Jaguar XF 4.2

[Ferrer]

I've had the opportunity to drive this car today. And what a car. Especially compared to the old A6, they are like night and day.

For a start the exterior looks better in person that in pictures, but I still can't help thinking that while it looks good Jaguar has lost a bit of distinctiveness while going modern. The interior however is superb, with excellent modern design. The quality isn't up to the Audi's level, but it's very good anyway. And of course the car had virtually everything, sat-nav, electric and ventilated seats, voice control (which manages to be stupid and pointless at the same time) and the Bowers & Wilkins stereo (which sounded fantastic). The seats though were excellent, supportive and comfortable at the same time, they reminded me of the ones in the Mini. And the driving position was very good too.

But all of this doesn't really matter, what is important is how it drives. And I'm happy to report that it makes the A6 look like a bad car. First the steering, which unlike the A6 this one actually feels connected to the wheels. It's not quite as good as the Mini or the 1er, too light for my taste, but for a big executive saloon it's good. The handling is neutral with no hint of understeer and the car doesn't feel nose heavy, at least nowhere near as much as the Audi did. The car had 19 inch wheels, so there were masses of grip, but while the Audi crashed and bounced on the bumps the Jag seemed to glide over them, riding much better. Admitedly the roads where we drove were quite smooth but still I was pleasantly suprised.

The engine is the old 4.2 litre with about 300bhp. I doesn't feel massively fast, but there's plenty of power for about any situation you might encounter. When you are just cruising around it's very quiet, which contributes to the overall luxury feeling, but if you put your foot hard down it sounds great, up to the redline. It was thirsty though, the trip computer showing a 42l/100km average fuel consumption figure over our admitedly not exactly relaxed drive. The six speed auto is smooth changing most of the time, altough the kickdown felt more urgent and faster in the Audi and the flappy paddles give you full control in Sport mode. It's better than having to change gear with the lever, but overall you still feel a bit detached when you're really going for it compared to the good ol' manual.

All in all a great executive saloon. I loved it.