Jaguar XF 2015 Review

Jaguar polarises opinions Down Under. There are Jag fans and then there’s the rest.

The rest will quote horror tales of poor build quality and dubious reliability. And resale values on the south side of used wrapping paper… The fans will talk of glory days of racetrack triumphs and a unique blend of pace and grace.

Truth be known, as is often the case with disparate opinions, neither is right.

Today’s Jaguars are no more or less reliable than their German counterparts. Nor are they really all that different in terms of providing fast, classy transport from point A to point B. But the resurrected English company wants to change that… And it’s pouring significant sums of its Tata parent’s pounds and rupees into R&D to ‘move the needle’.

New facilities, new factories, new designs, new technologies – all investments aimed at turning Jaguar and its partner brand Land Rover into the very picture of a modern, prestige, performance icon.

On the Jaguar side of the ledger, the success of the company’s endeavours rest largely on three new vehicle lines: the XE, the upcoming F-PACE crossover and this car.

The new Jaguar XF is at the same time all-new and yet very familiar.

In 2007, the large exec-class saloon gave Jaguar a new face – and a new styling language that it can be claimed moved the brand on from its at times stuffy past. Although a true four-door, Jaguar espoused the ‘coupe-like’ silhouette of the original XF.

Now, the proportions that defined the XF have been reprised in a new generation. But while it might look at first glance like the car it replaces, in the metal, the new XF is an altogether more mature, yet even slinkier big cat.

Styling chief Ian Callum calls the new car “evolutionary”. His emphasis with XF, XE and F-PACE is to create the critical mass to make Jaguar and its new face recognisable across the globe.

The undeniably handsome new car’s wheelbase is 51mm longer (2960mm) than the car it replaces, yet its overhangs are tighter (the front was shortened by a solid 66mm) and the new car is both shorter overall (7mm) and lower (3mm) than the series it replaces. At the pointy end the pyro-equipped deployable bonnet is dropped a considerable 35mm.

The side profile gains extra glazing in the D-pillar – a measure to “reinforce the car’s status and prestige”, says Jaguar. This plays an even more important role – allowing extra light into the cabin, which in turn helps reinforce the effect of the new car’s extra rear cabin space.

Although the XF has gone from being one of the longest cars in its segment to one of the shortest (Audi’s A6 is shorter, but just), Jaguar claims segment-leading rear seat space. In the real world it’s noticeable -- the improvements are quantified via 15, 24 and 27mm increases in leg, knee and head room respectively. If you ever considered an XF and decided against it on the basis of tight rear accommodation, think again.

Up front, careful cabin design significantly increases the impression of extra width.

Jaguar is keen also to plug the practicality of the new car. The boot capacity now matches the largest in class at 540 litres and all models feature a 40:20:40 split-fold rear seat with load-thru facilities. Perhaps the only niggle in what is a classy cabin is oddment storage. The high and wide centre console has remarkably little storage room.

Under the skin, the new XF is unique in its class in terms of its construction. It leverages the Advanced Aluminium Intensive Architecture platform Jaguar introduced with XE and thus around 75 per cent of the structure is aluminium.

Although the architecture is shared with the smaller car, around 80 per cent of the parts are unique to the XF. Jaguar cheekily qualifies the success of the new platform as providing the means for “more great Jaguars quicker”…

One useless fact is the new XF’s body-side is stamped in one huge, yet lightweight (6kg, or about three bags of sugar) piece.

All this contributes to a body-in-white that’s lighter (by 11 per cent; and model for model up to 190kg as a finished car) but almost 30 per cent stiffer. Jaguar claims other benefits of the structure include improvements in vibration and noise attenuation.

It’s also a better structure from which to leverage the qualities of the XF’s F-TYPE-derived double wishbone front suspension and Integral Link multilink rear suspension.

Jaguar’s suspension boffins talk long and hard about this set-up providing the perfect building blocks for a blend of sporty handling and class-leading ride. And it’s not just hot air.

Our launch test drive across a range of roads in Spain’s north included only passively (conventionally) damped cars – but with both standard and Sport settings -- and we can confirm an almost uncanny combination of precise and predictable handling and excellent ride, even on the R-Sport’s 20-inch rubber.

Very few bumps caught the XFs out and in every case the cars settled almost immediately after any big divots. Body and roll control are excellent.

The XF’s electric power steering too is a potential standout in the class. Although weighting is on the heavy side of what some buyers might favour, the response off-centre is quick, precise and linear. There’s plenty of feel too – surprisingly so given the car’s size and segment.

The new Jaguar platform brings with it a host of tech updates.

Technologies drawn from XE include All-Surface Progress Control -- a smart low-speed (up to 30km/h) traction control system that Jaguars say can provide most of the benefits of all-wheel drive even on icy surfaces.

A new colour laser head-up display will be offered on some grades; and the new windscreen header-mounted stereo camera set-up provides the readings for autonomous braking, lane and steering assist, adaptive cruise and the like. Other safety systems include rear cross traffic alert, a 360-degree view camera and more. LED lamps are featured front and rear.

