We'd consider giving up essential organs for the opportunity to drive one digit of vehicles on the Nürburgring: Supercars, racecars, track cars, even sweltering hatches... But a station wagon? That might not seem like a top scale by initially blush, but this is thumbs down ordinary wagon. This is the Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake.
Now if with the intention of first name leaves you scratching your head, here are several skilled reasons for with the intention of – not smallest amount of which is the unfortunate actuality with the intention of, unlike so many performance-oriented crossovers and sport-utes, the Sportbrake is not existing in North America. But suppose it were, or with the intention of weren't a thing. You'd likely still be missing wondering how the first name Jaguar ended up on a station wagon in the initially place, and how with the intention of apparatus wound up impact the calligraphy R-S, the suffix affixed single to Coventry's generally hardcore performance models.
Our concise story goes back a little ended two years to as Jaguar revealed the XF Sportbrake by the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, giving its mid-level sedan an elongated roof and added load room. The Sportbrake could not be the initially wagon to wear the Leaping Cat badge, but following the lamentable X-Type Sportwagon, it may possibly be argued with the intention of the XF is the initially authentic Jag estate.
Inside giving prospective Jaguar buyers the option of a wagon – or, conversely, wagon buyers the opportunity to drive a Jaguar – the quintessentially British automaker did not at the start offer a performance version. Not until two years shortly as it revealed the XFR-S Sportbrake by the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, skipping one square petrol-powered options (which it does not offer in one promote save for China) and aptly ended the XFR performance develop existing on the sedan and vacant straight for the generally improbable cross-breed it may possibly be inflicted with fictitious. Having struck us from the get-go as the kind of wagon we had to make our hands on, we eagerly headed to Germany to experience it first-hand.
Walking around one ordinary Euro wagon – say, a diesel-powered XF Sportbrake, for model – you could discover physically wondering how much interval it has or how much stuff can fit in it. But circumnavigating the XFR-S Sportbrake, your eyes customarily incline a reduced amount of towards the back than they sort out to the front. That's everywhere you'll discover a familiar story, but lone which we haven't exhausted of telltale solely yet: It's Jaguar's long-serving AJ-V8, an engine urban with ford Premier Auto Group money in the mid-90s. The engine has powered models from Lincoln, Aston Martin, Land Rover, and even the retro ford Thunderbird, but it has permanently been a Jaguar engine initially and foremost, and by this top, it's found its way into everything Coventry makes.
It's furthermore been updated, having developed to displace 5.0 liters and quantity a supercharger. But everywhere the same V8 churns made known 470 horsepower in the XF Supercharged and 510 hp and in the XFR, in this, its ultimate incarnation to appointment, output has swelled to 542 horsepower and 502 pound-feet of torque. It's the same spec you'll discover not single in the XFR-S sedan, but furthermore in the outgoing XKR-S Coupe and Convertible, the shiny extra F-Type R Coupe and the flagship XJR sedan. But with a 4,336-pound check consequence – 200 pounds heftier than the sedan on which it's based – the Sportbrake is not single the heaviest of with the intention of performance sextet, its the heaviest vehicle Jaguar makes. Inside detail, it's weightier than approximately Land Rover offerings, models like the LR2/Freelander, Evoque and Defender, though considerably lighter than the LR4/Discovery, Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. That nets the XFR-S Sportbrake a quoted 0-60 calculate of 4.6 seconds – 0.2 seconds slower than the sedan, but hardly sluggish for whatever thing but a top-flight performance develop, and downright blinding for a wagon with 19 cubic feet of load interval (59 cubes with the rear seats folded).
