I recently had the opportunity to attend the Jaguar club of South Africa’s annual concours d’elegance on a wine farm near Stellenbosch. I don’t usually attend brand-specific events such as this, mostly because at CAR we simply can’t feature them. If you do attend, and then not write anything, the result is that the organiser ends up being annoyed at you for eating the cheese and drinking the wine, and then having the gall to not give any coverage. However, this Jaguar event was different, because I knew I would be attending the launch of the new XF in America only a month later.This club event, I reasoned, would allow me to get a glimpse of the history of the marque, so that I could put the XF, which signifies a clean break with the past, in proper context. Plus, any reason is good enough to have another look at the E-Type, the Mark II saloon and XK120. In a recent blog I wrote that pretty things make me cry. Well, in its colourful history Jaguar has made cars that have made me weep. Get a beer or three in me, and I’ll even admit to having fantasies about the ‘80s XJS… And don’t even get me started on the XJ220.

So, when I started my career in motoring journalism, a drive in a Jaguar was certainly something I looked forward to. And then it came, in the shape of the then new X-Type. What a disappointment. Of course, the X-Type represents all that was wrong with recent Jaguar design – too much looking back, budget constraints forcing the marque to raid the Ford parts-bin, and, perhaps, naivety about the strength of Jaguar’s image…

The new XF is the product of a company that has learnt some tough lessons during the past two decades. That it is here, and that it is so good, is a small miracle, considering it was developed during a particularly difficult time in Jaguar’s existence. (As you read this, final talks between Ford and the likely new owner of Jaguar are in process). The future now looks much rosier for this iconic British marque, because whoever the new owner is, it will have money to invest in new products. And if Jaguar’s future products are as good as the new XF, then the new owner has made a very clever investment indeed…

In the recent past Jaguar has tried to design its new cars to be modern versions of its most revered historic models. It didn’t quite work. The XF’s predecessor, the S-Type, looked particularly wonky. The XF, however, is not like this. Although it uses references to previous models (look at the original XJ6 to see where the new car gets its grille from), there is nothing retro about XF. Much of the XFs’ design work was done by a young Brit named Wayne Burgess, the same guy responsible for the world’s prettiest car, the Aston Martin DB9. Burgess admits openly to taking cues from this car for the XF, especially around the rear.

On the road, the XF looks sensational. It’s just as good inside, where the previous high and traditional-looking facia has been replaced by a low-slung one peppered with clever design ideas. Slide into the driver’s seat and notice the start button on the centre console “pulsing”, an indication that the car is waking up. Press it and the ventilation outlets (all closed at that point), do an elegant ballet and swivel open. But the very best of all is the new gear selector device, called JaguarDrive Control. Similar to BMW’s iDrive controller in appearance, this is the XF’s transmission “lever”, and it rises out of the centre console into the palm of your hand. Selecting a gear is ridiculously easy – you just rotate the knob into any of the usual modes (Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive and Sport). Get into the car at night and you’ll be awestruck by another XF trick – Phosphor Blue cabin lighting. This gives the XF’s passenger compartment a very contemporary ambience, inspired by what you would usually see in spas and upmarket bars.

Having spent about ten hours in the car (both in the driver and passenger seats), I can certainly vouch for its comfort. The seats are nicely padded, being neither too soft nor too firm and offer good support too. A minimum of eight-way electric adjustment is offered, with the SV8’s driver’s seat boasting 16-way adjustment. The centre transmission tunnel has been raised to reinforce the feeling of “sitting in” the car, as opposed to on top of it. All XFs come luxuriously equipped. But if there is one option you must go for, it is the optional 440W Bowers & Wilkins sound system, which features Kevlar speaker cones, amongst other things. I’m no sound expert, but the clarity and “oomph” are brilliant. So then, the XF’s design, inside and out, bowled me over.

What is it like to drive? Well, you’ll have to wait for the full driving impression in the February issue of CAR. But let me put it this way – I have seen video clips of the XF being flung around with the abandon usually reserved for sports cars, driven by the man who has made it so, Mike Cross, Jaguar’s chief chassis expert. Stunningly good dynamics were a high priority from the start…

Unlike America, which will only get the two V8 engines, South Africans will have access to the entire line-up, including the 3,0-litre V6 petrol and 2,7-litre turbodiesel. In Phoenix, however, I could only drive the 4,2-litre V8 (219 kW and 411 N.m), and its supercharged (306 kW and 560 N.m) version.

The hype that followed the début of the XF at Frankfurt last year was significant. This is always dangerous, because very high expectations almost always lead to some degree of disappointment. Thankfully, the XF is not one of those… It arrives at a time when the segment it competes in can really do with something fresh. The XF is certainly that. There is simply nothing stuffy about it. It is everything a modern Jaguar should be. At last. South African pricing:

XF 2,7D Luxury R509 000

XF 2,7D Premium R553 000

XF 3,0 Luxury R499 000

XF 3,0 Premium R543 000

XF 4,2 Premium R605 510

XF 4,2 SV8 Premium R783 850

For comprehensive overview of the Jaguar XF Click here.

Original article from Car