First Drive Review
Jaguar design director Ian Callum believes concept cars are often better at clearing out entrenched corporate design ideas than they are at setting new standards. He didn't say so, but the obvious exception must be his own department's C-XF show car that debuted in January at the Detroit show.
Although that vehicle used some creative license in its evocation of the latest Jaguar design language, it was not a million miles from what we see in this '09 XF, which will replace the dated S-type early next year. However, Callum reminds us that there were 25 or 30 iterations of the C-XF design study before the evolution was complete, so perhaps that's where the old fixations were purged.
He says the car follows an original edict of founder Sir William Lyons that Jaguars should be beautiful. Callum believes it's a matter of proportion, surface purity, and detailing. We'd hasten to add that a dab of originality doesn't hurt, because that's where this car scores over the designs of previous Jaguar sedans. The XF abandons the old long-and-low rear-deck profile seen on most of the sedans in the Jag lineup, adopting instead a high rear decklid almost like that of a Lexus GS.
Except that the XF has a marked coupelike profile, with a steeply raked backlight. Impressive then, that the rear seat in this car offers as much leg- and headroom as it does. The front is roomy, too, in a huge departure from the old S-type's interior, in which tall people found no comfort in either row. Callum admits it was hard work maintaining that profile in a five-seater.
Giving the car a 114.5-inch wheelbase under a 195.3-inch-long body certainly helped. In fact, the shadow cast by the XF is larger than that of the Audi A6, BMW 5-series, Mercedes E-class, and Lexus GS. With this six-foot-five scribbler ensconced comfortably in the rear seat, it feels like it. The trunk capacity is pretty good as well, offering 18 cubic feet before the rear seatbacks are folded to provide a further 15 cubic feet of cargo space.
The XF goes on sale March 1 in the U.S. powered by a naturally aspirated 300-hp, 4.2-liter V-8 starting at $50,000, or a 420-hp supercharged version of same for $63,000, both pedaling through a six-speed automatic transmission. Jaguar's 0-to-60 targets are 6.3 and 5.2 seconds, respectively, with quarter-mile times forecast at 14.9 and 13.8 seconds.
With suspension components based on those of the XK coupe, the XF's handling ought to be representative. But the emphasis here is on luxury, and the car's interior has all the hallmarks of the market segment, plus a few surprises. Mick Mohan, the XF's chief program engineer, likes to demonstrate the Jaguar "handshake," which consists of revolving air vents that roll open when the driver touches the start button.
The button itself pulses with red backlighting when the driver enters the car, and a novel rotary gear selector rises from its well in the center console when the engine starts. The switch rotates through the usual park, reverse, and drive positions and then is depressed to pass a detent into sport mode, enabling the steering-wheel paddles for manumatic actuation.
Clearly, this is a lot more car than the old S-type and a definite sign that Jaguar has moved into a new era. We can't wait to drive the XF.
