Jaguar XF News

Based on the XF Sportbrake that has, until now, only been available in four-cylinder or V6 guise, the XFR-S Sportbrake packs a mammoth 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine. Power is pegged at 404kW and 681Nm of torque, while a slick eight-speed automatic gearbox sends drive to the rear.The zero to 100km/h sprint is claimed to take just 4.8 seconds, or 0.2 seconds slower than the sedan. Both cars are electronically limited to a top speed of 300km/h.The XFR-S will also feature reworked suspension components to provide a more engaging drive, while 20-inch ‘Varuna’ wheels cover larger brakes. The electronically controlled rear differential employed by the XFR-S sedan can also be found in the Sportbrake. Of course the R-S has been treated to a host of visual enhancements to give it a more aggressive appearance. The front bumper now features larger cooling ducts, while the bonnet incorporates louvres to extract heat from the engine and the front fenders now have ‘gills’. At the rear of the car you’ll find a larger carbon diffuser housing quad exhaust tips.The Sportbrake can also be had in this striking shade of ‘Ultra Blue,’ unique to the fast wagon. It’s not as shouty as ‘French Racing Blue’ applied to previous R-S models, but still pronounced.  Inside the Sportbrake boasts carbon-fibre trim and sports seats with contrasting micro-piping and stitching. Boot space is quoted as 1675 litres when the rear seats are folded flat.It is understood that only a handful of XFR-S Sportbrakes will be available globally, and the local Jaguar HQ has already scotched our hopes that any of those rare birds might come here. “We don’t have any plan to bring that car into the Australian market,” Jaguar Australia spokesperson Bethany Allsopp told Carsguide.

Based on the XF Sportbrake that has, until now, only been available in four-cylinder or V6 guise, the XFR-S Sportbrake packs a mammoth 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine.Power is pegged at 404kW and 681Nm of torque, while a slick eight-speed automatic gearbox sends drive to the rear. The zero to 100km/h sprint is claimed to take just 4.6 seconds.The XFR-S will also feature reworked suspension components, bigger brakes, and wider wheels and tyres to improve handling. The electronically controlled rear differential employed by the XFR-S sedan is expected to feature in this Sportbrake version as well.Of course the Sportbrake has been hotted-up visually to give it a more aggressive appearance. The front bumper now features larger cooling ducts, while the bonnet incorporates louvers to extract heat from the engine. At the rear of the car you'll find a larger diffuser housing quad exhaust tips. It can also be had in this striking shade of blue, unique the Jaguar's 'R-S' models.It is understood that only a handful of XFR-S Sportbrakes will be built with few, if any, coming to Australia. We'll have more details once the car has been revealed at the Geneva motor show on March 6. 

The 59-year-old, one of the last senior executives from the tumultuous Jacques Nasser era, started as Ford's vice president of design in 1997 after working with BMW, Audi and Volkswagen.

Dick Van Dyke, famous for his roles in the Mary Poppins movie as well as television series The Dick Van Dyke Show and Diagnosis: Murder, had to pull over when a Jaguar XJ he was driving down a Los Angeles highway yesterday caught fire.A passerby, seeing the 87-year-old actor still in the car with smoke emerging from under the hood, pulled Van Dyke to safety before calling emergency crews.California Highway Patrol spokesman Leland Tang told News York Daily News that Van Dyke was able-bodied at the scene and didn’t actually need any help to get out of the car. Fortunately, no one was injured. Van Dyke’s wife Arlene, 41, later said on Twitter that her husband was fine.It’s not clear what the cause of the fire was but onlookers said it started in the engine bay. Jaguars aren’t particularly prone to catching on fire so the cause here is quite a mystery. As the video above shows, the fire engulfed the whole car before emergency crews were able to put it out.Jaguar has recently recalled the XF 2.2-litre diesel model over a defect that could cause fires, but the recall is not related to the vehicle Van Dyke was driving yesterday.www.motorauthority.com 

If you like the cultured growl of a Jaguar XK or the fierce snarl of the new XFR-S, you'd best enjoy it while you can.

It's the XFR-S tweak of the Sportsbrake and it promises the best performance of any Jaguar wagon. It gets the 405 kiloWatt supercharged V8 already in the XFR-S sedan, as well as a bunch of body, brake and suspension upgrades to match the power boost.

The new Jaguar XFR-S sports sedan has been one of the worst kept secrets of the year. A string of prototypes have been spotted lapping Germany’s Nürburgring for months--with minimal camouflage--and Jaguar itself has dropped numerous hints along the way.Now the automaker has confirmed that a reveal of its new XFR-S will take place at next week’s 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show, and to get us all riled up has released this single teaser image.The teaser image reveals the look of the car’s front-end styling, which like the existing XKR-S adopts some very aggressive treatment for the intakes as well as a splashing of carbon fibre for the aero pieces.No other details were revealed apart from the fact that the new XFR-S will be the fastest and most powerful sedan in Jaguar’s history. Also shared with the XKR-S will be a supercharged 5.0 litre V8 tuned to deliver 405 kilowatts  and 691 newton-meter of torque.All of this will be channelled to the rear wheels, most likely via the latest ZF eight-speed automatic. Expect 0-100 times of less than 5.2 seconds and a top speed of approximately 299km/h. First sales are to start in early 2013 overseas. Also on display on Jaguar’s stands in LA will be the new 2014 F-Type in its Black Pack performance trim.www.motorauthority.com  

The British rival to the Mercedes E63 and BMW M5 is coming next year. The XFR-S has been extensively tested at the Nurburgring to ensure it can tackle the Germans head-on.

The Indian-owned British marque Jaguar has new model variants on the way with naturally-aspirated V6 and V8 petrol engines falling by the wayside.