That combination of power and sensibleness deposit the XFR-S Sportbrake in league with single the likes of the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Estate, Audi RS6 Avant and Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon – all of which employs a uncommon stretch for "wagon" – but, like the Jag, packs a forced-induction V8 with ended 500 horsepower to speedily haul whatever you've got. The Mercedes and Audi both offer more power and more torque for faster performance, but make here with turbochargers and all-wheel drive. The supercharger and rear-wheel drive deposit the Jag more in line with the Cadillac, which could seem more made known of appointment (especially with a new-generation standard CTS already out), but both the CTS and XF were introduced back in 2007, with the Jaguar undergoing a facelift in 2011. The CTS-V could furthermore offer more punch for a reduced amount of cash, but that's single significant in markets everywhere both are sold. Inside the UK, the XFR-S Sportbrake carries an all-in catalog fee of £82,495, representing a £2.5k premium ended the sedan. Adjusting for the UK's predictable fee and taxation premium, we'd ballpark a fee of $103k if it were existing Stateside. Unfortunately, it's not, but at that time, neither is the RS6 or the all-wheel-drive CLS63 AMG Shooting Brake, leaving single the E63 and CTS-V to duke made known this fastidious battle on American roads.
Our route took us along twisting mountain roads and sweeping spans of Autobahn from the airport in Frankfurt, westward through the Eifel mountains on a pilgrimage to holy ground: The vaunted Nürburgring Nordschleife. Jaguar on loan made known the track for the full morning, furthermore giving us the opportunity to sample the XJR and XFR-S sedans as well as the F-Type R Coupe (the latter single for a regrettably paced warm-up lap). Needless to say, the F-Type felt the generally by family on the 'Ring, but the Sportbrake more than held its own. This, despite its consequence penalty ended both sedans (the better XJ being made of aluminum versus the less important XF's steel frame). The XFR-S furthermore facial appearance a more performance-tuned suspension than the XFR or XJR (even the Ring Taxi version in which we shortly rode shotgun), and the Sportbrake's bits are additional retuned to soubriquet the superfluous consequence.
Climb made known of the XFR-S sedan and into the Sportbrake as we did in linking sweltering laps, and everything feels familiar: The thick-rimmed steering veer and the well-bolstered seats tell you this is a pure-bred, as does the electric-blue top-stitching and carbon-textured leather spruce. The latter accents could not be everyone's cup of Earl Grey, but helps differentiate the lodge interval in an XFR-S – sedan or wagon – from an XF in more pedestrian spruce. The single business with the intention of will tell you this is not, in detail, a sedan but a long-roofed wagon is as you look in the mirrors: The tunnel-vision through the rear-view mirror and the stretched roofline everywhere the spoiler might be on the sedan as viewed through the feature mirrors.
Nor will you likely notice the consequence penalty some time ago you make tender. Not in one unenthusiastic way, by one rate. That superfluous bulk is shifted ended the rear wheels – not a bad place, with all, to deposit it in a rear-drive car, whether you're looking to advance traction or (with the electronics fit to Track mode or defeated entirely) single-minded to break it for approximately sideways proceedings. If the discrepancy doesn't pop made known by you on the Nürburgring, it's not likely to anywhere moreover, either. Think, as we did, of the little difference perceptible linking coupe and convertible versions of a supercar like the McLaren 650S and you won't be far rancid.
The fanatical might fancy for vaguely weightier steering (though feel and response leave little to be desired), and a missing pedal with a morsel more early bite under braking. With so much consequence to attach, a fit of carbon-ceramic brakes might be in order, but for the calculate being, with the intention of equipment remains exclusive to Jaguar's top sports coupes. Old-school as it is, the supercharged V8 packs a punch and pulls increasingly up and down the rev range, and the exhaust annotation – unimpeded by turbo spools but augmented by the faint drone of the supercharger – is still following to not any. The eight-speed automatic transmission gives you bounty of ratios to point out from, and with the gyratory dial twisted to Manual, it holds whichever cog you've summoned by scull as close to the redline as you dare rev.
Teaching a vehicle this generous and gray to dance, meanwhile, is thumbs down straightforward feat. By civil rights, something this size must seem like it has two missing feet – but the XFR-S Sportbrake will take on everything the Nordschleife has to toss by it and ask for more, all lacking delivering too punishing a compromise along bumpier roadways. And despite its relatively generous profile, the Sportbrake proved assuringly established by alacrity, even by the indicated 175 miles for every hour we reached by the aim of a fresh stretch of vacant, derestricted Autobahn, by which top the XFR-S felt like it may possibly keep pulling to its quoted 186-mph top aim.
