Magus Cars India

Step into the new Jaguar Land Rover showroom in Worli, Mumbai, and you’re greeted by some stunning metal indeed. The phrases ‘style, luxury and understated elegance’ all come to mind. But there’s more here than meets the eye.

What if we told you there’s also a four-door Ferrari fighter lurking in the shadows? Well, we happened to get our hands on just one such machine on the winding roads of Northern California. And you can too – much closer to home. Read on…

From the outside

When the Tata Group was evaluating its purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover, it paid particular attention to the new models and product innovations that the two companies had in the pipeline. The XF Series is the first all-new car that Jaguar’s launched since Tata bought the company in 2008. The XFR is the range topping variant with a 510bhp supercharged V8 that clearly justifies its new owner’s faith in the brand, not to mention its product development capabilities.

With its coupe-like silhouette, the XFR has the visual excitement of a coupe while retaining the practicality, sophistication and luxury of a four-door sports saloon. The XFR is gorgeous from any angle and has equally impressive road presence. Subtle external cues like the functional boot spoiler, discrete rocker sill extensions, quad tail pipes, hood vents, and special light-weight 20-inch wheels are all features that make the XFR a truly unique and special machine – clearly miles ahead of a regular XF. The XFR exudes an understated elegance that helps mask this cars’ power and performance.

From the inside

Simplicity and the clever use of space are key elements of the XFR’s interior design. For the driver, this is centered on the compact packaging of the Jaguar Drive Selector transmission interface. At the press of an illuminated stop/start button, the cast alloy gear selector rises from the center console into the drivers’ hand, and the rotating facia vents silently open. Gears are selected by rotation of the selector knob – it’s an innovative concept and a welcome change from the more traditional options.

The XFR’s interiors are beautifully appointed with a carbon-fiber and aluminum dashboard – the tailored instruments and door panels, blue halo illumination, and interior mood lighting all aim to please. The XFR has electronically adjustable leather seats with squab bolsters for significantly improved support at higher cornering speeds. Seats are ventilated, heated and cooled so the driver is always comfortable. Premium suede headlining and deep-pile carpets with embroidered logos all set the XFR’s cabin as far apart as its exterior styling.

On the road

The piece-de-resistance of the XFR has to be its all new supercharged V8 that puts out a mammoth 510bhp and 460lb/ft of torque. To put this into perspective, a Ferrari F430 puts out just 480bhp and 340lb/ft of torque. This gem of an engine gives the XFR neck snapping acceleration while remaining extremely drivable and civilized for daily use.

To get a sense of the immense physical forces involved, this new direct-injection engine gives the XFR a 0-100 km/h time of just 4.9 seconds. More relevant to everyday driving, an excellent indicator of the XFR’s flexibility is the time it takes to accelerate from 80-110 km/h – just 1.9 seconds. The XFR, a 4,000 pound sedan, is electronically limited to 250 km/h, but will reach 310 km/h with the electronic governor removed. In fact, a lightly modified XFR reached 363 km/h at the Bonneville Salt Flats in the US, becoming the fastest Jaguar of all time – beating the previous record that was held by the legendary XJ 220 supercar.

The all-new 5.0-litre V8 Gen III transmits power through an enhanced version of Jaguar’s ZF 6HP28, electronically controlled, six-speed transmission. Additional clutch plates and an uprated torque converter have been added for the supercharged V8 to facilitate the extra power. In ‘Sports’ mode the driver can hold gears as long as he or she wants, with quick shifts available through the steering wheel mounted paddle-shifters. Similar to WRC cars, there’s a large gear indicator that clearly displays what gear the car’s in.

The transmission has a fully-adaptive shift system, which delivers extremely smooth gear changes and optimises performance and economy at all times. The Jaguar Sequential Shift suffers no torque interrupt, resulting in a smooth, powerful shift feel and an almost instantaneous shift from the time the driver touches the paddle to the completion of the shift. The well engineered gearbox in this car is so good that you never really crave a traditional manual transmission. In automatic mode, the gearbox continually adapts to suit driving style, which can vary from sporting to more economical.

