Jaguar XFR-S

When a new Jaguar comes onto the Australian market, I get excited.  There’s something about a Jaguar that presses all the right emotional buttons – and the sound of the engine is just one of those things. So with the arrival of the Jaguar XFR-S, a recent addition to the very popular XF range.

The Jaguar XFR-S is designed to be fast and powerful, and it looks it. Even the styling looks tough and aggressive. In the past, Jaguars were long, sleek and elegant. With the styling of the 2014 Jaguar XFR-S, this has changed. It’s a Jag, without a doubt, with the roaring big cat sitting on the grille. But you’ve got the narrow front bumper with the carbon fibre air intake, sharp side sills and a choice of three styles of alloy wheels.  It’s low, it’s lean and it’s mean-looking.

It would be possible for a Jaguar to have bold, aggressive styling but not have the guts under the bonnet to match – but it would be highly improbable.  And we’re pleased so say that the Jaguar XFR-S has the sheer raw power to match the looks – and the sound. Yes, folks, the sound. The designers of Jaguar are well aware that the sound of the engine is one of the most beloved features of their line, and they have carefully designed the rear exhaust to give the best sounds (and they’ve styled it around the carbon-fibre rear diffuser, which spread air for extra on-road stability).

But the engine in the Jaguar XFR-S… better pass me a bucket to drool into.  Five litres of fun in V8 configuration coupled to an 8-speed automatic transmission (which really makes it feel like you’re in a sports car thanks to the sequential shift).  You have to look twice when you read the power figures, because at first glance, the numbers look more like what you’d see in torque figures. The power in the Jaguar XFR-S’s engine peaks at 404 kW of power when the needle hits the 6500 rpm mark. And as for the torque, how does 680 Nm sound to you?  Bear in mind that this is a petrol engine – many diesels, which typically have more torque than petrol engines, can’t match this. I doubt that the Jaguar XFR-S is going to be used to tow a caravan or a horse trailer, but if you wanted to, you definitely could. What most people are going to be doing with all that torque and power is seeing what it can do on the road. What it can do is the 0–100 km/h sprint in 4.6 seconds and has a top speed of 300 km/h. It could probably get faster than this but the speed has been limited – the Jaguar XFR-S would probably get airborne if it did, in spite of the efforts of the spoiler and other aerodynamic features in the styling.

If you are the sort of person who is impressed by raw power and speed, like you get in the Jaguar XFR-S, you are probably dreaming about this car already and everything else is comparatively irrelevant. But there is more to the Jaguar XFR-S than that.  Aeroplanes go faster and tractors have more torque, but they aren’t notably comfortable to spend long amounts of time in. In the Jaguar XFR-S, however, you will wish that your commute was longer. It’s that cushy. Even if the car didn’t have adaptive dynamics for the suspension (which, of course, it does), you’d find the ride very comfortable

The interior of the Jaguar XFR-S comes with three colour schemes and two veneer options. No matter what you choose, it looks good with the Phosphor Blue interior lighting (very attractive and soothing, as well as being well placed around the spacious cabin).

The information/entertainment system in the Jaguar XFR-S has been designed to be intuitive to use, meaning that you can concentrate on driving rather than on endlessly pressing buttons to find out how to operate the sound system or the navigation system.  The seven-inch touch screen controls for the navigation, audio system and climate control make life in the Jaguar XFR-S very easy.  You can even access digital TV on this screen, although you can only do that when you’re at a standstill, especially given the oomph and aggression on tap in the Jaguar XFR-S – but you probably want to enjoy the experience of driving in a car like this anyway.  Given the speeds that the Jaguar XFR-S is capable of, the Dynamic Volume Control in the sound system is particularly handy. No more being blasted to Kingdom Come by the speakers (and the Jaguar XFR-S has 11 of them) when you come to a standstill.  You can also use voice activation for many of the controls if you wish.

With a car that is as powerful as the Jaguar XFR-S, safety systems are important.  Needless to say, the Jaguar XFR-S has them all, and a number of them double as driver aids to enhance the on-road performance of this powerful sports car, such as the Cornering Brake Control, engine drag torque control, dynamic stability control and the EBD.  You might also like to count the servotronic steering system in this category.

Passive safety features also abound – airbags that detect the presence and weight of a front passenger and adapt accordingly being just one. One of the other innovative passive safety systems takes care of the people outside the car in the case of a crash: the pedestrian sensing system, which lifts the bonnet to minimise impact if contact with a pedestrian occurs. The blind spot monitoring feature, which is displayed on the wing mirror itself, is another handy safety device that will be appreciated by many.

The Jaguar XFR-S may have the body style of a sedan but it has the heart of a race car. It’s all about sheer driving pleasure and luxury. Maybe this fastest of the new big cats is going to be the car for you.

Current model series include:

• Jaguar XFR-S

For any more information on the Jaguar XFR-S, or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quotes requests out to our national network of Jaguar dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!