What do you think of the Jaguar XF 3.0-litre?

I recently test drove both a Jaguar XFR and an XF 3.0s/c petrol. Both nice enough, but the XFR is a bit OTT for me and I was a little disappointed with the 3.0s/c in that it seemed a bit "grabby" when putting your foot down a bit, but then I drove to another Jag dealer and tried a nearly new (13 reg) XJ saloon - 3.0s/c petrol, with a good spec that would cost £78,000 new. It is a demo car but has only 250 miles on the clock, I'm guessing because everyone wants diesels (I only do 7000 miles a year). They are only asking £53,000 for it (the virtually identical spec diesel equivalent is 60,000). The engine is still a bit "grabby", does not have fold-down rear seats and it has an electronic speedo/rev display that I find off-putting, but is otherwise a very nice car. I'm sure the heavy discount is because it’s petrol. Am I unwise to consider it instead of another XF? I'm wondering if I'm missing a flaw somewhere?

Asked on 5 October 2013 by JB, Castle Cary

Answered by Honest John
The 3.0-litre XJ was always a big seller in China, even with the non-supercharged 3.0 V6, for tax reasons. So they are built in large numbers. Every European prestige manufacturer seems to offer the same 8-speed ZF box these days, but change quality is down to the software match with the engine. It was very good in the Audi RS7, but if the XFR was too OTT for you, the RS7 will be even more so. The XJ 3.0V6 diesel I tested a couple of years ago was fantastic, but the transmission didn't like reversing.
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