Searching for a V8 Convertible - which options

Siy

New member
Hi all - after a while of lurking, have now sold my old toy, and looking for a V8 F-Type.
I wanted sports seats, sports exhaust, flat bottom steering wheel and ideally coloured stitching. heated seats would be welcome... anything obvious missing on my wish list? Looking for an early'ish car, £30-35k so I know I wont get everything that I am looking for - just dont want to miss anything obvious!
 
Heated steering wheel is great in the cooler months!

Good luck with your search
 
Cooled seats are nice on hot days. And heated windscreen is useful if you have early winter starts and no garage. ;)
Good luck with your search!
 
scm said:
Cooled seats are nice on hot days. And heated windscreen is useful if you have early winter starts and no garage. ;)
Good luck with your search!

i wish i had cooled seats, had them on a mondeo x sport a few years ago and they were ace. i tend to use the jag mostly in warmer months so heated seats are not likely to get much use.
 
scm said:
Cooled seats are nice on hot days. And heated windscreen is useful if you have early winter starts and no garage. ;)
Good luck with your search!

Plus one for the cooled seats👍

And good luck.
 
Thanks guys - had cooled seats before, and nice on those hot days... never thought about heated windscreen - good call...
 
Siy said:
... never thought about heated windscreen - good call...

Another advantage of the heated windscreen if you're OCD (and who isn't if you drive an F-Type!) is that all the switches are the same width - otherwise the rear screen heater switch is double width! ;)
 
One of my must haves was folding door mirrors to make it easier to get through my single garage door. Couldn't believe they were a paid for option on a car of this value. My other must haves were 20" alloys, Meridian stereo, Performance seats with heating and Switchable sports exhaust. Ended up getting one with all these and much more.
 
Obviously a colour combination/wheels that you like will be on the list, I merely didn't want a black one but it's pretty subjective - that said the blue grey (Satellite I think?) with silver wheels, black exterior pack and cream seats does not work!

They all have the sports exhaust, if the switchable button isn't fitted then putting the car in dynamic mode opens the exhaust up anyway amongst other things. I wanted configurable dynamics where you can adjust the different components individually - my previous car had all that switchable too and it was great for switching between daily use and a bit of a blast.

Worth trying the seats for comfort/support etc., the standard 'Sports' seats didn't have enough (any?!) side support so the Performance seats it was. Contrast stitching is pretty rare as that was part of the expensive premium leather option.

Parking camera and front sensors are quite common, other convenience features are preference - I wanted heated windscreen and auto lights/wipers. Flat bottomed steering wheel is quite common too though heating is rare. I don't think I've ever seen one without heated seats or wind deflector, not sure cooled seats were an option until fairly recently.

I wasn't fussed about the sound system, it's a convertible so the acoustics aren't going to be great anyway and there's a better soundtrack available at the press of a pedal 8-).

I think the options changed a wee bit from 2013 into 2014 where some were bundled together into packs instead of being available separately. If you can get the VIN there's a thread for how to get the build-time list of options, though mine has quite a few that weren't on there.
 
Siy said:
Hi all - after a while of lurking, have now sold my old toy, and looking for a V8 F-Type.
I wanted sports seats, sports exhaust, flat bottom steering wheel and ideally coloured stitching. heated seats would be welcome... anything obvious missing on my wish list? Looking for an early'ish car, £30-35k so I know I wont get everything that I am looking for - just dont want to miss anything obvious!


If it's the best pwr/weight ratio and fun then you might want to consider (based on real experience):

1. Fun and Feisty RWD beast or nose heavy AWD sloth?
2. Roof or no? Roofed models just look sexier as does the E-Type
3. If no to 2, then heated wheel and seats
4. Look for a 2014/2015 Series I with single battery management system...they are lighter by virtue of not having two batteries and shed quite a few lb's as they don't have the heavy compressor for the exhaust flaps either
5. If you can avoid an ex JLR or dealer car, then do so
6. Don't bother with CCB's - Not needed and expensive ownership experience


There's most probably more, but that's a quick brain dump and not biased at all ;-)
 
I agree with TEL - different options based on the platform you go for

I didn't mind a convertible or a coupe, my search was based on a few things;
If coupe - personally I think a pan roof is a must
If convertible - heated seats is a must, you can enjoy the roof down more especially in the UK (heated wheel is nice, but not many earlier cars seemed to have them when i was looking)

I was also looking for the following on both cars;
Exterior design pack
Switchable exhaust
Performance seats

Anything else was a bonus. Now I've had my car for 18 months, I would also add to the list the folding mirrors, heated screen, reverse camera & sensors - wasn't particularly looking for them at the start, but these nice to haves make living with the car easier


Good luck with your search, plenty of cars about
 
Tel said:
Siy said:
Hi all - after a while of lurking, have now sold my old toy, and looking for a V8 F-Type.
I wanted sports seats, sports exhaust, flat bottom steering wheel and ideally coloured stitching. heated seats would be welcome... anything obvious missing on my wish list? Looking for an early'ish car, £30-35k so I know I wont get everything that I am looking for - just dont want to miss anything obvious!

