LuxuryCarMagazine En Luxury Car Review and News
The name; the prestige
I’m always equal parts excited and not when I’m about to pick up a Jaguar for a weeklong test. I get excited because I love the idea of Jaguar. It’s akin to Volvo where this brand in simply not an Audi, BMW or Mercedes. It’s far more than that too. The name Jaguar conjures up visions of opulence, royalty and more important, styling, and performance. And I’m not excited because the product generally falls short of my expectations.
This time, with this XF 20d AWD R-Sport, I’m left on the fence. With an as-tested price of over $75k, I expect refinement, comfort, and control. Within minutes of leaving with the car, I experienced rattles, a noisy engine and so-so ride quality. I felt I’d been punched in the gut. The car needs to be quieter, much more so. The suspension needs to reduce road irregularities with as much suppleness without affecting handling. About that, on a few occasions, I thought I felt the car skip ever so slightly, as if neither the springs or struts knew what to do when mildly compressed, going around a bend…
But then, I came to love the new Ingenium 2.0-litre turbo-diesel 4-cylinder engine! But not the ZF 8-speed autobox, that is unless it was in Sport mode. The mill pumps out a massive 318 lb.-ft. of torque at 1,750 rpm, catapulting the car forward, or just as soon as the onboard computers put their cigars out, gulp the remaining scotch in their glasses and button up their vests. The amount of lag creates a dead spot, then a sense of emergency. Sport mode annuls most of that.
So here I am, in love and in hate with yet another Jaguar. The rattles and creaks from the sunroof and noisy diesel clatter are absolute turn-offs. Yet, the car is beautiful, even in Santorini Black, with its ebony and red interior, lovely wheels and sleek body. And the torque!
This kind of money gets you lots of Jag, but also a fair amount of Merc with more refinement, and equal prestige. What’s in a name?
