Jaguar’s diesel XF in class by itself
Lacking rivals, midsize luxury sedan proves impressive on its own
Those shopping for a new, midsize luxury sedan with allwheel drive and a diesel engine don’t have much choice.
The once-venerable Audi A6 TDI is gone, a victim of Volkswagen Group’s emissions cheating scandal. Americans also can forget about the indefinitely delayed BMW 535d xDrive. Or they can wait for a diesel version of the Mercedes-Benz E250, but it’s not due until next year. Luckily, there’s a new player. Absent competition, the new Jaguar XF 20d, which we tested for a week in its all-wheel-drive version, has unexpectedly cornered a niche market by default. It arrives with a starting price of $49,245, including $995 destination charge.
Overall, the entire XF lineup finally is on par with its luxury rivals. That’s largely thanks to a much-needed redesign in 2015 — its first since the car’s 2008 debut. It now comes with musthaves such as active safety technology and optional all-wheel drive.
New for 2017 is the entry-level 20d version, which offers an 180horsepower, 4-cylinder turbodiesel engine. That might sound like too small a powerplant for an upscale sedan, especially when you compare it to now-gone Audi A6’s 6-cylinder turbo-diesel.
But even during a leisurely 7.9second jaunt from 0 to 60 miles per hour, the Jag feels plenty responsive thanks to its lightweight aluminum construction, making it 408 pounds lighter than the Audi.
Although the XF is no Land Rover, all-wheel drive still helped on snowy roads, lending a gentle hand whenever a wheel lost its grip.
Another nice touch: a lowspeed start setting that helped me extricate the XF from a snowy driveway without sublimating the rear tires into a cloud of smoke.
Yes, the 2-liter diesel’s exhaust note sounded a bit more gravelly than a gas engine, but it had none of the clatter of a Mack truck or a Reagan-era Oldsmobile. If it weren’t for the badge on the back and the mileage estimate on the window sticker, you’d probably never realize it’s a diesel.
Inside, things get a little more extravagant. There are vents that conceal themselves behind panels when the air conditioning is turned off, a shift knob that descends into the center console when the engine is turned off and a start-stop button that pulses like a heartbeat. Those touches might have felt like gimmicks when they debuted on the original XF a decade ago, but they’ve since become part of Jaguar’s identity.
Most importantly, Jaguar finally ditched its sluggish old infotainment system, which was bad enough to justify skipping the brand altogether.
The new touchscreen-based setup is responsive and can play cool tricks, like memorizing your commute to automatically route you around traffic. It can also search for a parking garage when you arrive at a destination or play apps from your phone.
Unfortunately, the XF’s new kit doesn’t come with CarPlay or Android Auto compatibility. So, despite all the work that went into it, the infotainment system still feels at least two years behind a current Audi — let alone a $15,000 Mitsubishi Mirage. Similarly, the full color LED screen behind the steering wheel is a wasted opportunity. Like Audi’s Virtual Cockpit, it’s customizable and can show everything from vehicle settings to a full-color map. Unfortunately, the Jaguar’s screen returns to its default display — a simple gauge cluster — whenever the car is turned off. No, the XF isn’t perfect, and if the diesel A6 still existed I’d sing its praises. But well-heeled diesel aficionados in snowy states can rest assured Jaguar had all its former competitors in mind when it was designing the XF.