At the aim of two memorable days of driving on approximately of the preeminent swaths of pavement we may possibly ask for, here wait hardly any vehicles for which we would be inflicted with agreed up the keys to the Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake. Maybe a handful of supercars, racecars, track cars or sweltering hatches, but not many – especially if we wanted to bring approximately acquaintances, family tree or at a loss pets along for the ride. Nor would you discover on with the intention of fleeting catalog many sport-utes or crossovers – American buyers' taste for which wait the foremost wits why foreign automakers like Jaguar won't disturb bringing ended a performance wagon like this lone (and why BMW won't get on to a Touring version of its extra M5 altogether).
Like all splendid things – and get on to thumbs down mix in this area it, a supercharged Jaguar on the Nordschleife is generally beyond doubt a splendid business – our experience with the Sportbrake eventually had to occur to an aim. But with this much power, float, prestige and sensibleness, the XFR-S missing us longing for a low-slung power wagon to call our very own equally as much as we did for a further lick up or two of the 'Ring. Inside the aim, with the intention of could be the generally impressive feat Jaguar has performed to appointment.
sources: autoblog.com
Now if with the intention of first name leaves you scratching your head, here are several skilled reasons for with the intention of – not smallest amount of which is the unfortunate actuality with the intention of, unlike so many performance-oriented crossovers and sport-utes, the Sportbrake is not existing in North America. But suppose it were, or with the intention of weren't a thing. You'd likely still be missing wondering how the first name Jaguar ended up on a station wagon in the initially place, and how with the intention of apparatus wound up impact the calligraphy R-S, the suffix affixed single to Coventry's generally hardcore performance models.
Our concise story goes back a little ended two years to as Jaguar revealed the XF Sportbrake by the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, giving its mid-level sedan an elongated roof and added load room. The Sportbrake could not be the initially wagon to wear the Leaping Cat badge, but following the lamentable X-Type Sportwagon, it may possibly be argued with the intention of the XF is the initially authentic Jag estate.
Inside giving prospective Jaguar buyers the option of a wagon – or, conversely, wagon buyers the opportunity to drive a Jaguar – the quintessentially British automaker did not at the start offer a performance version. Not until two years shortly as it revealed the XFR-S Sportbrake by the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, skipping one square petrol-powered options (which it does not offer in one promote save for China) and aptly ended the XFR performance develop existing on the sedan and vacant straight for the generally improbable cross-breed it may possibly be inflicted with fictitious. Having struck us from the get-go as the kind of wagon we had to make our hands on, we eagerly headed to Germany to experience it first-hand.
Walking around one ordinary Euro wagon – say, a diesel-powered XF Sportbrake, for model – you could discover physically wondering how much interval it has or how much stuff can fit in it. But circumnavigating the XFR-S Sportbrake, your eyes customarily incline a reduced amount of towards the back than they sort out to the front. That's everywhere you'll discover a familiar story, but lone which we haven't exhausted of telltale solely yet: It's Jaguar's long-serving AJ-V8, an engine urban with ford Premier Auto Group money in the mid-90s. The engine has powered models from Lincoln, Aston Martin, Land Rover, and even the retro ford Thunderbird, but it has permanently been a Jaguar engine initially and foremost, and by this top, it's found its way into everything Coventry makes.
That combination of power and sensibleness deposit the XFR-S Sportbrake in league with single the likes of the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Estate, Audi RS6 Avant and Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon – all of which employs a uncommon stretch for "wagon" – but, like the Jag, packs a forced-induction V8 with ended 500 horsepower to speedily haul whatever you've got. The Mercedes and Audi both offer more power and more torque for faster performance, but make here with turbochargers and all-wheel drive. The supercharger and rear-wheel drive deposit the Jag more in line with the Cadillac, which could seem more made known of appointment (especially with a new-generation standard CTS already out), but both the CTS and XF were introduced back in 2007, with the Jaguar undergoing a facelift in 2011. The CTS-V could furthermore offer more punch for a reduced amount of cash, but that's single significant in markets everywhere both are sold. Inside the UK, the XFR-S Sportbrake carries an all-in catalog fee of £82,495, representing a £2.5k premium ended the sedan. Adjusting for the UK's predictable fee and taxation premium, we'd ballpark a fee of $103k if it were existing Stateside. Unfortunately, it's not, but at that time, neither is the RS6 or the all-wheel-drive CLS63 AMG Shooting Brake, leaving single the E63 and CTS-V to duke made known this fastidious battle on American roads.
