DOWN THE ROAD / Jaguar has more style, novelties, but less new hardware

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Just as Ford's trade to sell Jaguar to India's Tata Group is closing, the all-new 2009 Jaguar XF make its international debut.The XF is not a clone or derivative of a John John Ford product, but is a Jaguar-inspired replacement for the S-Type and will have got a batch to do with how the full Jaguar organisation menus under new ownership.

Realistically, it's outdo to believe of the XF as a sedan organic structure on XK coupe underpinnings. Even so, the 2009 XF doesn't have got the typical extravagance sedan boxlike style. The XF's coupe-like roofline and subtle, raised tree trunk eyelid lip be given to disguise this glossy sedan. And that same styling betters air flowing over the rear of the car, resulting in a retarding force coefficient of .29, the best aerodynamic public presentation of any production Jaguar ever.

Jaguar Design Director Ian Callum believes that retro styling have got a very short shelf life and once the corporate heirlooms have been raided, it is difficult to maintain the finished merchandise looking fresh. Ian have very purposely shied away from retro styling and says, "It have always been my calling end to go back Jaguar to its rightful topographic point as leader in automotive design."

According to Jaguar inside inside designer Alister Whelan, the XF interior shows more existent wood than any Jaguar since the iconic Mark two sedan in the 1960s. And true to Jaguar's core values of genuineness of materials, what looks like wood really is wood. Twin-stitched soft-grain leather gives the inside a epicurean appearance.

In the XF, many characteristics are unseeable until needful - a different attack from carmakers that pushing engineering as a dominant inside theme. The touch-screen controls many features, allowing mechanical buttons to be reduced to a discreet panel below the pilotage screen. Jaguar designing is about reducing clutter; the electric switches that are there primarily give speedy and easy entree to functions, such as as audio volume and clime control temperature.

On the centre console, the first thing Jaguar aficionadoes will detect is the absence of the gawky J-gate transmittal shifter. It's been replaced with a rotary picker switch. The start button in presence of the rotary gear wheel picker pulsations red, like a heartbeat. Press the button to begin the engine and the picker raises into the thenar of your hand. At the same time, the rotating air ventholes turn 180 grades from their flush closed place to their functional unfastened position.

Another "gee whiz" point is JaguarSense, a characteristic that usages touching - or proximity-sensing - to command operating expense comfort visible lights and the baseball glove box release. Aura visible light environments the controls on the centre comfort and temper lighting bathes the centre comfort in a cool bluish light, while concealed visible lights softly light the door-mounted switches.

The XF utilizes shift-by-wire transmission control, replacing the manual displacement linkage with electronic commands. The driver have the option of one-touch manual control via steering-wheel-mounted paddles. There is also a pick of multiple transmittal manners that lucifer accelerator sensitiveness and displacement scheme to conditions, including Sport and wintertime modes.

Jaguar's adaptive sail control is combined with normal sail control. A velocity clipper lets the driver to choose a upper limit velocity that should not be exceeded. A new unsighted topographic point monitoring device utilizes microwave radar rather than a camera-based system to cover countries that still can't be easily seen. And for the first clip on any Jaguar, a rear-facing digital picture photographic camera utilizes the touch-screen information centre for its display.

There's not much new under the hood, but that's not a bad thing. The new XF is available with a pick of two engines: a 300-horsepower, 4.2-liter naturally aspirated V8 in the Luxury and Premium models, and a 420-hp 4.2-liter supercharged V8 in a alone theoretical account identified as "Supercharged."

Naturally aspirated theoretical accounts utilize a conventional suspension, but the supercharged theoretical account utilizes Jaguar's computing machine adaptive engineering suspension with electronically controlled, two-stage, adaptive dampers that automatically set within msecs in response to route statuses and drive inputs.

Prices for the Luxury, Premium Luxury and Supercharged are $49,200, $55,200 and $62,200 respectively.

© Motor Matters, 2008

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