Jaguar has worked hard on the XFR’s dynamic abilities and has done a wonderful job in dialing in the car’s ride and handling. This is a car that feels truly buttoned down, and equally comfortable both on the highway and on a twisty mountain road. The XFR’s driving dynamics are underpinned by the Active Differential Control (electronically controlled rear differential) and Adaptive Dynamics – the latest in computer-controlled continuously variable damping.

Adaptive Dynamics is a highly sophisticated active damping system that automatically adjusts suspension damper settings to suit both road conditions and the way in which the car is being driven. The three primary functions of Adaptive Dynamics are to control vertical movement, roll rate, and pitch rate of the body. It does this by analyzing induced body motions one hundred times a second, and setting each damper to an appropriate level in order to maintain a constant and level body attitude, thereby optimizing control without compromising ride comfort.

In addition, the driver can select dynamic mode, which modifies the throttle, stability and transmission parameters along with adaptive dynamic responses. The combination of ADC and Dynamic mode with DSC Off, allows controllable power-on oversteer and improves off-throttle stability – allowing quicker, more spirited cornering.

To keep all that power in check and complete the driving experience, the XFR comes with large 380mm diameter internally ventilated front discs that give the car impeccable breaking performance. The XFR’s 20-inch wheels have massive high performance 285/30 20” tires at the rear and 255/35 20” tires at the front that help enhance the dynamic character of the car, as well as optimize grip.

The XFR comes fully loaded with two features that I found particularly useful – the radar-based Blind Spot Monitor that warns the driver when there is another vehicle nearby in a different lane, and the Rear Camera Parking Aid, which provides a clear view of the area behind the car on the colour touch-screen. The system has on-screen guidance lines that move according to steering wheel angle to indicate the area into which the car’s reversing.

In conclusion, there’s no arguing that this is a beautiful car with an uber powerful engine and brilliant driving dynamics. However, what’s really surprising is that it has no real flaws – it’s a complete package. With the XFR, Jaguar’s got the BMW M5 and Mercedes E63 AMG in its cross hairs. I’m certain that if drivers of those cars experience the XFR, they’ll be tempted to trade in their German Autobahn stormers for this gorgeous English wild cat.

Verdict

At 81 lakhs, the XFR doesn’t exactly come cheap – even in the realm of luxury cars. But it truly is an incredible machine. Its stunning yes, but it’s what’s under the skin that really makes it worth the price.

The mammoth engine with its stupendous power is epic, and gives the car a Jekyll and Hyde personality – enabling it to be perfectly comfortable and serene when you want it to be, and completely insane when you don’t. As an engineering marvel, and a low volume high performance luxury four-door saloon, it’s everything that Tata Motors could hope for in a new Jaguar – and more.

Jaguar is finally relaxing into itself, building cars that compete with others but do so in a Jag way. Inevitably, the XF-R will draw comparisons with BMW’s M5, but truth be told it offers a completely different experience.

The XF-R doesn’t quite have the visceral appeal of the M5. If you want the last word in a touchy-feely technological masterpiece, then the M5 is still the car for you. But the XF-R does the super-saloon tourer thing so much better. It works far better than the M5 at low speeds, around town, stuck behind a lorry.

First then, to the engine. This is the big news on the Jag, as the brand new supercharged V8 produces 510bhp and 461lb ft. That’s enough for 0-60mph in 4.9 seconds. But it’s the manner of the delivery that’s so impressive. Loads of low down torque (no revving it to destruction like the M5) that just keeps pulling, and pulling, and pulling in an incredibly linear fashion.

It could do with being a bit louder, as the V8 burble gets drowned out. But as a way of going effortlessly fast, few come close. In fact, it’s so easy that you need to constantly check the speedo - 100mph creeps up on you all too quickly.

That relaxation is helped by the chassis. Leave all the switches in normal and you get a very fast XF - good but a bit numb. But put the gearbox in Sport mode and press the Flag button, which brings up a dynamic mode - the car’s suspension gets harder and the new trick rear differential gives everything a raw edge. The engine’s acceleration gets sharper as well. That’s the mode you want to leave it in.

The ride is still comfortable, but there’s less body roll on the entry to a corner and the steering, while never brilliant on a Porsche level, does get a bit weightier. And that’s the key thing. The overall character of the car isn’t altered and it still feels like a Jag, but one with more attitude.