Climb made known of the XFR-S sedan and into the Sportbrake as we did in linking sweltering laps, and everything feels familiar: The thick-rimmed steering veer and the well-bolstered seats tell you this is a pure-bred, as does the electric-blue top-stitching and carbon-textured leather spruce. The latter accents could not be everyone's cup of Earl Grey, but helps differentiate the lodge interval in an XFR-S – sedan or wagon – from an XF in more pedestrian spruce. The single business with the intention of will tell you this is not, in detail, a sedan but a long-roofed wagon is as you look in the mirrors: The tunnel-vision through the rear-view mirror and the stretched roofline everywhere the spoiler might be on the sedan as viewed through the feature mirrors.
Nor will you likely notice the consequence penalty some time ago you make tender. Not in one unenthusiastic way, by one rate. That superfluous bulk is shifted ended the rear wheels – not a bad place, with all, to deposit it in a rear-drive car, whether you're looking to advance traction or (with the electronics fit to Track mode or defeated entirely) single-minded to break it for approximately sideways proceedings. If the discrepancy doesn't pop made known by you on the Nürburgring, it's not likely to anywhere moreover, either. Think, as we did, of the little difference perceptible linking coupe and convertible versions of a supercar like the McLaren 650S and you won't be far rancid.
The fanatical might fancy for vaguely weightier steering (though feel and response leave little to be desired), and a missing pedal with a morsel more early bite under braking. With so much consequence to attach, a fit of carbon-ceramic brakes might be in order, but for the calculate being, with the intention of equipment remains exclusive to Jaguar's top sports coupes. Old-school as it is, the supercharged V8 packs a punch and pulls increasingly up and down the rev range, and the exhaust annotation – unimpeded by turbo spools but augmented by the faint drone of the supercharger – is still following to not any. The eight-speed automatic transmission gives you bounty of ratios to point out from, and with the gyratory dial twisted to Manual, it holds whichever cog you've summoned by scull as close to the redline as you dare rev.
Teaching a vehicle this generous and gray to dance, meanwhile, is thumbs down straightforward feat. By civil rights, something this size must seem like it has two missing feet – but the XFR-S Sportbrake will take on everything the Nordschleife has to toss by it and ask for more, all lacking delivering too punishing a compromise along bumpier roadways. And despite its relatively generous profile, the Sportbrake proved assuringly established by alacrity, even by the indicated 175 miles for every hour we reached by the aim of a fresh stretch of vacant, derestricted Autobahn, by which top the XFR-S felt like it may possibly keep pulling to its quoted 186-mph top aim.
At the aim of two memorable days of driving on approximately of the preeminent swaths of pavement we may possibly ask for, here wait hardly any vehicles for which we would be inflicted with agreed up the keys to the Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake. Maybe a handful of supercars, racecars, track cars or sweltering hatches, but not many – especially if we wanted to bring approximately acquaintances, family tree or at a loss pets along for the ride. Nor would you discover on with the intention of fleeting catalog many sport-utes or crossovers – American buyers' taste for which wait the foremost wits why foreign automakers like Jaguar won't disturb bringing ended a performance wagon like this lone (and why BMW won't get on to a Touring version of its extra M5 altogether).
Like all splendid things – and get on to thumbs down mix in this area it, a supercharged Jaguar on the Nordschleife is generally beyond doubt a splendid business – our experience with the Sportbrake eventually had to occur to an aim. But with this much power, float, prestige and sensibleness, the XFR-S missing us longing for a low-slung power wagon to call our very own equally as much as we did for a further lick up or two of the 'Ring. Inside the aim, with the intention of could be the generally impressive feat Jaguar has performed to appointment.
sources: autoblog.com
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