German Car Zone

Rating:


With its 503bhp, 5-litre supercharged V8, the XFR is Jaguar’s most powerful saloon ever


XF plus R equals Jaguar’s M5, right? Think again. The product of talented, softly spoken engineers wielding big sticks and entrusted with preserving the special, multi-faceted magic synonymous with the brand, Jaguar’s fastest ever saloon was never going to be so obvious. Instead – and to satisfy the disparate demands of the brief – it would have to be both aggressive and reserved, overtly powerful yet gracefully understated, less flash than a BMW but more fascinating than a Merc. It had to be so much more than the old cliché of a thug in a Savile Row suit.

Even by Jaguar’s standards, this is the saloon that has it all – including a mighty, all-new supercharged 5-litre V8 engine with power and torque outputs that singe the paper on which they’re printed, continuously variable damping and a trick electronic differential. But to look at it, well, you’d hardly guess. Yes, there are visual cues: the deeper bumpers, extra ducts and vents, 20in wheels, four exhaust pipes and more pronounced sills, but they provide surprisingly slim differentiation from the (now dropped) 4.2-litre SV8 and, if you don’t like the way the XF looks, the XFR is unlikely to change your mind. If you value stealth above conspicuous steroidal enhancement, though – and it’s a sure, clinic-trialled bet that Jaguar’s customers do – then the low-key approach will be welcome.

This, at any rate, is the distillation of some notebook musings, jotted down as I leafed through the XFR press pack at 38,000 feet on the way to Spain. And perhaps their slightly negative tilt isn’t so surprising given that it had been just a few days since I drove Maserati’s new Quattroporte Sport GTS (see p92). If ever a big saloon knew how to layer a sporting aesthetic with style and flair, that was the one. Going by the pictures, the Jag’s visual mojo looked both perfunctory and polite by comparison. But preconceptions can be so very misleading.


FUll Story: EVO - Jaguar XFR


Jaguars finally mean something again. What a car!


M

Bah, another biased British car review by a biased British car mag. This means nothing.

Let's wait for the definitive verdict from Egyptian Car & Camel.



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And if you think this review was good, you should know that EVO gave the XKR five stars - it's that impressive.

Jaguar, in spite of its financial security and questionable sustainability under TATA, is so hot right now.

Or lets see a more definitive review from the south african car & hippo.

Seriously i'll wait for a proper German or Italian of that car,handsome car nonetheless

C'mon Tarek brother, you need to be more continentally aware, we don't ride hippo's in SA, we ride donkeys!

LOL - a "proper" German or Italian publication. Noo, they're not biased, neverrrr...

German Car Mag: Der neue Jaguar XFR ist gut, aber nicht ebenso gut wie der E63 AMG.
Italian Car Mag: Maserati Quattroporte Sport: bellissima! Jaguar XFR: stronzo!

Well that is mostly will be the case,but don't tell me that u really think that Jag can built a car that is really superior than AMG/M5/RS6?

Superior? Subjective. I mean really we spend hours arguing on this site about whether the M5 is better than the E63 is better than the RS6. And still, we've never reached a real conclusion.

But rather put this way: equally capable and desirable in its own right? Absolutely.

Yeah that's the answer i was looking from u,but funny the British mags always makes and say bold words about their performance machines compares to the rivals but oh well we know better

I really don't think Jaguar has to be "superior", just a great alternative that offers the same performance as the Germans and with knockout styling.

M

We have a XFR at the dealer, so i took a little ride. Actually a nice ride. It is a bit hurky jurky in the accelorator.

the interior materials seem very nice. Leather stiched dash was a plus. Some stuff just seems a little over the stop. The gear selector knob is just plain wierd, but it doesn't take up much space, so I could see that catching on.

The vents closing up when you turn it off, just seems pretentious to me, and without purpose. But hey, it's a jag.

Interior space is closer to the Mercedes C-class, and the trunk is smaller.

I love the exterior, although I know this is a downer for many. I like the move away from the classic look.