All we have been hearing about Jaguar is their new products which have been launched worldwide and more which are yet to hit the production floor. In this current scenario, there are only bits and glimpses of the good things coming our way. Many manufacturers would want to actually publicize their products or stuff, especially when one is in the nascent stages of their operations in India. Jaguar seems to be following the latter trend and is content with the publicity given to it by the auto journalists and also the web. Infact, since the time they have come down to India, we have never seen even their advertisement on the telly or even in the newspapers. This trend doesn’t look to subside in the near future and it may be due to their laxity that they may be losing out on many prospective customers. Educating the masses of a particular country about their products should be the order of the day and not some product praising or bashing by the automobile journos. Coming back to the point of discussion, it is the would be Jaguar XFR in India preview. The would be tag is there because even Jaguar themselves aren’t sure if they have a market for this product here.
Nothing can be more enjoyable than a supercar which mates everyday practicality with the raw power that its driver demands from it. The practicality part includes 4 comfortable seats, one V8 or V12 engine with all the right guns blazing. Manufacturers like Mercedes and BMW have been bringing out certain iterations of their M and AMG series vehicles like the E63 AMG and also the BMW M5. These are practical saloons with supercar rivaling powers. Moreover, Skoda in its lower variants has got the R moniker stuck on and they were the performance benchmark in their class. Jaguar has also stuck on the R moniker on their XF sedan and made into a comfortable mad beast. How mad and comfortable you would find out during the course of this article. For the looks of this car, unlike the way the M or the AMG series can be easily identified from a distance, one has to be a true blue Jaguar enthusiast to actually notice the difference. The air dams are a much wider affair while the only visual change from outside is the R badge on the grille. Like all sports cars, there are no fog lamps on this one. Well Jaguar have imparted their new age look to this car by giving it the J shaped LED lamp cluster inside the glass of the projector head lamps. Peer closely and one would come to know that the air dams are also a bigger affair to feed the power hungry engine more air. The wheels are also the standard ones but lower in profile than the stock ones on the XF. Jaguar is one of the manufacturers that offer different kinds of badges for the front and rear ends in their cars. The front has got the cat face while the rear has got the leaping cat logo. Ohh well, there are 4 tail pipes in this one compared the 2 that each Jaguar carries around.
The seats are all leather wrapped inside which can be configured based on an individual’s preferences. The lower arm of the steering wheel gets a R logo stuck onto it and the dials have the supercharged logo on them. If one has been in the Jaguar XF, they wouldn’t find any difference with the gearlever suddenly whirring up from the central console and the aircon flaps opening on their own once you are inside the cabin or even the heart beat like throbbing engine on/off button. The steering wheel is a 3 spoke unit and has the necessary audio and cruise control switches on it. The rear seats are best for two, however, unlike the Porsche Panamera, there isn’t much of head room though the leg room is much in the same ballpark as the Panamera. Boot space is also good for a supercar. Remember, we discussed earlier about the practicality part. Here lies the fact that the Jaguar XFR will carry around 4 comfortably, in style and also at dizzying speeds.
To cope up with the more power that the engine now makes, Jaguar has provided this car with adaptive dynamics, drive control and also an active differential. There are 4 dynamic stability modes on offer and the drive control lets you select it. The full range of stability control is better realized in the normal mode while the more slippery conditions need the winter mode. Then the TracDSC allows one some leeway before it comes into the picture and provides added stability to the car. One can switch off the dynamic stability control but not the traction control thing. Adaptive dynamics along with the drive control perform in tandem to provide for a more sportier feel to this car. A flag icon on the dashboard is to be pressed for activating the dynamic mode. In this mode, the car gets an aggressive steering feel, quicker gear shifts and also the suspension gets stiff. The ECU also gets calibrated differently and the tail pipes also accordingly change their sound tone. Turning on or off the various buttons in the cabin leads to a sort of riot with the XFR ditching its skirts and moving on like exactly how a Jaguar should, like a scalded cat. Though the suspension is an adaptive one, there is no stiffness to it like the way the German cars are configured.
Most of the Jaguars including the one discussed here get the 5 liter supercharged V8 petrol engine which makes 508 Bhp of power at a lofty 6500 rpm while the torque figure reads as 625 Nm at 2500 rpm. It is mated with a 6 speed auto transmission. The transmission is super refined and the car literally flies from 0-100 kmph in 4.8 seconds and achieving a top speed of 250 kmph. Moreover, unlike the peaky nature of the German supercars, this one has got a good amount of tractability dialed into it and this makes it an easy everyday car to live with. Brakes are said to be a tad spongy but they do deliver the goods and that is what matters. The power ratings are sure to deliver a shove down one’s back when the accelerator pedal is pressed. Fuel efficiency is something which shouldn’t be spoken about in super cars but then for the Jaguar XFR, Jag claims that it is one of the most fuel efficient cars in its class, if there was any.
If at all, it comes here, then the Jaguar XFR price in India would be approximately Rs 80 lakhs. At this price, it definitely is a steal to the more costly Porsche Panamera. If Jaguar’s plans are all in place, we can see the Jaguar XFR in India by end of 2012.
