The Jaguar of tomorrow is going to be very different to the one we know and love. You’ll likely have an opinion on it, and the thousands of comments that have been left here and on our social media posts suggest it’ll be a strong one. But to play devil’s advocate for a moment, Jaguars have always been big on luxury, even when they were rebodied Ford Mondeos, and the new offering looks as though it’ll be no different - albeit with a clean-sheet design. What it won’t have, however, is the sort of big, grumbly V8s that have characterised sporty Jags for decades.
Now, we could spend hours discussing Jaguar’s decision to go all-electric when the likes of Porsche, BMW and many others have chosen to keep investing in combustion engines, but instead let’s consider the old V8 Jags you can pick up for (comparatively speaking) peanuts. Just £14k gets you this lovely X350 XJR, while this one-of-50 XKR-S can be had for a fiver shy of £25k. Eight-cylinder F-Types are available for similar money, and £35,995 gets you this very smart R - or throw an extra £10k on the fire you’ll have all the V8 Jag you could ever wish for: this glorious XFR-S Sportbrake.
What a monster this thing is: a 5.0-litre, supercharged estate with 550hp and 502lb ft under your right foot. It’s the same engine as the aforementioned XKR-S, and is enough to hurl you, four of your family members and a couple of dogs from a standstill to 62mph in less than 5 seconds, and could comfortably complete most journeys at a constant 45-degree angle with smoke billowing from the rear tyres. So loopy is the XFR-S that it’s hard to imagine any family will be having as much fun as yours will when riding around in big blue.
Of course, shoving shouty V8s into relatively ordinary saloons and estates is something we used to be quite good at here in Britain. Take the MG ZT 260 and Rover 75 V8, for example, and although the Vauxhall VXR8 was technically an Australian car with an American engine, it wore a British badge and, therefore, we’re counting it as our own. What was a bit different about the XFR-S, however, is that it was a properly well-engineered platform to begin with. Certainly it was no lightweight at 1,980kg, but it could have been considerably heavier had it not been for the extensive use of aluminium.
Then, there are the bodywork changes. Jaguar put the XF through a wind tunnel for 100 hours to fine-tune the aero kit, resulting in that deeper carbon chin spoiler and the diffuser fins around the back. The saloons got a small wing, too, but the Sportbrake obviously forgoes it. That does mean you get 1,675 litres (with the seats down) of luggage space in return, and arguably a better-looking silhouette as a result. Other changes were firmer springs, tweaked anti-roll bars and adjustments to the rear brakes to account for all the extra mass at the back.
It’s a shame we only ever got one iteration of the XFR-S, with the follow-up model topping out with the much more sensible V6 S. That might be because too few people bought them new. Jaguar earmarked 100 for the home market, though it’s believed only 61 XFR-S Sportbrakes were built during a very short production run between 2014 and 2015. Of those, just 26 are said to be Ultra Blue examples which, I’d argue, is the best colour to have it in. Granted, the £43,995 asking price does put it in the firing line of various performance wagons, like this newer E 63 Estate or this Audi RS6. But you’ll still be able to buy new examples of both long into the future. A V8 Jaguar though? Their days are long gone.
SPECIFICATION |JAGUAR XFR-S SPORTBRAKE
Engine: 5,000cc V8, supercharged
Transmission: eight-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 550@6,400rpm
Torque (lb ft): 502@2,500-5,500rpm
MPG: 22.2
CO2: 297g/km
Year registered: 2015
Recorded mileage: 27,000
Price new: £82,495
Yours for: £43,995
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