Jaguar XFS

Thoroughbred British

Photos and Text: Reinis Babrovskis

When talking about British cars one rarely talks about their speed, instead it’s the design that gets admired – just look at the iconic Jaguar E-Type – it is the Mona Lisa amongst cars. To me Jaguar has always outdone their rivals with their beautiful design, attention to details and the interior luxury – it’s all that combined that makes you want to buy the car. 

In autumn 2007 Jaguar released their executive model XF that was the replacement for the Jaguar S-Type and was a direct rival to BMW 5 series. The owner, Adam, previously owned an M5 before and now owns this stunning Jaguar XFS, do I need to say anything more?

The designer of the car was nobody else than the director of the design department of Jaguar itself – Ian Callum. The car is produced at Castle Bromwich Assembly facility in Birmingham and was first launched at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. Sadly from the moment it was released it was constantly compared to the BMW 5 series and it never got the same raving reviews as the BMW from motor journalists, it was always described as being one step behind. Since I have an opinion on my own, let me review the car and explain why I think that this actually is a better car than the BMW.

First of all just look at it… no I mean seriously look at it. To be sure you really do see what I see, look at it again! I was circling the car like Moon around the Earth for a good while – it simply amazed me how much detail has gone into it. The car body was developed using Computational Fluid Dynamics before the car went anywhere near a wind tunnel. Finished in Ultimate Black Metallic paintjob the car just stands out immediately, the front end is so pumped with steroids it looks like a face of a weight lifter – the bulky bonnet indicates that there is a beast residing underneath it, the mean headlights at the front are accompanied with an aggressive oval mesh grille that was first seen on the Jaguar XJ series back in 1968 with a stunning Jaguar bling badge stuck right at the centre of it. Adam had set his eyes on the Xenon lights from the very first time he saw them on these cars, sadly his model wasn’t equipped with these expensive extras when he bought it, so the first mod was to get these installed.

To give the car a great road presence it was lowered on Eibach-Pro kit springs and is sitting on stunning 20” Senta multi-spoke alloys. The boot lid retained the chrome blade across as seen on the S-Type model before; however, now including a “leaper” Jaguar logo on it as well.

The engineers worked hard and improved the aerodynamics on this Aerodynamic Pack version with the small, but higher tail that is more efficient aerodynamically than a lower one, the roofline and raised boot lid lip improve the airflow over the rear of the car.

The car comes with twin exhaust system stock; however, Adam decided to settle on a quad exhaust system and I agree it should have actually been the standard for them – it looks so good, and then there is the noise… This is not a 306 D-turbo smoke machine – the 3 litre V6 engine can make some growl out of it for being a diesel.

The original XF series diesel was equipped with a 2.7litre engine, but shortly in 2009 it received a major upgrade and was upgraded to a 3.0 twin-turbo V6 engine producing 271bhp stock and enough torque to pull like a train. The engine was a masterpiece joint venture between Ford and Peugeot. The parallel sequential twin turbocharging system isolates the smaller turbo from exhaust gasses until needed, reduces pumping losses, consumption and reduces CO2 emissions – so keeping the Green Peace happy, yet the fact it doesn’t kill the lovely polar bears and penguins in Antarctic with its emissions doesn’t mean it is slow – the official figures claim to hit 60mph within impressive 5.9 seconds. This car just wants to pull in any gear, any speed. I know the experts say that actual the time is more like 6.4 seconds which is the same for the BMW and even though they say BMW feels quicker I do not care.

The people who rather prefer to hear their Rolex ticking when driving instead of the engine do not worry – there is absolutely no noise inside the car unless you want it. Interior is where it is at – it’s like being in an art museum, where everything is quiet and you don’t want to touch anything as if it is artwork.

Adam’s choice was settled on the Oyster and Ivory interior with the heated and cooled sports seats. After you have taken a seat into those comfy leather seats (even the most basic model of XF came equipped with leather seats stock) and started the car with the start/stop button you are surrounded by thousands of fairies doing all different magical things – the steering wheel gets lowered to your favourite position, followed by fairies quickly rotating and opening air conditioning vents that were flushed into the dash, another fairy quickly rises the Jaguar Drive Selector in the centre console. 

You look around and you noticed you are in the world of toys – interior lights are operated by a simple touch to the light cover, same as the glove department, the mirrors are equipped with blind spot warning lights, main centre screen reminds you that you are sitting in a Jaguar; once the logo is gone you have all the gadgets in there you might ever want, I reckon you could even get Battlefield 4 going on there. All the centre console parts are finished in a stunning piano black lacquer trims. The dials, switchgear and major control panels are back illuminated with pale blue colour and look stunning.

The car audio is made by Bowers & Wilkins and won awards for the best in car audio system, so Adam can listen to his Beethoven (yeah right) as loud as he wants.

Let me tell you this – I’ve been in M5s, RS4 and other German cruisers, but I can assure you – the Brits certainly know how to make you feel welcome in the cars and I do not care if the 5series is slightly faster, this would be my choice.

Spec List:
2010 Jaguar Jaguar XF-S
3.0D V6 Bi-turbo
271bhp/ 600 Nm
Ultimate Black Metallic
Oyster and Ivory interior
Aerodynamic Pack
Heated and cooled sports seats
20” Senta alloys
Eibach Pro-Kit springs
XFR quad-exit exhaust

Adam’s Previous/Current cars:
Honda Civic Coupe V-Tec EJ6
BMW M5 E39
Some crazy American jeep he still owns and drives on fields chasing foxes
Crazy project car he didn’t allow me to tell about!