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Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Jaguar adds more power to the XF’s current range topper and a new topper to the XF’s current range.
It hasn’t even been on sale for a year, but Jaguar is already upgrading the power of its 10Best-winning XF for 2010. Apparently, Jaguar has deemed the 420 hp and 5.0-second 0-to-60-mph time of the supercharged XF insufficient. To fix this “problem,” Jaguar is introducing a 5.0-liter version of its familiar 4.2-liter V-8 and a new top version of the XF dubbed XFR.
The big cat will get more powerful and much smoother in profile.
Although it’s hidden under cladding that would look at home on a military vehicle, this is the 2011 Jaguar XJ that’s due to replace the current—and slow-selling—flagship from the British automaker.
Like the existing XJ, it’s underpinned by an innovative all-aluminum structure. Unlike that car, however, conservative retro styling will be ditched in favor of a much more modern look, masterminded by Jaguar design director Ian Callum. Expect the rear quarters to have very coupe-like proportions, following the lead of the critically acclaimed XF. We’re told that the front end incorporates a particularly aggressive version of the traditional Jaguar XJ grille.
Known lately for its sleepy, leaping cats, Jaguar has taken its fangs off the nightstand and stuck them back in. The sporty “R” designation gets pinned to the tail of the pretty and still-pretty-new $52,000 XF, the mid-size sedan below the big XJ. The result: 510 tech-infused horsepower and a price hike to $80,000. The driving sophistication is high, and some test numbers we managed to quickly extract during the XFR’s introduction are 10 degrees north of wow: 4.3 seconds to 60 mph, a quarter-mile pierced in 12.7 seconds at 115 mph. The M5 flinches.
Jaguar likes to talk about root icons such as the shark-finned Le Mans D-types and the blaze of XK120 headlights on the rain-swept Italian roads of the Mille Miglia. Ah, cracking good stuff—buried under a manure pile of more recent mediocrity. Arriving in late June, the 2010 XFR, like the aluminum-bodied XKR coupe, which also receives the supercharged, 5.0-liter direct-injection V-8, is a solid start at redemption.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
