Jaguar XF 2017 Saloon review
This is the new Jaguar XF and the XF was a real renaissance moment for Jaguar because it was the point when they stopped building fusty looking cars to building beautiful looking cars like this. If you look at it there is not much difference between it and this second generation car. It looks like Jaguar have gone all Audi and gone for an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary design. This car starts from £32,000.
Now one of the great things about this car is that the standard equipment is impressive so all models get leather seats, they are heated and electronically operated and you also get parking sensors at the rear plus satellite navigation. The only problem is the standard satellite navigation is a little bit poor. It’s sluggish to respond and the screen is a bit low res. You want to upgrade for £1700 mind you to the 12” Navi Pro. It’s super slick and the graphics are lovely.
The interior design of this car is lovely, you’ve got a digital driver’s display and just the way the cockpit wraps round you and the seating position is sporty makes the car feel more like a sports car than a saloon. I don’t think the quality inside however is as good as a Mercedes E Class. I’ll tell you why the feel of the plastic doesn’t pass the flick test, the plastic on the door sounds a bit hollow when you tap it. On the plus side though this car does have good cubby space a 1.5 litre bottle does fit in the side door bin, and moving to the back you can actually fit the same water bottle in the back door bin which is quite impressive.
Now one of the problems of the old Jaguar XF is that they felt cramped in the rear but they have fixed that. You have got plenty of knee room even if you sit up dead straight, and the fact that there is a sloping roof doesn’t matter because you still have plenty of head room. The only issue I have is that the foot wells do feel a little bit cramped and you do have a large hub in the middle of the floor which isn’t ideal when you have to carry three abreast in the back at once, but it is doable for short journeys. On the whole I think they have done a good job in the back. In terms of the boot it is a really good size, very average for this class, and the opening is nice and large. There’s not much of a lip to lift stuff over which is all very handy. There is a space saver wheel with some extra room above it to hide some things away. There is plenty of tether points and a 12V socket for plugging in your handheld vacuum cleaner. The only thing to point out is that the boot does taper slightly towards the front which does hinder loading as does the mechanism for the electric tailgate. If you’ve got the entry level model and you want to fold down rear seats, you do have to pay extra for them.
Overall the Jaguar XF is a big step up over the old car, but does this continue out on the road? So you jump in the Jaguar XF and the first thing that hits you is just how much fun this thing is to drive. It’s a big saloon car but the way it goes round corners is brilliant and it really is great fun. Now part of that reason is because it is rear wheel drive so you get the sensation of being pushed out of the corners. Now you might be a bit worried and think now rear wheel drive does that mean I might get stuck in snow? Well don’t worry as you can get an all-wheel drive version of this Jaguar XF. The best bit though is that while it is sporty, agile and fun, it’s also very comfortable and yes you can get adaptive dampeners but you don’t need them as the standard set are just that good.
You can get this XF with a 3 litre V6 super drive petrol which is very fast and you have the 3 litre V6 diesel which is fast and economical but most people go for one of the 2 litre diesels. The lower version has 163hp which is ok but you do sense that it could do with being a bit quicker. The more powerful version is worth spending the extra on. The lower version does about 56mpg which is quite good for a car this size. One of the things to know is that the gear box in the auto is nice and smooth but sometimes it can be a little bit indecisive in which gear it wants, so you put your foot down and it thinks do I need to drop it down a gear or not and it can leave you floundering for a second or so. The other thing that can be quite off putting is the road noise. This Jaguar doesn’t seem quite as quiet inside as say a Volvo S90 or a Mercedes E Class. Then there’s the visibility. So the sweeping pillow to the side of the drivers’ seat creates quite a blind spot so you have to peer round it when pulling out at junctions and the rear window is very high up so if there was a sports car behind you, you would have no idea it’s there.
There are some other annoying things about the Jaguar XF, here’s five of them:
If you want to make a fast getaway you can’t because you have to wait for the gear selector to rise out of its holder so you can turn it to select a gear.
Jaguar will charge you £1,000 for a panoramic sun roof but it’s not particularly panoramic it’s just a normal size sun roof.
The quart side paint scheme may hide road grime but it also hides the fact that the XF is a good looking car.
It has a cheap and chunky plastic rear view mirror which is just horrible looking.
Jaguar also don’t cover up the metal in the boot of the car which you think they would do considering how much it costs.
Thankfully there is still plenty to like about the XF that more than makes up for this. Here’s five core features:
The aerodynamic body creates 50 kilos of downforce at 100mph.
Online services include a flight tracker which means you should never miss a plane.
The whole side of the car is just made of one piece of aluminium and it weighs just 6kg. In fact the new XF weighs 190 kilos less than its predecessor.
Jaguar’s adaptive dynamic system measures the position of the wheels 500 times every second and adjusts the dampeners accordingly.
The optional heads up display uses lasers to display the information so you can see it even in bright sunlight.
So all in all what is my verdict on this car? Well I think you should shortlist it as an option when buying a new car! Search for new and used Jaguar XF cars with DesperateSeller.co.uk.
