There are cars, and there are cars. And then there are Jaguars
One might begin talking about the XF by reaching for superlatives. Predictably, in your first fifteen minutes in the car, adjectives such as lithe, agile and supple swim around in your cranium. Then you sight the first open stretch of road and mash the throttle. Now the only words in your head are unprintable expletives. Such is the XF’s response that you want to do it again and again. It isn’t the kick-in-the-arse, catapult-you-down-the-road kind of response you get from big German diesels and neither is it the wait-for-it…whoosh! you get with turbopetrols. Instead, there’s this linearity to it which makes it utterly addictive.
At its heart is a 5000cc petrol V8, driving the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic gearbox and this powertrain works very well. Head for your favourite stretch of twisties and the same road feels all new. The road we drove the XF on featured hairpins, S-bends and tightening radius corners with a dizzy drop on one side and a mountain wall on the other. The XF’s double wishbone suspension setup mated to active dampers is extremely sophisticated in its operation, endowing this car with balance and grip levels which are hard to fault. The steering is fluid without any unnecessary heaviness and feelsome too. The XF’s DSC or Dynamic Stability Control however cuts in severely, killing power to the driven wheels, but this is a safety feature designed to keep over enthusiastic drivers from spinning the car around. After all, 385PS and 515Nm aren’t to be taken lightly. If you keep the DSC button pressed for three seconds, it will only delay the onset of the electronic override. In order to completely switch it off, you must hold the DSC button down for 15 seconds.
The conventional six-speed automatic transmission is a pleasant surprise, shifting up cleanly and smoothly be it at max revs in sport mode or merely ambling along. You get little paddles behind the wheel which allow you manual control over the gear shifts, but these turn with the steering wheel, making them redundant while driving spiritedly on tight bends. Instead, leave the automatic transmission in S mode and it works really well, holding onto gears longer before shifting up. Unfortunately, Indian roads aren’t all well surfaced nor traffic free, but when you do get into crazed city traffic and rubbish roads, the Jag is even more impressive. It’s surprisingly manageable in tight traffic and the suspension works superbly across its speed range which means there’s no jiggling, jarring or thuds and neither is it wallowy and mushy. You must be careful with the nose though, for this is a low riding car. However, not once did it scrape its underbelly even on the most vicious speed breakers.
While you wait in rush hour traffic, the Jag’s interior is one of the nicer places to be. It’s plush without being over the top and boasts of some neat details. We love the touch sensitive glovebox release and the simple and intuitive multi-media interface. It features touch screen operation which is straightforward to use even for a technical dinosaur like me. Considering a lot of clientele will be middle-aged gentlemen with half-moon spectacles perched on the end of their noses, there aren’t any of those dastardly multi function knobs you find in so many luxury cars that put people off.
The rotary drive controller in place of a conventional gear lever is a cool touch especially the way it extends when you start the car and retracts when you switch off, although some of the buttons on the centre console are a little naff.
We must mention the stereo here. Jaguar sells only the Portfolio trim level of the XF in India and it comes with an excellent Bowers & Wilkins sound system which boasts of 14 speakers. Even setting up the audio system to your preference is a simple job via the touch screen interface and thankfully there aren’t a million and one options to tweak the sound either. You can also sync your mobile phone to the car’s audio, providing true hands-free performance. Strangely, for such a high-end system in a premium car, the adaptive volume control doesn’t work very well or at least it didn’t on our test car. When you slow down from high speed, the stereo’s volume reduces automatically, but when you pick up speed again, the accompanying increase in volume does not take place.
Seat comfort in the XF is excellent, both front and back. Even after 10 hours in the car, one doesn’t experience too much fatigue. The ventilated seats are a huge bonus in our climate too. All XFs have generous spec levels and the top-of-the-line Portfolio we drove has a beautiful leather clad dashboard. You can choose different colour combinations and textures for the insides of the car, which means you can customise the car to your taste from the available options. There are 16 exterior colours with six alloy wheel designs in three sizes ranging from 18 to 20 inches. For the cabin, you can choose between seven different hides for the seats, four wooden trims or two aluminium finishes for the centre console, two different headlinings and five options for the leather dashboard and door uppers. If that’s not enough, you have seven choices for contrast stitching as well!
In India, Jaguar only offers the XF Portfolio with the 5.0-litre V8 which we drove and a supercharged version of the same engine in the XFR which boasts 510PS. Abroad, the XF is also available with a 3.0-litre V6 diesel, but Jaguar has chosen not to offer this engine option in India presumably because then it would be uncomfortably close in specification to the German big three in the form of the E-class, the 5 Series and the A6, but it would be far more expensive as well since it is fully imported. The aura of the Jaguar brand is well served with the 5.0-litre V8 that even in naturally aspirated form boasts monumental performance. Though we haven’t driven the supercharged XFR yet, one can expect it to post the performance envelope to Pluto.
The Jaguar XF is a lot more than just a car; it has a personality. We’ve talked about its performance, handling, interiors and all the feel good touch points which abound in this car. But we haven’t talked about its styling. We don’t need to. Excuse the cliché, but to experience this car up close, in the metal, is a visual treat that nary a picture can convey. It is heart achingly beautiful, especially from its rear three-quarters. The firm rump with its wraparound tail lamps may just have a hint of Aston Martin, but then this is not surprising, considering the same man had inputs on both designs. The headlamps split opinion, but if you focus on the bonnet instead, the power bulge is not too subtle yet it isn’t brawny and brutal either. This is such a fluid, flowing design. Indeed, the XF has one of the lowest drag coefficients of any production car around.
The XF as you’ve ogled on these pages costs an eye watering Rs 83 lakh on the road, Mumbai, which is huge money. In fact, you may find it hard to justify its price even if you’re an industrialist in the Fortune 500 list of the world’s richest Indians. It doesn’t have the roomiest cabin around and you cannot sit three in the back because of the huge transmission tunnel. Basic features like a sunroof and cigarette lighter are conspicuous by their absence. At this price, it is almost luxo-limo money. Ten lakhs more will buy you a car which is a segment higher and you could justify your chauffer as well. But it’s hard to ignore the cache of the Jaguar brand. You get a dollop of style and exclusivity which few other cars in India can provide plus a seminal driving experience which you cannot put a price to. Sometimes, you must think with your heart.
