The XF Supercharged proves that Jaguar is finally ready to embrace the future.
by Chris Diken
While I sat parked next to a curb in the 2009 Jaguar XF Supercharged, a car drove by, stopped a few feet ahead, then backed up.
The older couple wasn't looking for parking — a task that often has residents in my Brooklyn neighborhood reversing down the entire length of a one-way street just to nab a spot — they were trying to get a closer look at Jag's new pride and joy.
"That is a beautiful car," the man said, craning his neck to get a better view.
"Mmmm, gorgeous," said his wife.
Next was a man driving a Jaguar S-Type, the car the XF replaces. He stuck his head out the window and took a long look back while still driving forward, risking a collision just to take in Jag's latest creation.
The gawking continued as we drove around with the windows down: "Oh wow, there's the new Jaguar," one bystander said.
These reactions are symbolic. Jaguar has decided it will no longer be overlooked in the luxury segment, and the company has made a car that is difficult to ignore.
The XF is better than the outgoing S-Type in every way, from styling to performance, and its rich, technologically advanced interior deserves special recognition as one of the classiest cabins this side of a Bentley.
In the XF, Jaguar has a car that can finally hang out with cool kids like the Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, Lexus GSand Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
The XF comes in two versions: The standard model has a 300-horsepower V8 engine and starts at $49,975. The XF Supercharged, which we tested, has a 420-hp V8 and costs $62,200. Both cars are only available with rear-wheel drive and six-speed automatic transmission that allows manual shifting using paddles behind the steering wheel.
The most obvious difference between the two XF variants is under the hood, but the XF Supercharged is also rigged out with most of the gee-whiz features that are optional on the base model.
In fact, the XF Supercharged is so rigged out that it has just two options: a $2,200 adaptive cruise-control system and a $300 heated steering wheel. Our tester came with both, driving its price up to $65,475, which also included a $775 transportation and handling fee.
To put the cost in perspective, the XF Supercharged's base price is a couple thousand dollars more than the V8-equipped competition, but it also has the most power — none of the others crack the 400-hp mark; the MercedesE550 comes closest with 382 hp — and highest level of standard equipment.
The Jaguar is more rewarding to drive than the Lexus GS, and its dynamics approach those of the Audi A6 and Mercedes E550 without quite getting there. The BMW 5 Series is a cut above the rest in terms of driving dynamics.
But the XF Supercharged makes up for it with a cockpit that is by far the most satisfying. The design, quality of materials and attention to detail are impeccable.
Regardless of where the XF ranks compared to its rivals, the point is that Jaguar has finally produced a car that can mix it up with the class leaders, even if it is a bit late to the party.
If the S-Type was Jaguar's way of holding onto the past, the XF shows the brand rushing forward with its arms open, ready to embrace the future.
Exterior
The XF takes Jaguar design in a new direction, which basically means that the automaker didn't try to make the car look old.
This isn't intended as glibness, rather as insight into the company's longstanding aesthetic. For many years, Jaguar positioned itself as a manufacturer of "classic" British cars. Thus, the company made vehicles that had retro appeal for a few years, and then, when the rest of the luxury manufacturers pushed their designs in more futuristic directions, Jags went from classic to conservative, and soon after, stagnant.
The S-Type was a flagrant offender in this regard. It looked like a shrunken, low-budget version of the flagship XJ sedan, which itself has styling cues from the XJ Series II, a car that debuted in 1973.
The Jaguar XF isn't going to change the way we think about automotive design — and its silhouette is a little too similar to that of the Lexus GS 460 for my taste — but it's a huge improvement. Where the S-Type was stodgy, droopy and derivative, the XF is taut, muscular and fresh.
From some angles, it doesn't even look like a Jaguar, but this is probably a good thing — it's best to break with tradition completely at this point, instead of making some evolutionary updates.
Wayne Burgess, the senior design-studio manager at Jaguar who designed the XF, says everything about the car's exterior styling is meant to make it appear wide and low, which creates the impression of sportiness. And like the Jaguar XK Coupe and Convertible, it's no coincidence that the XF has elements that recall Aston Martins, Burgess says. (Aston Martin and Jaguar were both owned by Ford until recently, when Jaguar was purchased by India's Tata Motors.) Considering how stunning Aston Martins are, this is one kind of derivation that we don't mind so much.
The XF's front dispatches with Jaguar's traditional quartet of headlights for modern clusters. Beneath the headlights are air intakes crossed by large horizontal chrome bars.
The heavily sculpted hood has various creases, bumps and folds, which can be seen as stylish or superfluous, depending on your point of view.
From the side, the XF has a swept-back appearance with a high beltline, and one strong character line that starts behind the front wheel and runs a quarter of the way into the back door. This helps break up the slab-sided body and gives the car the appearance of being in motion while standing still.
