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First service today - got an F-Pace loaner

7K views 14 replies 5 participants last post by  Jsquared 
#1 ·
Took the car in for its first service today right at the 16k km mark. My dealership is Thornhill Jaguar/Land Rover just north of Toronto. We'll see how this goes. Gave them a laundry list of things to take a look at:

-Seat belt pre-tensioner recall
-Creaking dashboard from plastic around infotainment screen
-Auto start/stop - was intermittent, now it's completely stopped working
-Noise from somewhere in front of the driver when levelling off (upshifting) after accelerating - sounds like a low train whistle sound of various duration (1-3 secs). Used to be rare, but now it's more frequent
-Noisy parking brake - only noticed this when standing outside the car - quite noisy when engaging and disengaging - more so than when the car was new
-Poor bluetooth connection for my wife's Nexus 6p - she keeps losing connection and then it reconnects after a few seconds - very annoying when listening to music. It might be her phone, though, because it seems fine with my phone (older Android version)

None of these things are vital, so that's why we've waited until we had to go in for servicing anyway. Still very happy with the car, but wow, would I ever be happy if the DS would come with the tranny/engine combo that is in my loaner!

The loaner is the 35t (not the s), and it's a sweet ride, with all the pickup and responsiveness that the DS lacks. It also corners very differently and there's no dip and wobble when braking or accelerating hard. Now, the reason I want this engine/tranny in the DS instead of just going ahead and getting the F-Pace - oh, where do I start?

First off, the F-Pace is one of those infuriating SUVs (there's so many of them - the Jeep GC is another prime example) which is big on the outside and small on the inside. It feels cramped around the driver, the back seat is a joke, there's less cubbies and shelves, and the cargo space is smaller and less versatile than the DS (the rear is more raked). Absolutely no adjustments for the rear seats, so no way to make the cargo area bigger or for the kids to recline when they want to sleep.

Lots of other details as well. The dashboard and other interior bits in the DS aren't exactly high end luxury (lots of cheap plastic), but generally it's a stylish place to spend your time and the cheap bits are at least mostly hidden. The F-Pace just looks cheap period. There's an ocean of black plastic above the instrument cluster and glovebox, which might as well have come from a Hyundai (in the DS this is broken up by the passenger side storage shelf). There's a weird swooping line/break in the plastic all around underneath the windshield - looks like a bad attempt at putting a slight ripple in that plastic ocean.

Other things: the start/stop system is way more jerky than in the DS. The Meridian system has great clarity, the treble has less sibilance and the mids do a great job of reproducing voices, but where's the bass? I adjusted the bass up a few notches, but there's barely anything happening - absolutely no rumble. The base system in our DS is lacking in some areas, but there's actually some decent bass.

Don't like the small windows on the F-Pace. Way less visibility from the driver's seat than in the DS. Something that did work in the Jag is that the steering wheel buttons allow you to toggle presets - hallelujah! But (and this is a big but) the stupid thing only toggles the presets on one screen. As you know, there's three screens where you can set 6 presets for each. With the steering wheel buttons you stay on just one screen - it doesn't jump to the next screen when you get to the end of the list. This is something JLR has to figure out - this is just dumb.

So, to sum up, the driving experience is amazing, but the interior feels cheap, and it's just not set up for a family, which makes you wonder why you would get an F-Pace in the first place? Why not just get an XF and enjoy even better handling being lower to the ground and better responsiveness being a lighter vehicle? The point of an SUV is to have some space - that's what the DS has in loads compared to any competitor. The Jag drives well, but compromises on space, so what's the point?

I'll have some fun today, but I'll be happy to get the DS back!
 
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#2 ·
Yes, exactly what I thought in a F Pace loaner when my DS was in the shop for a month.
Loved and hated the 35t F Pace.

LOVED: I do wish the F Pace engine and tranny were in the DS - very snappy and torquey.

HATED: But then I missed the huge interior, 3 row seating of my DS....
 
#4 ·
Oddly enough I dropped off my DS for a service appointment today but I used Coventry. I just brought it in to have a rattling speaker looked at before a thanksgiving road trip. It drives me crazy...otherwise the DS is running well.
They provided me with a Jaguar XE with the diesel engine. The size and feel of the car reminds me of my old CLA45. I had forgotten just how small cars are on the inside compared to the DS haha.
 
