Yesterday I was on a transition ramp from one freeway to another and the ramp was a very tight turn. I was surprised as to how much effort it took to turn the steering wheel at roughly 45 mph. Is this normal? It was a two lane transition and a mundane car next to me sailed through.

Other than that, the power steering has been great.

I've never owned a car with an automatic transmission, so shifting is very second nature to me. However, with the 6-speed XF, the only way I can get a smooth shift from first to second is to keep the revs low on first, shift then just ease on the accelerator. I feel the problem - at least for me - is that first is a stump puller, but second is a bit too high for starting from standing still.

I never thought I'd ask for instructions as to how to shift a car. I'll add that when there is no traffic behind me, I'm fine with the slow and easy shift. For those non SoCal folks, many of the on-ramps to freeways have a stoplight, frequently with two lanes. And especially when the light changes, I gun it a lot more (no, not to race the other guy), then shift into second - which turns out to be very jerky - so as to be up to speed once on the freeway.

I am not a speed shifter since for no other reason I work on cars and can always tell by how bad the second gear synchros are as to how hard the owner did or did not speed shift.