My favorite perspective on the XF Supercharged is from behind. It's here that the XF's Aston Martin-like qualities are evident: prominent shoulders arc over the rear wheels, and a chrome bar runs across the trunk to connect the taillights. Even the horizontally oriented ovoid tailpipes contribute to the wide and low stance.
From the back, one of the most telling design details is the trunk-mounted leaping Jaguar logo, which the company brought back specifically for the XF. It telegraphs that the car is no trained housecat — it's ready to pounce.
The heavily sculpted hood has various creases, bumps and folds, which can be seen as stylish or superfluous, depending on your point of view.
From the side, the XF has a swept-back appearance with a high beltline, and one strong character line that starts behind the front wheel and runs a quarter of the way into the back door. This helps break up the slab-sided body and gives the car the appearance of being in motion while standing still.
My favorite perspective on the XF Supercharged is from behind. It's here that the XF's Aston Martin-like qualities are evident: prominent shoulders arc over the rear wheels, and a chrome bar runs across the trunk to connect the taillights. Even the horizontally oriented ovoid tailpipes contribute to the wide and low stance.
From the back, one of the most telling design details is the trunk-mounted leaping Jaguar logo, which the company brought back specifically for the XF. It telegraphs that the car is no trained housecat — it's ready to pounce.
Interior
The marketing materials for the XF make a big deal about how its interior is supposed to "surprise and delight." We were skeptical, but the XF Supercharged is one of the few luxury sedans with a cabin that makes us say, "Hey, that is pretty cool." In fact, we think it's one of the best interiors around, and it wouldn't look out of place in a car costing twice as much.
It's obvious that Jaguar spent a lot of time thinking about the cabin's design and functionality, and then executed it with superior materials and astute attention to detail.
Our test vehicle's cabin was trimmed in gray wood and aluminum. The different textures provide a pleasant contrast, and the wood looks more authentic than the veneers found inside some other luxury cars.
The interior also had a unique two-tone leather treatment — the seats were an orangish-brown color Jaguar calls Spice, and the rest of the cabin was trimmed in dark gray Charcoal. I'm a fan of seats that aren't standard beige or black, but the Spice color borders on garish.
The dashboard was covered in Charcoal leather and accented with Spice stitching. This stitched-leather treatment is increasingly popular on luxury cars, and it makes the XF's cabin feel complete, like every surface gets its due. As with most new luxury cars, you don't need a key to start the XF Supercharged. In fact, there is no key at all, just a remote fob that allows you to lock and unlock the doors. Once the car detects that the fob is inside the cabin, a start button on the center console pulses red, inviting you to press it.
Hit the button and the engine growls to life as the cabin comes alive. Dash-mounted air vents rotate open, and a metal knob rises out of the center console just below the start button — this is the gear shifter.
The blinking start button and rotating vents don't offer any functional improvements, but the circular gear-shifter is surprisingly intuitive, and at least as easy to use as a conventional gear-shift lever, if not more so. You just rotate the solid-feeling knob to select park, reverse, neutral, drive or sport mode. It takes up less room than a standard shifter and looks slick.
The shifter's minimalist design is indicative of the interior as a whole. Despite having a full complement of luxury features, the XF Supercharged's cabin doesn't suffer from button overload.
A large screen in the middle of the dashboard is charged with the hefty responsibility of displaying all the information for navigation, audio, climate-control and communications systems. And unlike the screen on many German and Japanese luxury sedans, the XF's is touch-sensitive.
There are redundant buttons and knobs beneath the screen for direct access to frequently used audio and climate controls. If you want the music louder, just turn the volume knob. Want to make the car interior warmer? Press the red arrow that points up. You can also use the touch screen for those and all other functions.
A cable inside the center console's storage bin synchs an Apple iPod directly to the stereo and makes the entire music library accessible from the car's touch screen. As is often the case with these systems, the interface isn't as easy to use as the iPod's. But at least we were able to figure it out without consulting the manual.
The 440-watt Bowers & Wilkins stereo system, however, is excellent and provides crisp, clear sound enhanced by the quiet cabin.
The XF uses something called JaguarSense to allow drivers to operate overhead lights and open the glove compartment. Pass a hand near the map lights — without actually touching them — and they turn on. A metal dot about the diameter of a pen on the left of the dashboard houses a sensor for the glovebox. Just place your fingertip on it, and the door falls open.
It's a clever feature, but it can be frustrating to use, like those motion-sensing sinks in airports and restaurants that can take some hand-flailing to work.
The XF Supercharged's seats are cushy yet supportive, though they're built more for comfort than aggressive cornering.
The cabin is spacious, with plenty of room for two tall adults in front and three average-size ones in back. Leg- and knee-room can be tight in the rear seating area, depending on how far back front occupants position their seats.
The trunk is large, with 17.7 cubic feet of cargo volume, which is enough to hold four golf bags. Fold-down rear seats make transporting longer objects easy.
Outward visibility is surprisingly good and doesn't suffer for the car's high beltline and somewhat small windows.