#8 ·
OK, so here it is:

-Seat belt pre-tensioner recall: No work done - build dates and production codes outside of recall range

-Creaking dashboard: Could not be reproduced - tech test drove car and claimed all noise was normal

-Auto start/stop: Cold cranking battery voltage below threshold - can occur from repeated short drives. Reset battery monitoring system adaptions. Verified that all parameters are met and that stop/start event will occur in approximately 500 kms when conditions are correct. My comment: They claimed the system was very sensitive and would stop working when there were a lot of short drives. We do some regular short drives (work, soccer practice, shopping, etc.), but we also do frequent longer trips, so I'm not sure why the battery would get in such bad condition. I told them I was concerned about the longevity of the battery. What they told me was that once the system has determined that auto start/stop should not occur due to battery condition, it will shut down the start/stop feature and won't reactivate it even though the battery might get properly recharged after a long drive. Stupid if you ask me, but maybe a hint as to what to do if you don't like this feature...

-Noise from somewhere in front of the driver when levelling off (upshifting) after accelerating: Could not be reproduced
-Noisy parking brake: Normal
-Poor bluetooth connection for my wife's Nexus 6p: Could not be reproduced

So, they did the oil change at least... And, they gave me an inspection report which basically said that everything is fine. Brakes are at 9mm rear and 11mm front. Tread depth is 10/32 rear and 9/32 front. No idea if this is normal for 16k kms.

As for all the noises that could not be reproduced we agreed that I should book another appointment and do a test drive with a service tech. We'll see when I'll have time for that.

Funny thing is that on the way home the auto start/stop system suddenly kicked in after about 2 km. At least that's working again - we'll see for how long.

Now, after all that, I have to admit that all of these things are minor inconveniences at worst - still absolutely love the car (just put that Jag V6 in it!).
 
#9 ·
It looks like there is a little piece of mind there but also more announces now for you ^^. I hate when cars fail all day long and once at the dealership they are fine lol. I am now a little nervous about my battery. I only commute 4km to work so on a weekly basis all of my drives are short drives.

Got my DS back today...speaker issue is now worse so next week I will book another follow up appointment and like you @jabba1900 I will have to go for the drive with them.
 
#10 ·
It looks like there is a little piece of mind there but also more announces now for you ^^. I hate when cars fail all day long and once at the dealership they are fine lol. I am now a little nervous about my battery. I only commute 4km to work so on a weekly basis all of my drives are short drives.

Got my DS back today...speaker issue is now worse so next week I will book another follow up appointment and like you @jabba1900 I will have to go for the drive with them.
Really? With a new speaker and lots of extra foam the speaker still ratttles? That's a bummer.

Did it start rattling again right away or was it during your trip?

We went out of town this weekend too, and the start/stop system worked perfectly the entire time. However, that low train whistle noise from the front driver's side is just getting more frequent. It's not loud, and it's not intrusive or irritating. I'm just concerned that it's an indication of something going wrong, especially since it's getting worse. With my luck the noise will be completely absent when I go driving with the tech...
 
#11 ·
Early last week I booked an appointment to re-visit my speaker issue. I received a confirmation text regarding my appointment. I showed up at Coventry North this morning to drop the car off and they had no appointment for me in the system and the service advisor was late so no one could help me for 40min. They said they would do their best to still get me in today. I inquired about a loaner considering I had booked one, they had nothing. They called some local rental place and they showed up with a little toyota or kia or something.

I was so frustrated I actually took my keys back and left the dealership. Let's hope I have better luck at Thornhill haha.
 
#14 ·
I was cross shopping a service loaner F-Pace which has the options I had wanted - S/C V6, LED headlights, upgraded audio system, 19" wheels, and was white on black but I can't get over how cheap the interior feels. I actually like the feel/look of the Disco interior and I like the Disco overall compared to the F-Pace
 
#15 ·
Okay so Coventry did their best to make nice and last week offered to come to my work place to pick up my car and drop off a loaner. I appreciated the gesture and the convenience so I decided to give them another shot at the repair. Sadly after a total of 6 days now with the vehicle the whole door still vibrates and rattles after new door clips, 2 new subwoofers, arm rest and an arm rest speaker.

I am now going to book a third appointment on this issue and fingers crossed the tech's at Thornhill will catch it. Thankfully its not a drive-ability issue or I would be loosing my mind haha.
 
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