomes a £60k car but I've had rock solid residuals on my last 2 JLRs (Evoque and RRS) so that's what I keep reminding myself.

So now to my point ... what on earth do I now do to keep myself occupied until September/October?? :roll:

 

[AndyS]

Welcome to the club......

I too started off with a modest R-Sport spec (deposit down last Sept), this then got amended to S spec in January, and over the last week has changed again to take advantage of offer of an FE in Ultimate Black ..... Best thing about this is that I now have nowhere else to go with spec

 

[Tryingtobuy]

Haha!

Yes I was offered an FE today too by the dealer. He seemed to imply there were a few around.

 

[Arianne]

Okay, I too have a 3.0d V6 S on order but your spec is amazing, especially the HiFi and the roof.

But....... Seriously, think twice about that 'bargain' of the spare wheel. I think you may live to regret it. Did the salesman explain that, with the full size spare in the boot, the boot floor will be raised? There are some images somewhere if you search but it is truly awful. You will lose the space, the floor isn't flat across the whole width and I wonder how strong the false floor is across the top of the wheel? You will also lose the reversible boot carpet.

I have opted for the temporary space saver spare wheel. It fits flush in position and does not affect the boot floor in any way whatsoever. It will be lighter than the 22" spare which you will be lugging around with you everywhere you go.

From a practical perspective, the only advantage for having the full size spare that I can see is the opportunity to rotate the wheels regularly for even tyre wear (but if we're spending £50-£65k do we worry so much about that), it'll definitely fit over the enlarged front brake calipers (I don't know whether the space saver will only fit over the rear wheels and the full size would then need to be moved into the front, I need to check that) and you can drive on as fast as you wish. But a space saver is the right balance for me and once you have seen the hideous effect the full size has on the F-Pace boot floor I think you may agree and change that tiny bit of an otherwise fabulous order.

It is a wonderful car, we had three hours for a test drive last Saturday, unaccompanied on deserted country roads here in the Scottish Borders and I can tell you that the 3.0d V6 is, if you can afford it, the perfect match for this car.

As an aside, make sure that the seat configuration comes with memory. The 14 way seats need a further upgrade to secure the memory pack and, without it, you won't be able to store memory settings for the mirrors either. I think a car at this price point needs memory seats, especially for resale. And perhaps also think about the five year service pack, which is a good idea in its own right but also comes with free AdBlue top ups from any dealership for the life of the service plan. Have you thought about the Black Pack, especially with those black wheels? I can't make up my mind on that but you should play with the configurator and take a look at Google Images to decide. And finally, perhaps the cold climate pack, just a personal favourite of mine!

I hope you don't mind my post. You have a lovely car there but I just thought I should mention a couple of points, especially the full size spare. Apologies if you already have all of this sorted and covered.

Arianne

PS. Yes, cupholders covers. Really, good choice. The plastic inside the cupholders is a bit 'low rent' and, after a few weeks, the bottom of these things get a scattering of crumbs from sweet wrappers, biscuits or general detritus. The cover looks glossy and hides it all. For £50 you would be mad not to, as is the case with the back seat release levers in the boot. Good call!

 

[JLRnumber5]

Hi Arianne

Thanks for the *very* helpful response.

Yes the salesman did show me the raised boot floor, but that doesn't really bother me too much. The only thing that goes into the boot is a rather small (but don't tell him that) Jack Russell.

However! Losing the reversible floor cover is a very good point! Also, I'm told the rear parcel shelf can be stored under the boot floor. Is that correct? It will be spending most of it's time not fixed in place, so good to know where to store it. I assume both the full and skinny spare means this can't happen - do you know? To be honest I got all carried away that I could have a free spare wheel just by paying the cost of a tyre!!

I'm going to pass on the memory pack - as I'm the only one that drives the car. My Evoque has the memory pack and I've never used it in 4 years. I checked with the dealer and the mirrors do the kerb-dipping thing without the memory pack, so that suits my needs.

We chewed over the service pack and came down on the side of "no" but I'm still considering. The car is only used for pleasure so I will do around 8000 miles per year max. It will be lucky to get two services during the time I own it. I might still change my mind on that one.

I've been backwards and forwards on the black pack! I have it on my Evoque. I've decided against it. If I had gone for the Glacier White I was going to have it, but with the Ammonite Grey I quite like the contrast the standard S finish gives. I stood and stared at 4 cars today. Two with and two without and 'narrowly' came down on the side of no black pack.

The only thing I would say about the cup holder cover is beware! It's the same device I have in the Evoque and it scratches really easily.

By the way, offering advice in the other direction, go for the Blind Spot/Reverse Monitor package. Again I have that currently and it's truly brilliant and has saved me a couple of times over the years.

I will be losing the self-park which after 4 years has lost some novelty value, although I do still use it. I won't miss it too much. I set myself a £60k limit so it just had to be left off. I'm compensating with the Gesture tailgate which actually will prove more useful I think.

The other thing not to scrimp on is the audio. I have the 825W Meridian in the Evoque. If you're even a modest audiophile you have to listen to the difference. I tried to save £850 by going down to the 380W but it's really noticeable.

 

[Arianne]

Hello JLRnumbers5,

Well, that's good that you have thought it through and considered the value of the various choices to you. I did wonder whether that might be the case with the memory pack and it makes sense, what you say.

I believe it is true that you can store the parcel shelf under the boot floor, although I have been told that I haven't actually seen it done. But you're right, with the full size spare that is not going to happen for sure! I would have thought the reversible carpet might be useful with the 'pooch'?

