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'Speed up!' sick Jag's owner told

A Jaguar XF driver was reportedly told his luxury sedan was continually breaking down because he wasn’t driving fast enough.

The London Daily Mail reports owner Jonathan Dines was told his “inappropriate” driving style was to blame for his repair bills.

Dines bought the 18-month-old 3.0-litre diesel XF in November, 2010, and since then has seen his car grind to a halt on three occasions and witnessed the diesel particulate filter warning light turno on 15 times. The car was also booked in to the repair shop for a week and regularly switched to “limp mode” when Dines was driving at speeds under 50km/h.

But Jaguar in the UK has placed the blame squarely at Dines’ feet, saying the DPF becomes clogged if the car doesn’t get sufficient fast runs.

Dines said he works as an estate agent and most of his journeys are short.

'DREAMED OF OWNING A JAG'


“I was never told I had to drive in any particular way,” Dines told the Daily Mail.

“They’ve told me that the problem is that I’m driving too many short journeys and driving too slowly. I’ve driven a diesel before and the salesman knew I was an estate agent doing local, short journeys.

“You buy a prestige car and you expect to be able to drive it at whatever speed you want. You don’t imagine that a quality car would suffer from you going too slowly. I dreamed of owning a Jag but it’s not been a great experience.”

His local dealer conducted tests on the DPF and sent the data to Jaguar for further analysis.

DRIVER'S ED


Jaguar’s response was: “Looking at the average speed for both trip computers and the DTC’s stored in the vehicle, this is a driving style issue and will be chargeable to the owner.

“Please educate the customer on the driving cycles required to clean the filter reference the owner’s handbook.”

Dines was also warned any further failures won’t be covered by the car’s three-year warranty and feels the dealers have tried to wash their hands of him.

He is now considering legal action unless he gets a replacement car.

WHAT ABOUT SA?


Regarding a similar situation applying to South African drivers, Jaguar South Africa had this to say.

"The issues with DPF are affecting not just Jaguar but many different brands, including Mercedes, BMW and Audi.

"The problem tends to stem from people with short commutes never reaching the required speed to allow the DPF system to regenerate. The DPF requires that the vehicle is driven at a steady speed (typically above 50mph/80km/h) to allow enough heat to be built up within the exhaust system to allow it to regenerate - this speed has to be maintained for several minutes for this to occur.

"The car will warn the driver that the system requires regeneration before it actually fails - unfortunately this is often ignored.

"There is no single, straightforward solution to this. The most obvious being better communication between the manufacturer and the end user on how the system operates and how to react should a warning light illuminate."

Do you drive a car fitted with a diesel particulate filter and have you been informed of its operating conditions? Tell us in the Comments section below.
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