Sorry to have to go against the grain, but just to offer an alternative viewpoint, I have an XD-40 4" and I hate it. To be fair, I'm a total newbie, and this is only the fourth handgun I've fired.
I've put about 500 rounds of Mag-Tech FMJ through it. There were several fail-to-feeds and failures to return to battery in the first 200 or so rounds. In my most recent range trip, I only had two failures to return to battery, but it started failing to lock the slide back after the last round in a mag. Yes, it has been cleaned.
My particular gun has a factory defect in that the trigger pivot pin is not retained and walks out the side of the gun. It needs to be pushed back in after every mag. I'm sure the factory will fix this once it is returned under the lifetime warranty.
That brings up another point in that Springfield has instituted a policy of not selling parts to anyone, so in effect no one but the factory can service the weapon. Nice - not. I don't want to send it in for service until I can afford another gun, as I don't want to be without protection for the several weeks it takes to get it fixed. Or I might just say "screw it" and trade it in and take the loss.
It doesn't shoot where it's pointed for me. I've tried really hard, but it consistently shoots low and to the left from point of aim. I didn't have that problem with the CZ-40P that I shot during my CWP class (200 rounds). Yesterday I ran 250 rounds through the XD, and also rented a Kimber 1911 5" (not sure exactly which model) and ran 150 rounds through that. Side by side, my groups with the Kimber were 1/3 the size of my XD groups, right from the first magazine through the Kimber, and I'd never shot a 1911 before. That convinced me that, newbie or no, it's not just me, it's either the XD or the combination of me and the XD.
The finish on the slide is already showing significant wear, and it's not like I've been practicing drawing it.
The point of this is to overly bash XDs. They have so many happy owners that clearly it must be pretty good, at the least. But count at least one unhappy owner who thinks it's a
dog.
(donning flame suit)