Most if not all of these systems will be offered across the full model line-up (see more below). They’re needed -- if there was one area in which the outgoing model was showing its age, it was in technology.

Jaguar Australia is holding pricing and final specification details for the new XF range until closer to the cars’ local on-sale date in December 2015. Strong hints are being dropped that the Jaguar’s pricing will be closely aligned to that of BMW’s 5 Series line-up.

Jaguar has confirmed, however, XF will be offered across four model grades: Prestige, R-Sport, Portfolio and range-topping S with a powertrain range comprising three petrol and two turbo-diesel engines ranging between 132 and 280kW -- all Euro 6 emissions-compliant.

The sole transmission option across the line-up is an eight-speed automatic.

The XF sees the debut of Jaguar’s first ‘native’ engine. The 2.0-litre Ingenium four-cylinder turbo-diesel is the first of a new family of engines.

Jaguar claims fuel economy, refinement and other benefits over the Ford/PSA-sourced 2.2-litre engine it replaces. Economy is claimed at 4.3L/100km (ECE Combined), and Jaguar says it sprints to 100km/h in 8.1 seconds on the way to top speed of 229km/h.

More importantly, the 2.0d shows all the characteristic you’d expect of a thoroughly modern mill. It’s rated at 132kW/400Nm and delivers decent real-world performance with a hint of brio in terms of its power delivery and soundtrack.

The other XF we sampled on the road was powered by the same sequential twin-turbo 3.0-litre diesel V6 that we love in the Range Rover Sport SDV6.

In the XF it’s rated at a solid 220kW/700Nm and it proved to be a rocket in the real world. The 0-100km/h increment is listed at 6.4 seconds, yet the oiler’s EU Combined fuel economy figure is an impressive 5.5L/100km.

On Pyrenean mountain roads near the Franco-Spanish border, it not only provided effortless climbing ability, but seemed very well matched to the XF’s chassis. There was little or none of the nose-heaviness I’d expected. It may not be as well balanced as the 2.0d, but the margin is incremental.

Petrol engines are for the time being carry-over units. The well-know 177kW/340Nm 2.0-litre is a four that punches above its weight, taking the full-size XF to 100km/h in 7.0 sec and logging a fuel figure of 7.5L/100km. An impression of this variant will have to wait until the car’s local launch.

Two versions of Jaguar’s supercharged 3.0-litre petrol V6 are also offered – 250 and 280kW. The top-spec six is straight from the F-TYPE and is “reserved exclusively for the all-new XF S”, says the press blurb.

A scant six laps of the Navarra circuit in the adaptive-damped XF S were barely enough for yours truly to register an impression of the car. Frankly, despite claims of a 5.3-second 0-100km/h time and an electronically-limited 250km/h top speed, I was a little underwhelmed. The entry-level 2.0d R-Sport seemed 95 per cent as much car for what will surely be substantial less money.

V8 fans will have to wait for the yet-to-be-confirmed AMG-rivalling XF R. There's no timeline on this yet, nor confirmation of the expected resurrection of an inline six-cylinder for select top-spec XF models.

The carry-over of ‘old’ engines is a subject Jaguar’s particularly sensitive about – fact is the company’s limited resources appear stretched at the moment. The full Ingenium engine range could be a work-in-progress for the next couple of years. Meantime, I suspect the new platform and the new models will not be at their very best until there’s the latest technology in the engine bays.

Jaguar Land Rover is also working hard to put its best foot forward in terms of in-car tech. And again early adopters may pay a price.

The XF debuts Jaguar’s new InControl Touch Pro infotainment system which combines a new 12.3-inch virtual instrument panel and high-resolution 10.3-inch dual-view centre screen. But the system does not go into production until late in 2015 and therefore perhaps the first six months of XFs that arrive Down Under will miss out.

The system delivers ‘connected-car functions’ as well as a whole suite of smart-phone integrations. The system features swipe and pinch-to-zoom gesture controls and will offer customisable functions including wallpaper and widgets.

If early pre-production examples are anything to go by it is an impressive HMI. However, if this sort of functionality is on your wishlist, you might have to wait for your XF.

At launch, later this year Down Under, the less advanced InControl Touch system will be the sole option. Given the polish and performance of the rest of the XF offering, this is disappointing.

Jaguar has a huge task ahead of it Down Under. In the first six months of 2015, 25 BMWs were sold for every Jaguar. The multiple over at Mercedes-Benz was closer to 35!

The XF is the car that’s kept Jaguar on the road in Australia. Since its launch in 2007, it's accounted for better than three out of every four Jags sold Down Under – the new generation needs to grab buyers’ attention not only here but globally, if the brand has a chance of achieving relevance.

Jaguar’s hoping the new XE will take over the duties as the brand’s best-seller – and introduce a new generation of owners to the brand. There’s absolutely no doubt, however, that the brand’s equally hoping this all-new lighter, smarter XF will continue do its share of heavy lifting.

2015 Jaguar XF 3.0d Portfolio pricing and specifications:
On sale: November
Price: from $115,000 (estimated)
Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel
Output: 220kW/700Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 5.5L/100km (ECE combined)
CO2: 144g/km (NEDC combined)
Safety rating: TBA