Jaguar F-Pace
The Jag needs a new windscreen. And a lift
The Jag is now on its third windscreen. The second one got an even bigger chip than the first. When I wrote here about the previous replacement, I got a telling off from Auto Windscreens because I didn’t have the driver-assist sensors, mounted in the screen, properly re-aimed. The consequences of that neglect might be bad. You won’t know a safety system is off whack until too late.
So this time I got them to fit the new screen. But they say they won’t do the recalibration because it’s a franchised dealer job. So why not get the dealer to change the screen too? Jaguar dealers don’t change screens. So you have to line up two appointments.
At least Auto Windscreens came to dealer Stratstones in Tottenham, so it all happened in one go. The glazing itself was straightforward, if a brutal-looking process. Then the recalibration. A technician drove for about 20 minutes around the North Circular Road, because Jaguar’s process says it must go over 40mph. Some screen companies (including Autoglass who did the last one) say you don’t need this ‘dynamic’ calibration, and instead aim the car’s camera at static targets. But it seems that approach demands exactly correct tyre pressures, wheel alignment, a smooth flat surface and so on. Hard to do outside your house.
Anyway, most people don’t actually get recalibration done. Sounds like yet another obstacle to a future of self-driving cars.
SPECIFICATION
1999cc, 4cyl turbodiesel, 4WD, 237bhp, 369lb ft 48.7mpg, 153g/km CO 2 0–62mph in 7.2secs, 135mph 1810kg
TESTER’S NOTES
Why are windscreens so fragile? Like they were made of glass or something...
MILEAGE: 16,215 OUR MPG: 32.3