Tomorrow's Big Cat - 2009 Jaguar XF

Last week we drove the ultra-luxurious Jaguar XJ Super V8 sedan and enjoyed it. The XJ is a great car but at a sticker price of about $95,000 it’s more than a bit out of reach for most people. But Jaguar followed up that superlative ride with their brand new and ultra-hot XF Coupe. With a sticker price of $62,200, it’s still what the industry calls an “aspirational vehicle,” but it’s still $30-large cheaper than the sedan, and you get all the best stuff carried over from the XJ.

The XF features the same supercharged 4.2-liter V8 engine with 400 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque, mated with the same excellent 6-speed automatic transmission. The tranny features paddle shifters on the steering wheel and a “Sport” mode that shifts for speed better than most people can manage. The car is rear wheel drive, which is great for sporty driving, and that’s what you can expect from the XF.

The suspension on the XF is just as smooth as the higher-priced XJ, with its active “CATS” (Computer Active Technology Suspension) feature. Together with Jag’s dynamic stability control, the car won’t let you get out of hand with the ponies. But you turn off the stability control by pressing the button that’s conveniently labeled with a little checkered flag - then you’ve got the full power of the engine at your disposal, and no robotic nanny to take over the throttle if you decide to get all jiggy.

Driving the XF is a true “King of the Road” experience. Punch the little checkered flag and you can dust just about anything short of another supercar from a standing start. The XF is roomy, comfortable, and has every ding-dong you could want: backup camera, heated and air-conditioned leather seats, GPS navigation, nice stereo, blind spot monitor in the side mirrors, sunroof, real wood inside, Bluetooth - the whole enchilada. And it looks great and sexy besides.

One of the fun things about the XF is the sci-fi way that the vents open and the shifter open up when you fire up the car. The shift knob is an iDrive-style rotating dial on the center console. Press and rotate to select a gear. This was slightly annoying at times, because sometimes you have to press it to get it to rotate, and sometimes you have to give it a little upward tug - not what you want to be practicing while attempting to parallel park on a busy street! 

Another area with room for improvement is the fit and finish inside. A friend who’s also a human factors designer noted that the seams and cutlines in the cabin don’t always line up well. That’s a small issue for a driving enthusiast, but the kind of thing a luxury car aficionado will notice.

But after a few days getting comfortable with the controls, the overriding impression is that the XF is just an all-around fun car to drive. Even if I did get only 15.5 MPG in real-world combination driving, I enjoyed the ride. And really, if you’re ready to shop the XF, is the price of gas going to slow you down?

So, to the window sticker. As I noted at the start, the base price of the Jag XF is $62,200, and on this particular car, they’ve added $2,200 for their adaptive cruise control. This uses radar to look ahead of the car and if anything’s in the way, it will adjust the cruise (within reason) to maintain following distance. That’s nice for everyone who’s ever had the cruise set to 65 only to have the guy in front of you vary his speed between 63 and 67 for 100 miles. But at $2,200, I think I’d leave that option on the shelf.

The only other option on my test car was $300 for the heated, leather, 3-spoke steering wheel. Of course it has stereo, cruise, and telephone controls, but I think the only difference to the stock wheel is the heat. That’s a nice feature on cold days - a logical accessory to heated seats, and I’d cheerfully pay the three Benjamins for warm fingers.

The bottom line on the Jaguar XF is the same as the XJ - this is an awesome ride, if you can afford it. Certainly if you’re shopping the same bracket for a BMW or a Mercedes, you should take a good look at the Jaguar lineup.