The Cheapest Jaguar ?

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KOMPAS.com - A Jaguar will be within reach of more buyers later this year after the British luxury brand unveiled a facelifted XF sedan with a smaller, four-cylinder engine.

Jaguar's rival for the BMW 5-Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class has been available only with V8 and V6 engines since it was launched in 2008, but the company expects to dramatically boost sales with a new 2.2-litre turbo diesel variant.    

                                                                                                             

Drive revealed last March that the XF would adopt the 2.2-litre diesel from sister company Land Rover's Freelander 2 SUV [insert link]. Crucially, it will allow Jaguar to compete with entry-level German competitors such as the 520d and E220 CDI that are both priced from $83,300.

The XF's version of the engine is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission and features a stop-start system that can idle the engine when the XF is caught in traffic, and instantly re-start it when the traffic starts flowing.

Producing a diminutive 140kW of power, but a storming 450Nm of torque that is expected to give silky rolling acceleration, the new engine brings fuel use down to about 4.5 litres per 100 kilometres on the European highway cycle, with emissions of just 149g/km.

The company pulled the wraps off its facelifted XF sedan at last week's New York motor show, revealing a slick redesign that is even more faithful to the CX-F concept car unveiled to the world in 2007.

The concept car used thin, slit-like headlights as part of its design, though when the XF production car was revealed later that year the headlights had made way for wider, more conventional units that provided a very different look that was criticised by some commentators. According to Jaguar's design director, Ian Callum, the new XF is looking more like the car he wanted.

'The original [XF] concept was done after we'd done [the production version of] the car - it's that simple,' says Callum.

'We did the XF, then we did the concept, and then we did this [New York car show] one.'

Callum says French laws previously meant slimmer headlights were not possible but that the issue has now been overcome with LEDs and bi-xenon lamps.

Radical exterior changes trickle back from the headlights, including a redesigned grille and lower air dam that uses unique triangular side vents to distinguish between models in a similar way to sister brand Land Rover's method of identifying the different Range Rover models.

At the rear, tail-lights incorporate LEDs for the first time, while the 'Jaguar' name that was once smeared across the bootlid is replaced with a nicer-to-the-eye stylised leaper.

Inside, the new XF has redesigned seats that are said to improve comfort, and a hard-drive storage system for music. In a nod to the slightly unintuitive layout of the previous LED screen's interface, Jaguar has added some buttons below the display to make switching between functions easier.

The new 2.2-litre diesel engine is expected to give much-needed stimulus to XF sales in a similar way that last year's introduction of a 3.0-litre twin-turbo diesel version helped the XF's pricing to slip below $100,000.

A spokeswoman for Jaguar Australia says it is too early to talk pricing for the new engine, but with UK production starting in July the fresh-faced XF is expected to arrive in Australian showrooms towards the end of the year.

source: kompas.com

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Posted in: BMW 5-Series,Jaguar XF,New York,New York International Auto Show