Faults:

Head was warped when I bought it.

Heater core leaking.

Both the above problems I believe were caused by the previous owner over heating it.

Had to replace trailing arms after a few months of ownership, but this is probably from the donuts and not the cars fault.

Diff is starting to make a few weird noises (see above) rebuilding it this weekend.

General Comments:

This car is extremely comfy, although the velour interior is hard to keep clean.

I drive it to Uni every day on the highway and if I don't flog it around town (very rare) I can get 600km to a tank. If i drive around town alot and give it a bit I'm still getting around 350-450km

The digital speedo and tacho are a bit annoying, Passengers are fixated on what speed you are doing when it is there in two inch high green numbers. however you get used to them.

Pretty quick in a straight line (17.1 400m 9.8 to 100km time on g-tech) but body roll is horrific if you try and punt it to hard through corners.

If you break anything on it it won't cost you the earth to fix as most stuff is quite do-able if you have some basic mechanical knowledge.

Pretty cheap to get going quick if you do some stuff your self. Friend of mine has same model car running 14.8 for around aud $2000.

LSD is nice :)

Doesn't look too bad either.

Faults:

Head gasket started leaking at 160,000 km (this was caused by a blocked 'T' connector running from the thermostat to the heater core - which I could have picked up on much sooner because the heater stopped working for a couple of months before the head gasket started leaking).

Idle speed motor clogged with carbon (simply cleaned it and now it works fine).

Injectors required cleaning.

Idler arm, pitman arm, power steering box and shock absorbers were worn (simply replaced all of them at a cost of around $500 total).

General Comments:

Basically, I purchased this car because I refused to be a part of the already massive crowd of 'P' platers driving VL Commodores.

Whilst (in standard form) the XF can't compete with a VL in performance, the sheer luxury of the interior makes this car so thoroughly enjoyable. It is loaded with options (power steering, air conditioning, power windows, power mirrors, central locking, velour seats with headrests for the rear seat).

I have heavily customised my car, which I feel now makes it a much better looking car than any VL I have ever seen. It has been lowered 2 inches and now sports 16 x 7 inch Tickford XR8 rims.

The exhaust is only 2.25 inches in diameter, but has extractors, a high-flow cat and a big-bore muffler. This combination provides excellent performance low-down and produces an awesome exhaust note (very similar to that of a Cleveland 351 with a single 2.5 inch system!!!). With these (and a few more) relatively minor modifications, I now have a unique car that has easily beaten all 5.0 litre Commodores that it has come up against.

Having said this, the handling of the XF is it's one downfall. The power steering is a bit too light (although after a while, you get used to this) and the turning circle is monstrous!!!

Overall, I find that (if properly maintained) the XF is a car for people who enjoy cruising, towing or just love to drive. On the other hand, the VL Commodore is more suited for people who would rather thrash the guts out of their car in an effort to be the fastest.