Jaguar XFR (2009) CAR review

Just as the storm clouds of recession gather, now is hardly the best time to launch an all-guns-blazing, unleaded-glugging super saloon with enough firepower to sink a 1990s Ferrari. But product lifecycles and automotive industrial sequences being what they are, Jag had no choice with its new XFR. It was hardly going to wait until clearer weather to launch its answer to the M5/RS6/E63. Jag’s a company in hot water right now, and it needs new product to lure in new buyers. And the XFR certainly grabs your attention.

Not for its looks, mind. The XFR treatment is meted out subtly on this high-performance Jag. It rides on gorgeous 20in alloys, sports discrete R badging and has the most delicately re-noodled of aero aids. If you like to announce your brawn like Brabus, look elsewhere. Those bonnet vents are perhaps the most obvious giveaway...

Jaguar XFR: the tech story

The new Jaguar XFR is interesting for the depth of its engineering. There’s a sledgehammer version of the new, enlarged, direct-injection V8; where the regular 5.0 is primed to sup fuel, this one has a supercharger bolted on to massage peak power to 503bhp and a tyre-wilting 461lb ft of twist from just 2500rpm.

At last, Jag’s hot saloon gains a proper active differential, too. Not one of those namby-pamby, electro-diffs that’s all ESP and no trousers. This one is a real mechanical diff, albeit governed by electro chips. As we’ll see, it holds the key to the XFR’s handling prowess…

Enough tech! First impressions on the road?

We already know and admire the XF in regular trim (check out our progress with our long-term test 2.7 D here). If anything, the standard car is too stiff and sporting, having lost some of the velvety pampering that have long marked out Jags over their harder German rivals.

However, this intent of purpose helps the transition to XFR. The steering at first feels too light, but it firms up nicely in corners and the helm remains fast-acting and pointy enough to make this 1.9-tonne big saloon feel remarkably agile (thank a new rack with 2.5 turns between locks).

Crack on and the diff comes into play, quelling understeer and – if you provoke it with a surfeit of those 461lb ft – you’ll provoke delicious slides of the sort that make Pirelli shares soar. Regardless of road surface, you can oversteer the XFR all day long and it’s beautifully balanced on the limit. Amazingly, the diff that makes all this sideways progress possible is actually hardware from the Land Rover Discovery SUV.

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