Jaguar XF 20d Prestige 2016 Review

Jaguar XF 20d Prestige
Road Test

Jaguar is making big impressions in all the right places with its second-generation XF. It hits target dead-centre in the luxury market and brings British charm into a heavily German-influenced segment. At $82,800 (plus on-road costs), the Ingenium diesel-engined XF 20d Prestige might be the entry level model, but it doesn’t ask for any real compromises.

Jaguar’s director of design, Ian Callum, was on a roll when the new XE and XF models were revealed to the world within six months of each other.

To anyone uneducated in Jaguars the new sedans, though belonging to two distinct market segments, were almost undistinguishable. Grace, space and pace were apparent, but there was not a lot of differentiation. Producing the new XF, the designers seem to have taken the clay model of the XE and packed it out to approximately 105 per cent of its original size.

Not that that’s a bad thing. Unless you are an XF owner seeking an elevation in status over the smaller XE, you’d have to be impressed. In a world of over-designed cars the XF – like the XE – flows beautifully with its sensual, well-judged proportions and, without being too conservative, a welcome lack of gratuitous creases, curves, bumps and bulges. Time should not weary it.

And where the XE is a close dimensional match for the likes of Mercedes-Benz C-Class, BMW 3 Series and Audi A4, the XF is pretty much lineball with the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, BMW 5 Series and Audi A6.

But with its aluminium-intensive structure it weighs (unlike the XE which is heavier than some of its direct competitors) substantially less than similarly-specified rivals apart from the BMW 520d. With a tare weight of 1556kg in 20d Prestige form as tested here it is well below the 1718kg E 220 CDI Benz and the 1770kg Audi A6 diesel. The BMW is quoted close to the XF at 1580kg tare weight.

The XF’s trimness combines with its new-generation Ingenium diesel engine to give advances in fuel economy and exhaust emissions where it sneaks in (just) below its German rivals with a quoted 4.3L/100km and 114g/km – both impressive figures for a large luxury sedan.

At a pre on-roads price of $82,800 the 20d Prestige is the entrée to the new XF range but it upholds the glory with a pretty impressive list of standard gear including autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning, self-parking, rearview camera, xenon headlights, Taurus leather trim, 10-way power adjusted front seats, power-adjust steering column, sat-nav and a rich-toned 380-Watt Meridian sound system.

On the missing list and surprisingly optional across the entire XF range are safety features such as lane-keep assist (with driver condition monitor), blind-spot monitoring and reverse cross-traffic detection.

With the exception maybe of the plain Jane 18-inch wheels, the XF Prestige is imbued with a suitably impressive sense of leather-trimmed luxury. Neat outer dash air vents are hidden once the car is switched off, there’s a rotating gear selector (as per XE) and there’s a well-judged mix of gloss black, patterned satin and shiny chrome trim. The controls tend towards minimalistic and are pretty intuitive to operate with a tactile mix of push button and touch-screen functions covering sat-nav, phone and media, all separated from the climate-control buttons lower in the centre console.

And, because the specifications tell us it’s 282mm longer and 137mm wider than the XE it is impressively accommodating inside and suggests Jaguar is not fibbing when it tells us the XF has segment-leading rear-seat space.

But although the 505-litre boot is pretty generous it slips behind its rivals, especially the 540-litre Benz E-Class. Unlike the narrower XE, the XF is not quite so hindered by the intruding rear suspension towers when loading through the split-fold rear seats (which are opened from inside the boot and can at times be a little clunky to use).

The Jag’s all-power front seats – with three memory settings on the driver’s side – are as cosy and supportive as you’d expect of a sportily-inclined luxury sedan and, as mentioned, there are no complaints from the front or rear when a full complement of adult passengers are on board. Our drive notes accurately described the XF as “wide and stretchy” inside.

That’s the space and the grace, so what about the pace?

I’ve looked forward to my first experience with Jag’s new Ingenium diesel engines and wasn’t disappointed with the refinement and capabilities of the 2.0-litre four-cylinder. It falls behind the BMW and Audi in kilowatts (132kW at 4000rpm compared with 140kW at 4000rpm and 4200rpm respectively) but is ahead of the larger-capacity 125kW E 220 CDI Benz. It punches out more torque than everybody though: Where its rivals produce a universal 400Nm, the XF offers 430Nm.

This keeps the Jag in front of Benz and Audi in zero to 100km/h acceleration, which it accomplishes in a quick-enough 8.1sec (8.4 and 8.5 respectively for Benz and Audi), but it’s still behind the muscly, light weight BMW’s quoted 7.7sec.

What’s good about the Ingenium 2.0-litre is that, with its maximum torque available from just 1750rpm, it always feels responsive and seems generally quieter and smoother than it does in the smaller XE. Helped by its light weight (only 80kg more than the equivalent XE) and the slick-shifting ZF eight-speed automatic transmission with manual-override steering wheel paddles, the four-cylinder diesel XF feels appropriately Jaguar in terms of accelerator response.

The ride, controlled by “passive” dampers that use an extra valve to reduce forces at low speeds, is quiet and fluid, is helped by a long wheelbase that falls just 40mm short of three metres. The XF has that wide, agile, low-slung feel that characterised golden-era Jaguar sedans such as the original XJ6 from 1969.

The electric power steering is pretty close to perfectly weighted for a sedan with above-average agility and is quick too, swinging from lock-to-lock in 2.6 turns.

If I was asked about any particular features concerning the Jaguar XF that may have stuck in my craw I’d be struggling. The fuel consumption, though it didn’t match the official 4.3L/100km, was still pretty impressive at 6.0L; and although the 66-litre fuel tank seems small for a sizeable sedan it helps keep weight down without overly impacting the potential cruising range which calculates out to as much as 1000km.

My only real beef is that the cruise control is a complete runaway when going downhill. It needs to be watched if you are not that keen on the prospect of being hit with a speeding ticket.

Considering most of the XF’s competitors now incorporate auto-braking into their cruise control systems this was something of an aberration in a segment-challenging, impressively refined British luxury sedan.

2016 Jaguar XF 20d Prestige pricing and specifications:
Price: $82,800 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 132kW/430Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 4.3L/100km (ADR Combined) / 6.0L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 114g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star (EuroNCAP)

Also consider:
>> Audi A6 diesel (from $82,400)
>> BMW 520d (from $84,800)
>> Mercedes-Benz E 220 CDI (from $82,900)