Yahoo Autos 2018 Jaguar XF
Overall Rating:
The ravishing XF moves with graceful intensity and shuttles the affluent in quiet comfort. Its dashing appearance and nimble handling have become staples of the Jaguar brand, which represents an exclusive curbside club due to its limited sales. While the XF has a handful of powertrain options, none are explicitly quick compared with similar rivals. The luxury coachmaker imbues this carriage with a spacious cabin and contemporary infotainment, but the leather quality and recalcitrant touchscreen were disappointing. Still, the XF is a rare and refined sedan that will inflate your ego and deflate your wallet.
What’s New for 2018?
Jaguar added new engine options and more tech to the XF lineup for 2018. The XF S with a 380-hp supercharged V-6 remains, but the 340-hp 35t trim has been dropped. That makes room for the company’s all-new Ingenium 2.0-liter inline-four. The turbocharged engine is available with 247 ponies on the 25t or 296 on the 30t. Along with the updated powertrains and new trim names, the XF welcomes more active-safety options such as forward traffic detection and forward vehicle guidance to help drivers with the apparently difficult task of parking and staying in their lane. The new Portfolio trim ups the luxury ante; a hands-free power-operated trunklid is new, too.
What’s New for 2017?
The XF was completely redesigned for its second generation in 2016. The changes inside and out were a subtle but attractive evolution of the outgoing version. Most notably, Jaguar switched to an aluminum-intensive architecture to reduce weight and stretched the wheelbase for improved interior space. The lightened Jag was initially available in the United States with two supercharged V-6 engines; all-wheel drive was offered for the first time. For 2017, the main update to the XF was the addition of a 180-hp diesel inline-four that is specific to the 20d model.
Trims and Options We’d Choose
With the introduction of the new entry-level 25t, the XF’s starting price drops slightly to $48,770. The diesel-powered 20d only costs another $1500, but it lacks the standard equipment of less expensive rivals such as the Audi A6 and the Volvo S90. Before its demise, we liked that the 340-hp 35t had similar performance to the pricey 380-hp XF S. Unfortunately, now buyers have to either shell out the extra cash to upgrade or settle for a four-cylinder. Since the performance of the XF S doesn’t match its price-and we haven’t tested the 296-hp XF 30t-we’d choose the all-wheel-drive 25t that starts at $53,760. The Prestige version costs another $4460 but features these desirable upgrades:
• Heated front seats and steering wheel
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Passive entry
• Navigation
Although there are several option packages that include active-safety features, fancier infotainment items, and luxury appointments such as soft-close doors and cooled front seats, they push the price above $60,000. That amount might be insignificant when our preferred XF already totals $58,220, but we’ll let prospective buyers decide which extras are must-haves.
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