Purchasing help and how to identify F-type options from pictures?

[itsajaaaag]

Greetings lads, I hope everyone is enjoying the summer.

I live in Central Europe and I'm preparing to buy a used F-type Convertible up to 70.000 euros, pre face-lift model (with old headlights), so pre-2020 I believe, correct me if I'm wrong.

I've never owned a JLR car so I've no idea how to separate the cars according to year and its updates as well as trim levels. I've only heard of one trim level - R-Dynamic. My goal is to get the most updated version I can get for the money. My questions are two:

1. Which production year saw the most significant changes which I really shouldn't miss out on? For example, I'm looking for advice such as "get the 2018 production year because they upgraded the car with Android Auto / Apple Carplay that year". This is just an example, I've no idea actually if they did any updates in 2018 production year but modern infotainment system is important to me. BTW, I've read Bosch system is harder to upgrade to Android Auto / Apple Carplay while Harman is easier? How do I distinguish them apart just looking at the ad pictures?

2. Where should I look for options and features in the ad pictures? Lots of sellers don't provide the list of options so I'd like to visually identify where all the important buttons/options are from the ad photos BEFORE visiting the dealer. I'm looking for an advice like "look for this button below the shift stick or that button left of the steering wheel".

I own a Lexus currently and I like the following options:

• Android Auto / Apple Carplay (this is a must)
• Head up display
• 360 camera
• radar cruise control
• full LED headlights (not HID xenon)
• matrix/multibeam headlights
• automatic main beam on/off
• blind spot warning
• lane departure assist with lane centering
• heated seats
• heated steering wheel
• cooled seats
• Mark levinson premium sound system

Are these options available on the 2017-2019 (pre face-lift) F-type? Are buttons for these options visible or are they hidden in the menus? If they are visible, please point me in the right direction as to where to locate these buttons from the pictures.

As for the engines, I'm leaning heavily towards the V8 unless you can persuade me otherwise. I've heard V6 is more nimble in the corners (I'm not a track guy but I live near the mountains) but I just can't ignore the intoxicating sound of the V8. BTW, can I know from pictures whether the car is RWD or AWD?

Looking forward to the advice, hopefully it will help somebody else as well. Cheers!

[SilverDreamMachine]

• Android Auto / Apple Carplay (this is a must) - YES - MY20 onwards (68/19 plated cars I believe)
• Head up display - NO
• 360 camera - NO - Rear Camera Only
• radar cruise control - NO - Standard Cruise Control only plus limiter
• full LED headlights (not HID xenon) - YES on later model years, easy to spot - big improvement on MY21 facelift cars
• matrix/multibeam headlights - YES, MY21 facelift car onwards - option on P450, standard on R, MY24 standard on all V8
• automatic main beam on/off - YES - not sure if standard - note that pre MY21 cars lights are not great on dipped beam
• blind spot warning - YES - option (rare)
• lane departure assist with lane centering - NO - Lane Departure Warning only
• heated seats - YES as an option, or as part of Climate Pack
• heated steering wheel - YES as an option, or as part of Climate Pack
• cooled seats - YES as an option on MY21 facelift cars onwards
• Mark levinson premium sound system - MERIDIAN SURROUND recommended

Options you need:
- 12 way seats
- Upgraded Windsor leather seats
- Apple CarPlay
- R Dynamic trim as a minimum
- InControl tracker

Plus
- Ideally a MY21 car with all of its improvements

[Moss]

IMHO, auto full beam should be banned. I found it dipping once (on a loan car) when approaching a junction, and the waiting vehicle thought I was flashing him to leave.

Rear view camera is really useful.

If you’re torn between V6 and V8 - you will never forgive yourself for not purchasing the bigger engine. Seek out something that was produced before the noise rules limiting the exhaust tune were introduced. They’re intoxicating.
“Nimbleness” between V6 & V8 is illusory - yes, you might have lighter front end but you’d otherwise not notice it.

Apple car play is useful, but not essential as it can be retro-fitted IIUC.

With your budget, I’d be looking hard for an SVR. Of course you’d expect I would say that.

[itsajaaaag]

Many thanks for your time answering my first question so thoroughly!

Is MY20 already face-lifted with those new narrow headlights? I don't like the new front end (looks too much like Audi) that's why I said I will only buy a pre face-lifted car.

So what's the situation with Android Auto in pre face-lifted cars?

Also, LED headlights existed on pre face-lifted models or just HID?

About the lane departure assist - I think I've read here that the steering wheel nudges towards the center when approaching the edge of the road. Is this true?

And now to my second question, how do I spot all these options from pictures? Some example pictures would be most welcome so I (and perhaps someone else) could learn.

@Moss Don't know about the prices in UK but 70.000 eur BARELY gets you a 2017 R in Europe.

Are there differences in difficulty retrofitting Android Auto in different model years? How do I spot the "correct" infotainment model that is easy to retrofit from pictures?

[jonm]

Agree with you on the facelift headlights, makes the car look angry! I know thats popular these days but its not for me.
With your budget you could get an early v8 LC500 and that would tick all your boxes

[itsajaaaag]

You're right about the LC500 but those are even more expensive in the convertible form and out of our budget. Also, F-type strikes me as a more nimble sports car which I like compared to the bigger LC500.

With the new headlights the front end became more "generic", less distinguished IMO. And it completely changed the car's character you're right.

[jonm]

You've come to the right place if you want a good compromise of a sports car and a comfy GT car.
Your going to have to live without some of the high tech options though, get in one on a test drive and I'm sure you'll not be bothered about all that stuff.

[jagseven]

To get CarPlay/android auto in a pre-facelift car (cars built from around mid 2018 I think) you need to look for a car with the wider infotainment screen that doesn’t have buttons down the side

[jonm]

Heated steering wheel and cruise control

High end audio

Heated seats and heated windscreen

Active exhaust

You can get aftermarket carplay modules for all the infotainment systems however there are problems, It will kill the cars in-built satnav, that a big no from me as there are still big areas of the UK where there is no mobile phone reception and google maps won't work!
Also you can only have the audio from your phone OR from the car, So if you want the voice guidance from google maps you can't listen to the radio on your car.

[simpleR]

Head unit.

Apple Car Play and Android Auto is only available on the wider screen with touch screen buttons at the bottom. Anything with physical buttons on the side is not capable.

That head unit came available on MY19 however Apple Car Play and Android Auto was only available when the Smart Phone Option was selected. Some dealers added the option for free via a software update which also later included SOTA (Software Updates over the Air).

MY20 and onwards it was standard however early MY20 needed an update to get SOTA working which includes stability updates for Bluetooth and Apple Car Play.

When your test driving check the head unit software. If v18 it will need a dealer to update it. If v19c or later then it can do Apple Car Play and SOTA but will need a SIM and a tickle of the computer at Jaguar to wake it up. V22a is the latest.