I am an audiophile and my current XC60 has the premium sound and subwoofer package. It is better than the 380w system standard in the S version. But, like you, we have set a ceiling on the overall price of the car which prevents me upgrading the HiFi. we have tried the system as standard in the S demonstrator. I found that it was acceptable to me when played though a USB connection. Bluetooth resulted in too much loss in transit from source to the car. My other family members are not audiophiles by any stretch of the imagination and so it's difficult for them to get on my wavelength in assessing the cost/benefit ratio for this upgrade option. It'll be okay.

We had originally been considering other 3.0 cars as I don't want to drive a four cylinder diesel, I don't like the soundtrack and the performance, whilst adequate, doesn't create a sense of occasion on a journey. Sadly, the way Jaguar has configured the range here in the UK means that it's quite a price hike to access the bigger engine and so something has had to give. That's been the raiding of the options list for the HiFi.

Finally, where we live, we only have one stretch of dual carriageway which is very short as it simply supports a right hand turn! So BLIS isn't great value for us. It isn't something I hanker after.

Best wishes.

Arianne

 

[Tim1]

About the parcel shelf it can only be stored in the car if you have the tire repair Kit not with the SpaceSaver or full-size wheel .

 

[Arianne]

Thanks, very helpful.

 

[JLRnumber5]

Thanks both. Tyre repair kit it is then. The dog travels most places with me so parcel shelf storage takes precident!

Now if I can trim another £50 I can get down below £59k. Do I really need rear seat release levers?

 

[Arianne]

From our US cousins....

http://www.fpaceforum.com/forum/23809-post15.html

Arianne

 

[JLRnumber5]

Wow that is an ugly bump!

Full size spare is now a dim and distant memory

 

[PaulC]

I've been backwards and forwards on the black pack! I have it on my Evoque. I've decided against it. If I had gone for the Glacier White I was going to have it, but with the Ammonite Grey I quite like the contrast the standard S finish gives. I stood and stared at 4 cars today. Two with and two without and 'narrowly' came down on the side of no black pack.

I too debated the black pack, particularly when I was going through my Ammonite and Rhodium phase.

In the end I've gone for Dark Sapphire Blue which is admittedly a somewhat regal colour for an S and something of a risk. However, that took away the black pack question for me as it would be lost on that colour and it seems a shame to cover up the satin chrome elements exclusive to the S when they contract well.

That said, were I going for a lighter colour then I would likely opt for the black pack and be more pushed towards black wheels (which the wife banned me from anyhow )

Interesting your point on the service plan. To be honest I spec'd it be default but I too will only be doing around 8,000p.a. - likely to own for 4 years, I presumed it was annual services but have not looked into their cost

 

[Jimbo]

Thanks JLR number 5. I was toying with downgrading the stereo from 825w to 380w to free up funds towards the black pack. I think I'll stick with the surround sound 825w and can't wait to get my hands on the car to listen to something.

 

[Shaunyt]

Thanks JLR number 5. I was toying with downgrading the stereo from 825w to 380w to free up funds towards the black pack. I think I'll stick with the surround sound 825w and can't wait to get my hands on the car to listen to something.

Dont down grade if you like a great sounding audio system in a car the meridian i have in my freelander which is the slightly earlier version of whats in current range rovers and discoverys a 825w 17speaker system with surround sound is amazing ive speced it in my F pace and am looking for tracks to listen too on my take delivery date... think its got to be a Cold Play classic or similar anyone got any suggestions

 

[Jimbo]

Can't go far wrong with classic Beatles or Stones in my opinion. Coldplay is a good pick too. How about a bit of Pink Floyd live in concert!

 

[Guest]

I only meant to go for a test drive ... but the weather was "car buying weather" wasn't it?

Maybe it was the "you can take this corner faster than you think" encouragement from the salesman (Tom @ Harwoods Croydon - boy he knew *everything* about the car - mind you he had just come back from driving it at 155mph around a test-bowl!)

So after a few demonstrations of how the dog's tail won't be chopped off by the touch sensitive tailgate, and how cheap it is to buy a full size spare wheel with 22" alloy, I'm hooked. But then this is my 5th car from the JLR stable in the last 9 years so I guess I had "sucker" plastered across my forehead.

The deposit is down on a 3.0d V6 S and so far the spec is:

Ammonite Grey
22" Black Helix (plus a bargain full size spare - I wonder if I can order a few more?)
Jet/Red Taurus (really wasn't sure about the red until I saw it)
Privacy Glass
Sliding Pano roof
14 way seats
InControl Touch Pro with 825W Meridian
AdSR
Gesture Tailgate
Rear Seat release levers
Cupholder cover (really???)
Blind Spot Monitor

Surprising how quick a £34k car becomes a £60k car but I've had rock solid residuals on my last 2 JLRs (Evoque and RRS) so that's what I keep reminding myself.

So now to my point ... what on earth do I now do to keep myself occupied until September/October?? :roll:

Hello .. what a great spec you have ordered, like me I have been told Sept delivery

 

[JLRnumber5]

Thanks Kaspa. Today I've been given a date of 22 Sep. Not sure given all the other experiences detailed in length on this forum how accurate that's likely to be. So we shall see!

 

[Bonkers]

Funny isn't it? You ordered this month and get given a definitive build date. I ordered two months ago and am still being told there is no information available for a build date until Jaguar open up new build slots, but probably December. The word shambles seems appropriate!

 

[Cobstar]

Funny isn't it? You ordered this month and get given a definitive build date. I ordered two months ago and am still being told there is no information available for a build date until Jaguar open up new build slots, but probably December. The word shambles seems appropriate!

How frustrating. Time to ring round some other dealers to see who has build slots and actually wants your custom.