5. If you can avoid an ex JLR or dealer car, then do so

There's most probably more, but that's a quick brain dump and not biased at all ;-)

What’s the issue with an ex JLR or dealer car?
 
JamesOC said:
What’s the issue with an ex JLR or dealer car?

With ex JLR cars, it depends. ;)
Some may have been thrashed by journos, other have been well treated by Jaguar management. I've had two of the latter and found them to be fine. simpleR, a member on here, has kindly offered his services to reesearch vehicles that folks are nterested in so if it's a dodgy car, he'll likely be able to spot it and give appropriate warnings.

Dealer cars may have been driven hard at very low mileages by entrusiastic prospective buyers (or tyre kickers), so caveat emptor there.
 
XZ4 said:
One of my must haves was folding door mirrors to make it easier to get through my single garage door. Couldn't believe they were a paid for option on a car of this value. My other must haves were 20" alloys, Meridian stereo, Performance seats with heating and Switchable sports exhaust. Ended up getting one with all these and much more.
Id agree to seek folding mirrors, but not to go through a narrow garage door. Mine opened are 1” inside the door frames and are the only way I’m certain I’m aligned to avoid scraping the very wide and vulnerable wings.
Reversing back out is only possible using the mirrors to see the rear corners.
 
JamesOC said:
Tel said:
Siy said:
Hi all - after a while of lurking, have now sold my old toy, and looking for a V8 F-Type.
I wanted sports seats, sports exhaust, flat bottom steering wheel and ideally coloured stitching. heated seats would be welcome... anything obvious missing on my wish list? Looking for an early'ish car, £30-35k so I know I wont get everything that I am looking for - just dont want to miss anything obvious!

5. If you can avoid an ex JLR or dealer car, then do so

There's most probably more, but that's a quick brain dump and not biased at all ;-)

What’s the issue with an ex JLR or dealer car?

Er:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHIx2Cw39uE

But proves my pint about the RWD being fun! ;-)
 
Ok thanks. I’ll ignore the patronising ‘er’ !

Still don’t get why an ex JLR should be avoided if it’s most likely to be an ex management vehicle so would generally have been treated well.
I get it that a few are used for press and other promotional things and one or two might get thrashed around a bit, but aren’t they identifiable e.g. on specific plate prefixes?
 
JamesOC said:
Ok thanks. I’ll ignore the patronising ‘er’ !

Still don’t get why an ex JLR should be avoided if it’s most likely to be an ex management vehicle so would generally have been treated well.
I get it that a few are used for press and other promotional things and one or two might get thrashed around a bit, but aren’t they identifiable e.g. on specific plate prefixes?

I don't think the advice is that ex-JLR should be avoided, but should be approached with caution. As you say, there are some good cars out there, but there are also some that haven't had a gentle life. As I mentioned, simpleR can do research on any vehicle that takes your fancy so you can make a decision based on real information.
 
I certainly think ex JLR cars can be good, but don't get sucked into the BS that dealers give you where every car seems to have been the MD's personal car or it's direct from factory management, or the current favourite of a cancelled fleet order..
I searched for a very specific Evoque that each dealer only had one. Some were clearly demonstrators and courtesy cars when needed. All were exactly 5 months old and some were dirty and tatty, a couple low mileage and pristine. The one I purchased was half the mileage of most and I had to wait 2 weeks as the Sales Manager had gone on holiday and it was parked at the airport. Never left with anyone else or self drive tests. That's the one I got and it's been perfect :)
 
Thanks to everyone for the input.
What a great site this is. I have noticed that on almost all forums of all cars I have had (and I have had a lot!) that this is the least bitchy around! Sometimes people want to just pick a fight or argue for no reason, and frankly I get bored of reading such threads.
Genuinely here it’s positive info etc.

Anyhow - appreciate everyone’s input. I have taken the plunge and bought one from a fellow forum member NAC63. What a delightful chap, and lovely to deal with. His FType was certainly well loved.
It’s a pretty decent spec late 2014 car. Really impressed with the spec, but condition is incredible.

Great to be part of this forum and hope to meet a bunch of you in the near future. Doubtless I will be back with a million questions!

And thanks to NAC63 - what a gent!

Simon
 
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