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The Jaguar XF - Early Impressions On A Wet Day

Topics:  Jaguar XF

The Jaguar XF - Early Impressions On A Wet Day

Geoff Maxted
DriveWrite
October 22, 2013

There’s nothing like a nice day at the seaside and today was nothing like a nice day at the seaside. Rain? I met a bloke called Noah who suggested we stay indoors, but we have been loaned this XF courtesy of Jaguar and it has to be soundly evaluated. So it was that we took to the M4 and headed for Weston-Super-Mare and some award winning fish and chips.

The motorway was awash, the spray appalling and I was really grateful for the blind spot monitors in the wing mirrors. If these are on the options list when choosing a car then specify them. A real safety asset.

The XF in the images is the 200PS Luxury version powered by a 2.2L turbo-diesel four cylinder engine. This is a clean and frugal motor offering 50+mpg whilst emitting just 139g/km of the nasty stuff. Nevertheless this big car can be propelled to 60mph in just eight seconds and on to 140mph tops, with drive going through a smooth eight-speed ZF ‘box. On the motorway there’s ample shove for safe overtaking and swift progress. Stop/Start is standard and works unobtrusively.

When we arrived at the coast I admired the interior and gazed wistfully at the leathery comfort and roominess of the back seats. ‘We didn’t have back seats like that when I was a lad’, I said. I turned expectantly to Mrs Drivewrite who, in that alluring way she has, said, ‘Don’t even think about it!’. So instead I turned my attention to the job in hand.

On the comfort front, there is plenty of adjustment in both seat and column so there’s no issue with getting settled. As you can see from my images, the interior is typically Jaguar and that’s no bad thing. It is very well laid out and I was especially impressed by the info/navigation centre. The guidance system for navigation is simplicity itself, as are the audio controls and the CD. Climate - naturally - is similarly straightforward. We’ll get down to the bones of it in the coming days.

We returned cross-country and found the Jaguar very at home on our rural B roads so much so that I switched to the paddles in S Mode and set about testing its mettle. Readers familiar with DriveWrite will know that I drove the 5.0L supercharged XFR-S a while back and pronounced it my best drive ever. I haven’t changed my opinion but can report that at least some of the prowess of that car rubs off on the regular XF range.

The XF is a very enjoyable driver with decent crisp steering. At speed around the soaking twists and turns it handles like a smaller car with plenty of grip. So far so good. A full review next week.