Jaguar XF: driven
10 August 2009
- Bigger engine, but cheaper to run
- Costs from £33,900
- On sale now
We test drive the new 3.0-litre Jaguar XF.
Most people would have been perfectly happy with the 2.7-litre V6 diesel engine in the XF – indeed, we’ve been running one for nearly a year, and it hasn’t attracted a negative comment.
Jag, though, reckoned that by increasing capacity to 3.0 litres and raising power and torque, it could make our 2008 Car of the Year more sprightly and cheaper to run, without raising prices
The result is a car that now delivers 237bhp instead of 204 and 369lb ft in place of 320. Naturally, it’s a quicker car as a result, increasing momentum more rapidly for less effort, but possibly the major advantage is that it’s more eager to set off from rest – a major boon when looking to pull out into the traffic.
There are times with the 2.7 that you’re… unable to ignore the ’ weight, shall we say? A drop of four company car tax bands and, potentially, an extra 4.4mpg aren’t insignificant benefits, either.
You lose none of the car’ astonishing mechanical refinement, and the engine change has been accompanied by a bit of useful tidying-up in the cabin. Some of the switchgear has been repositioned for the better, and the sat-nav turn-by-turn instructions are now repeated in the instrument cluster. What will Jaguar come up with next?
Our verdict
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better
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