First ride in one new Jag, preview of another,
It tops out at 300 km/h, a limit set by its electronic controls
SEATTLE Success almost always breeds copycats — emulation, if you’re trying to be polite to the successors, counterfeits if you’re not.
As the unfortunate failure of many originators has proven, when you follow in the footsteps of trailblazers who did not fail, it is much safer than trying to be original. It may not be the romantic ideal of Hollywood, but imitation is assuredly the easier road.
That road is made even easier if the bright light you intend to imitate is your own. Indeed, when a company decides that future success should echo previous successes, it’s called a formula, and Jaguar’s XFR-S is nothing if not formulaic (and I use that in the most positive sense of the word). Virtually all of the upgrades the top-of-the-line S makes in comparison to a run-of-the-mill XFR are exactly the same as those that transform an XKR into the XKR-S.
The XFR-S’s new 550-horsepower engine, for instance, is lifted with virtually no alterations from the XKR-S. The S engine is essentially the base R version of the 510-hp Jaguar Land Rover supercharged V8 without any torque-limiting ignition retarding and a freer-flowing exhaust system.
So important is this last trait that Jaguar press officials tried to illustrate the more aggressive utterances by showing us a wildly coloured schematic detailing the difference in frequency response of the XFR versus XFR-S exhaust note, the visual explanation of an aural phenomenon surely one of the least useful explanations in the history of automobile journalism.
Nonetheless, said changes really do butch up the XFR-S; the garden variety XFR’s comparatively muted exhaust always sounds like it’s trying to impress ladies in minivans with its relatively modulated sound while the new S’s bark is all about putting the fear of God into M5 owners. And no, you can’t capture that on a diagram, no matter how vivid the colour separation or how exacting the frequency delineation.
And don’t those 40 extra horses just motor the XFR-S along. The first 100 kilometres an hour arrive in just 4.6 seconds, as easily as stepping on the throttle and letting the traction control system and the eight-speed automatic transmission do their voodoo thing. Ramp it up long enough, and Jaguar says the package (is good for 300 km/h.
The company says that even that colossal figure is electronically limited, which should give you some impression to exactly how seriously quick this relatively inexpensive (at $104,500, just $16,500 more expensive than the base XFR) performance sedan really is.
The XFR-S’s chassis (unlike the XJR’s) also emulates the XKR-S’s. Besides the increase in spring stiffness (without, surprisingly, completely ruining the ride) that minimizes body roll, the XFR-S adopts the XKR-S’s much more rigid front steering knuckle and rear suspension-attaching subframe (I think it’s about time I apologize for all the Rs and Ss this article is forcing me to fling around).
Jaguar claims a 30 per cent increase in the lateral rigidity of the steering components. And anyone doubting the performance advantage of something as innocuous as a steering knuckle should drive these two Jaguars back to back. The XFRS’s steering feels amazingly more communicative and precise, the connection between steering wheel and tire seemingly more direct and immediate. That may not mean much driving down Main Street, but it sure helps matters when you’re pushing the S as hard as Jaguar’s marketers seem to intend.
Indeed, the XFR-S’s main liability is a stability control system that’s a little too vigilant; it does allow some smile-inducing slides, but once it intervenes, the party is definitely over with the traction control system cutting in abruptly. Nonetheless, despite being 90 kilograms heavier than the XJR we tested at the same Ridge Motorsports Park, the XFR-S proved, by far, the more precise and adept at playing silly buggers.
And silly buggers is something Jaguar’s marketers obviously intend for the XFR-S. Like the similarly endowed XK coupe, this most steroidal of XFs is aimed at those who will — always in the safe confines of a closed course, of course — actually push their otherwise family-oriented four-door sedan as if it were a sports car.
This used to be the sole purview of BMW and its M cars. Now Jaguar (and it must be said, MercedesBenz’s AMGs and the RS versions of certain Audis) is joining the party.