2008 Jaguar XF SV8

Jaguar has always been a company that has maintained a deep styling link to their past. For the past 3 decades, the flagship Jaguar sedan, the XJ has been visually grounded in the same long, low and lean form that initially debuted during the late 1960’s. While the car has gotten longer and larger, and gradually had its sheet metal curves modernized, seeing the original XJ beside the most recent model makes it clear that Jaguar designers never strayed too far from the fold. While other luxury automakers have taken risks and explored new frontiers of style and engineering, Jaguar has been criticized for maintaining the design cues of the company’s founder, Sir William Lyons.

Realizing that this was costing them sales and threatening to have their traditional image re-cast as one that was stuck in the past, Jaguar took the radical step of abandoning the XJ and releasing the 2008 Jaguar XF SV8 as their new luxury sedan. The XF represents a complete break with Jaguar styling tradition and attempts to re-define what it means to be a Jaguar automobile. The XF SV8 bears the European 4-door coupe design, with a roofline that slopes rearwards to meet a short trunk. From the side, the sedan appears to be very similar to the Lexus GS series, with a shorter front overhang and more scalloped wheels. The front fenders bear the same faux-air vent indentation most often seen on BMW-designed Land Rovers, and the rear doors are much narrower than the front.

Viewed head-on, the Jaguar XF SV8 is much less dramatic than the XJ it replaces, and in fact it has more in common with anonymous Japanese sedans than sporting British heritage. An inoffensive oval-shaped grille is framed by bulgy headlights that cut into the front fenders, and lower air ducts in the bumper are split be functionless chrome bars. The interior of the car is more striking, with a simple dash mixing aluminum and wood accents, along with leather stitching that matches the seats and steering wheel. A large center touch screen handles the control of heating and entertainment options, and the most commonly used stereo controls are duplicated by buttons on the center console.

Also sharing the console is Jaguar’s unique rotary gear selector. Set flush to the console’s surface while the car is off, in order to start the XF and put it in gear, drivers must depress the break, use the push start button and then wait for the rotary selector to thrust itself up from its cubbyhole – not exactly the quickest of sequences. Other aspects of the Jaguar’s cabin are equally singular in their design: instead of latches or buttons, the glove compartment opens via a touch sensor. Similar sensors control map lights as well. Jaguar calls this the ‘JaguarSense system”.

Underneath the hood can be found the same 4.2 liter V8 that also made itself at home in the departed XJ. This engine makes an adequate 300 horsepower and 310 lb-feet of torque, but it is not quite at the same exciting level of power to be found in the Mercedes S-class. A 6 speed automatic transmission offers a sport mode which provides quicker and firmer shifting, and the XF suspension is more than up to the task of keeping the heavy sedan under control along twisty roads.

The 2008 Jaguar XF SV8 is a vehicle which is very competent in most areas, but which does not have anything particularly amazing with which to recommend itself to the discerning buyer. If consumers are looking for excellent luxury with reasonable performance, yet want to avoid the attention that vehicles in this class generally bring with them, then perhaps the XF is their best choice.







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May 18, 2008, 6:13 am