Latest Club News
5 Nov 2024
Discount at SNG Barrett for Club Members
The XKCC is pleased to announce that members can now receive a discount of up to 10% off parts purchases made at SNG Barratt. When members order parts from SNG Barratt for the first time, all they have to do is quote the XKCC Car Club and SNG Barratt will apply the discount. NB - it is the responsibility of the member to quote the XKCC Car Club to obtain a discount.
SNG Barratt supply parts for the X100 and X150 models as well as all other Jaguar models so this arrangement could well save members more than our annual membership fee!
We are grateful to SNG Barratt and to our membership Secretary Gareth Jones for arranging this money saving benefit.
22 Sept 2024
X150 CarPlay Solution Reviewed
Living with Mr12volt CarPlay in a Jaguar X150, long term review.
First a few words on understanding what you are getting and how to make the best of the new ways of managing your in-car experience.
Understand that if you like to listen to the radio or your own music that everything in the car becomes redundant and gets replaced by the apps on your phone. I suggest you install Radioplayer, BBC Sounds and Global Player to cover most common radio stations or your favourite native DAB/Radio apps. If you like to listen to your own music library, make sure it is loaded onto your phone. Spotify, Apple Music or any other streaming service will also all play very well through the CarPlay system although you may want to tweak the sound with the programmable graphic equaliser. Note when in use the last three used apps always appear to the left of the CarPlay screen, and it will open your chosen maps last used sat nav automatically when you get into the car. To minimise the number of apps that will display go into your phone System Settings - General - CarPlay and clean up the display by removing any apps that you don’t want or need to be shown on the screen(s). Keep only the ones you want.
On my initial install the car forward parking sensor screen graphic was not showing but by going into the CarPlay settings and selecting REVERSE CONDITION and setting that to PARKING KEY that resolved the issue. (See photo)
By using your iPhone, it is possible to make hands free calls by using Siri call ‘so and so’ and it will automatically connect though you do have to manually disconnect the call.
Similarly, when WhatsApp messages are received a pop up appears and an option for the CarPlay to read the message out to you and ask if you want to reply and you can do so by dictating your answer, it will ask if you want to send the message and will do so if. I know it’s a bit of a distraction but far less than manually reading and then typing an answer.
I also particularly like the way if you adjust the car heating controls a short display appears on the bottom of the screen showing you the car temperature and comfort settings.
So, yes, all the attributes are there that anyone who has used Apple CarPlay will have come to expect. The touch screen allows all the operations to be performed and with use is most intuitive. To access other ‘pages’ of Apps I found it easier to touch the dots at the centre bottom of the screen with my thumb nail. The Mr12volt settings can be found by swiping the whole screen left. Here you can adjust the display, sound, and car settings as well as getting into the system settings. When I had an initial issue with the front parking sensor not displaying, I was put in touch with the support team via three-way WhatsAppcall and this was easily resolved.
This installation has, in my view, brought the car back into the 21st Century by replacing the more than archaic sat nav with a system that is far more functional and versatile. It can easily be personalised and after some two thousand miles driving from Surrey to Cornwall then on to Spain and Portugal and home in the last five weeks it has just made the whole driving experience so much better. In all, highly recommended and also available for wireless Android auto for non-iPhone users.
Note: Currently this MR12volt unit is only compatible with 2009-2015 Jaguar XK/R/S and 2009-2011 XF models but it is planned that in future additional models can be catered for. For more information contact Liam on +44 7788 267635 or on https://www.instagram.com/carplay.direct
1 Jun 2024
Regional Organiser Changes
Midlands Region: Bob Owens has had to step down for health reasons, but Lawrence Green has kindly offered to take the position. The regional contact e-mail address remains the same.
North-West Region: Following the sad death of our founder member Andew Spark, Maria Dengler-Harles has kindly offered to caretake. You can reach her on mariadenglerharles@gmail.com whilst we reallocate the regional address.
16 May 2024
Get Your Mirror Tags
We have procured a great looking Mirror Tag as part of the XKCC promotional material, see the attached photo, and these are available to XKCC Members through their Regional Representative or the Club Secretary, for a small donation, which will go to charity in 2025, from the XKCC.
The suggestion is that the charitable donation should be a minimum of £2.00, but any amount beyond that will be gratefully received. They look great hanging from your interior mirror, either when you are attending a show / event, or simply parked up somewhere to enjoy a coffee. If you would like one of these Tags, contact your Regional Representative in the first instance. Alternatively, the Tag can be posted out to you, but the donation would need to include a charge to cover the postage, envelope, etc.