Archive for the ‘XF’ Category

Many histories of Jaguar have been written, and no doubt there will be many more. In most of them, the sad saga of the Jaguar X-Type sedan is likely to be covered as a misguided diversion--if it's spoken of at all.

While the smallest Jaguar sedan was pulled from the US market after the 2008 model year, it has lived on in the UK and Europe. Now Jaguar has announced that production will end for good in December, six months early, to cut costs in the global economic downturn.

Launched in 2002 as the car that would build Jaguar into a high-volume competitor to BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Lexus, the X-Type was instead something of a disaster....

Few, if any, will argue that the curvy new 2009 Volkswagen CC is a great-looking sedan—a more emotional, upmarket choice for style-conscious drivers who can't spring for the pricetag of the 2009 Mercedes-Benz CLS, the 2009 Jaguar XF, or even the upcoming 2010 BMW 5-Series GT fastback.

The CC definitely succeeds in conjuring more design emotion; the CC has won almost universal praise for its design, and it recently earned a prestigious red dot award.

Whether it establishes the emotional connection in other ways is a more complicated question (and answer), as we pondered in a follow-up drive of the 2009 CC.

While there's a lot more...

There's more power coming from Coventry: Jaguar confirms that the 2010 Jaguar XF Supercharged edition's getting a big power boost for the new model year.

With last year's XF Supercharged turning in 420 horsepower from its boosted 4.2-liter V-8, 0-60 mph times of 5.1 seconds came easily. This year, Jaguar's switched the Supercharged edition over to the new 5.0-liter V-8 that also powers the XFR, and it's brought with it another 50 horsepower, for a total of 470 hp. With the new engine and same paddle-shifted automatic, Jaguar says 0-60 mph times drop to 4.9 seconds.

Also fitted to the new model are an Adaptive Dynamics system to control...