It's hard to see a bright future for luxury carmakers in today's market, but Jaguar is definitely a brand worth rooting for through the trials, writes PADDY COMYN
IT’S JUST one of those things – you just always, always find yourself rooting for Jaguar. It doesn’t matter that, over the past 20 years, they have made more bad cars than good ones.
It doesn’t matter that some of their existing models depreciate faster than Alan Stanford’s financial empire and that, if it wasn’t for their latest XF model, they would be dead and buried. You always find yourself cheering them on because of their heritage of producing stunning cars and because when you meet the people behind the brand, they are just really nice people.
Take chief engineer for engines, Malcolm Sanford. Born and raised on a farm in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, he confesses that he has probably spent more time on the development of the new 5-litre V8 that sits in the flagship XFR and XKR than he has with his own children.
But unlike some German firms who wheel out skin-covered robots to tell you about how they were “really excited about the new engine” knowing full well that their circuits hadn’t been programmed for such pointless outbursts of emotion, the folks behind Jaguar live, breath and, above all, love their cars. And it’s hard not be infected by their enthusiasm.
Jaguar is by no means immune to current economic woes and is still awaiting the financial assistance promised as part of business secretary Lord Mandelson’s package of support. With luxury car sales being hit particularly hard, launching flagship versions of their XF and XK models might seem like Jaguar hasn’t been reading the papers.
First and foremost, the XF is a car that has had a huge effect on Jaguar’s fortunes and increased the brand’s market share in many of the markets that it was launched in last year, including our own. It was such a radical departure from the S-Type it replaced that it not only appealed to Jaguar fans but gained a huge amount of customers from other brands, mainly the German trio of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. The diesel version has formed the backbone of this success and we will have a review of the updated 3-litre diesel XF in a few weeks’ time, but in the interests of me sticking my head further in the sand it was left to me to drive yet another car with more than 500bhp.
It was no real surprise that Jaguar would eventually turn its XF saloon into an R-powered model, as they had done, very successfully, with the S-Type before it and the current XK. While the S-Type R had been powered by a 400bhp 4-litre V8, Jaguar waited for a new, 5-litre V8 to compete properly with the new batch of super-saloons, notably the BMW M5.
Like any brand, chiefs tend to wince when journalists draw simplistic comparisons and the mention of M5 or RS6 appears to grate somewhat, with Jaguar insisting that, while this car is powerful enough to compete with these cars, it beats them on refinement and comfort.
It is hard to imagine anything with this much power would be much of a pussycat. It certainly looks the part. With four large exhausts sitting in between tyres you could use on a jumbo jet, the rear end signals the intent, while the front end, decorated with a mesh grille and various scoops and spoilers, looks just a little mean, without verging on the obnoxious – that just wouldn’t be Jaguar.
Inside, the XFR is beautifully finished. The modern take on what made Jaguar interiors coveted for decades lives on, this time with a sportier flavour. As with pretty much all its major super saloon rivals, Jaguar hasn’t entrusted the driver to a clutch and manual gearbox, but uses an automatic box and paddle shifters behind the steering wheel to operate Jaguar’s Sequential Shift transmission.
Aside from a new engine, the XFR gains two new technologies: Adaptive Dynamics and Active Differential Control.
Active Differential Control (ADC) is an electronic differential that can vary its locking torque (and therefore the proportion of torque to each driven wheel) depending on surface conditions and power applied. This improves acceleration and the car’s cornering ability.
Adaptive Dynamics is an active damping system that adjusts the suspension dampers settings to suit road conditions. JaguarDrive Control with Dynamic Mode provides variations to the car’s stability programme, and in Dynamic Mode modifies the throttle, stability and transmission range. It gives sportier drivers a lot more freedom to explore the car’s limits.
The first thing that strikes you is how refined the car feels. With so many of these super saloons, it’s all fire and brimstone and the 5-litre V8 in the XFR is almost surprisingly muted.
But it’s seriously fast – 0-100km/h in under five seconds and quicker than your ears tell you. With this distinct lack of growl, it’s up to the speedometer, the quickening landscape and the sudden requirement to stand on the brakes to remind you that this is a very fast car.
And it’s agile too, with easy manners, no sudden kick-back and a lightning-quick gearbox with gear changes that are silky smooth. It is an undoubtedly fast, furious car – but when you want it to settle down it offers a level of refinement that you simply won’t find in a BMW M5 or Audi RS6. Both German über-saloons make you feel like you are dressing up an elephant in a business suit, while the Jaguar XKR’s everyday persona is Clarke Kent to the crime-fighting superman.
Naturally, the boring part is that this car will cost €122,000 and, while that is more money than most people could dream of spending on a car in 2009, it is over €30,000 less than BMW will ask you to spend on the M5 and €49,160 less than Audi will charge you for the RS6, so the XFR is something of a bargain.