The XF Supercharged has a blind-spot detection system that activates LEDs in the exterior rear-view mirrors to warn drivers if a vehicle is in the blind spot to the left or right.
The XF Supercharged also has a back-up camera to make parking easier, and proximity sensors that beep faster the closer you get to an object. A diagram of the vehicle displayed on the center screen shows which parts of the car are closest to external objects by flashing green, then yellow, then red bars in front of the areas at risk.
Performance
The Jaguar XF Supercharged is a lithe sedan that feels lighter than its two-plus tons suggest. But with 420 hp and 413 pounds-feet of torque, we also expected it to be more fun to bury the throttle.
Sure, the car can get out of its own way, but it doesn't pull with any special urgency until 6,000 rpm, which requires a large stretch of open road to rev up to, unless you're willing to engage in stoplight tomfoolery. The spec sheet says the XF Supercharged accelerates from 0-60 mph in 5.1 seconds, which is a little quicker the competition.
To be honest, we think that the standard XF, which has 300 hp and 310 pound-feet of torque, feels nearly as capable in most situations. It should be noted that the supercharged model also weighs almost 200 pounds more than the base model, which offsets some of the power boost.
Unless you are driving on the track or trouncing the gas at all times, the extra 120 horses aren't going to make a huge difference in day-to-day driving. But one place where the extra thrust is noticeable is on the highway at speeds above 70 mph. Acceleration is completely effortless at this point, but it's not like the standard XF struggles on the interstate either.
The supercharged V8 engine emits a deep rumble during low-speed acceleration, and the noise grows when you gas it, but it always sounds civilized — not like the ripping roar of a Chevrolet Corvette or Ford Shelby GT500.
The XF Supercharged is speedy enough in the standard drive mode, but it becomes a whole lot more fun when you turn the shifter dial to S, which quickens throttle response and causes the engine to hold gears longer.
For the ultimate in performance and control, you can use the paddles behind the steering wheel to operate the Jaguar Sequential Shift transmission — tap the right paddle to upshift and the left to downshift. Like many sequential-shift transmissions, the XF blips the throttle during downshifts to match engine speed to the new gear and provide instant acceleration.
The steering feel is light, which is nice during parking and low-speed maneuvering. Despite the delicate touch the steering requires, the car tracks straight on the highway without any of the aimless wandering found in some cars with low-effort steering.
During spirited driving, the Jaguar XF Supercharged handles well, although the suspension does place a premium on comfort. It's not the kind of car you can throw into corners. But it can hustle through turns with enthusiasm, trying its best to overcome the laws of physics.
Driving enthusiasts will appreciate the car's "Dynamic Mode," which activates an adaptive suspension that automatically adjusts during turns to compensate for weight shifts. It also lets you hold gears all the way to redline for maximum acceleration.
Despite having 20-inch wheels wrapped in tires that look about as thick as rubber bands, the XF Supercharged provides a smooth ride. We expected more harshness over New York City's rough streets, but even sharp-edged imperfections were quietly absorbed.
Gas mileage isn't too bad for a hulking, supercharged V8 — 15 mpg in the city and 23 mpg on the highway. We saw around 17 mpg in combined driving, but we were hitting the gas pedal a little harder than necessary.
Maybe our test car was abused in its 3,000-mile lifespan, but the steering rack and suspension creaked during parking exercises and while navigating New York's pothole-strewn streets at single-digit speeds. It's possible that the parts just needed some lubrication, but a brand-new $65,000 Jag shouldn't sound like a cab with 300,000 miles on the odometer.
The XF Supercharged's brakes stop the heavy car easily, but we found them to be touchy as the speedometer moves toward zero, making it difficult to come to a smooth stop. Just when you think they are about to grab, they let the car coast for a few feet, and then catch suddenly, no matter how deftly you modulate the pedal.
Overall, the Jaguar XF Supercharged is a massive step forward for the brand. Its driving dynamics don't beat those of our current favorite, the BMW 5 Series, but its sharp interior obliterates everything else in its price range.
It also has a cutting-edge feel that few of its competitors can match for all their high-tech gadgets. If Jaguar can infuse the sedan that will replace the full-size XJ with these same qualities and get young people excited about the brand, the company may have what it takes to bring about a renaissance.
Is the Jaguar XF Supercharged for You?
| Buy the XF Supercharged if | You cherish the combination of rear-wheel drive and a snarling V8 engine; you want to stand out from the crowd of BMW, Lexus and Mercedes drivers; you appreciate minimalist design aesthetics; the standard XF just isn't powerful enough. |
| Keep Looking if | You prefer all-wheel drive; you want a manual transmission; the base XF is powerful enough for you; fuel economy is a top consideration. |
| Options Worth Splurging on | The XF Supercharged comes pretty much fully loaded. The heated steering wheel ($300) is nice for winter, but it should be included in this price bracket. |
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