ADVICE & OPINIONS - BUY A QP OR ANOTHER EXEC/SPORTS SALOON/HATCH?

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
Bought it off Adam Weaver, Team Principal of the PowerMaxed BTTC Racing Team. Lovely guy and showed me all around his units up there. Should have taken some pics. Plenty of interesting rally, rallycross and other types of race cars being built, prepared and modified. There was a rally Fiesta with a 700bhp Cosworth 2.0 Turbo lump in it! Only £75k for the engine. A 700bhp+ Alpina and various others.

Had all the fabrication machines to custom make anything. They have a tie up with the local university with full access to high end 3D scanners and printers. They can even make up custom sleeved hoses/fuel lines etc. to match existing OEM or for custom applications. Also have their SteelSeal head gasket product and large range of car cleaning/valeting products they have developed themselves. Pretty impressive set up.
 

GeoffCapes

Member
Messages
14,000
Wouldn't want to have bought it new at 107k!

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That looks cracking Dean! I can see why you wanted it!

Even I'd fit comfortably in the back of that!
 

hashluck

Member
Messages
1,515
I have the 5.0 (XK) without the supercharger and it is sublime with lots of clever technology.

It puts out 385 hp and 380 lbft. of torque, (Supercharger has 510 hp and 461 lbft!). It features reverse flow cooling to warm up faster. A variable-geometry intake manifold boosts low-end torque and high-end power, complementing the variable camshaft timing. The camshaft timing is achieved not with a conventional hydraulic cam gear phaser, but with a mechanical system that utilizes torsional energy otherwise wasted in the camshaft's rotation to slew the timing. It's faster and uses less power than conventional hydraulic actuators. This means the oil pump can be downsized, consuming less power. To further reduce fuel consumption, the intake camshaft utilizes two different profiles, a milder one for low-speed operation, and a more aggressive grind with more lift and duration for higher engine speeds. Direct injection and an increase in the compression ratio also boost performance. Most of the improvements (over the previous 4.2 engine) were calculated to improve low-speed performance rather than just raising the peak power numbers. Despite the huge increase in power, the normally-aspirated 5.0 Jaguar V8 has an identical economy rating as the older, less powerful, 4.2 V8. Weak point? Water pump - mine is just being replaced at 35K miles.
 
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Zep

Moderator
Messages
9,110
That is a lot of tech isn’t it. They do sound quite nice too. I was on the phone to a client when an engine started in the background. I said “that sounds like a V8” he told me it was his F type. Sounded fruity.
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
That is a lot of tech isn’t it. They do sound quite nice too. I was on the phone to a client when an engine started in the background. I said “that sounds like a V8” he told me it was his F type. Sounded fruity.
Agreed

I was very pleasantly surprised as after the QP I thought it would be quite muted. In fact stock it has more volume that a QP. It is also a very pleasant tone. Gearbox seems tons quicker to change than the QP and both 6 speed ZF's. I guess the TCU or software must be different.

Lot of car for a fair bit under 20k.
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
Weak point? Water pump - mine is just being replaced at 35K miles.

Do you get any warning signs or symptoms before it dies? Is there a better or upgraded part?

Thanks for all the engine spec detail. Very interesting. It certainly works as to see 30mpg and above on a car like this is pretty amazing. Never seen it on any other car at this power.
 

jemgee

Member
Messages
379
I keep looking for a fast saloon possible replacement for the QP and yesterday came across reviews for the Jag XE S. Only produced for a couple of years and looks the dogs b. 3 litre V6 supercharged
 

hashluck

Member
Messages
1,515
Do you get any warning signs or symptoms before it dies? Is there a better or upgraded part?

Thanks for all the engine spec detail. Very interesting. It certainly works as to see 30mpg and above on a car like this is pretty amazing. Never seen it on any other car at this power.

Yes you will hear a grumbling noise from the front of the engine bay and, if you leave it too long, it will spring a slight leak which you will smell (and see with some slight steam if stuck in traffic). There are lots of aftermarket variants but I would not trust them and went with genuine Jaguar (even though it seems a weak point, though I hope they upgraded it since my car was built in 2011).
 

azapa

Member
Messages
1,300
Congratulations! I followed one the other day and had do get really close to understand what it was. That back end styling is very bold, and leads to an intimidating looking beast.

I still think you should have gone for a e39 M5. I'm sniffing around for a nice example and will dive in when it shows up!
 
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