Comfort & Room: 11/15
With a relatively generous wheelbase (116.5 inches) and a space-efficient cabin, the XF offers comfy and, for a sedan of this type, spacious accommodations. Up front, the seats are comfy and supportive and there’s plenty of room even for tall adults. The real differentiator is in the back. Though the XF is quite low-slung, it actually offers a little more rear headroom than Audi, BMW and Mercedes and appreciably more legroom than the latter two (37.7 inches in the Jag vs. 36.5 in the Bimmer and 35.8 in the Benz).
This was more impressive in the era before the current Genesis G80 though, which offers 38.7 inches of rear legroom and more space in back than all but the Lexus ES and Volvo S90. The Volvo, which is nearly a full-size car and comes only with a long wheelbase (its standard-wheelbase version was dropped in 2018), is the rear seat legroom champ in this group.
Performance: 8/15
With the old supercharged V6 deleted, the XF now comes only with a pair of turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines. The P 250 S and SE get 247 horsepower and 269 pound-feet of torque while the P 300 R-Dynamic SE ups the ante to 296 hp and 295 lb-ft. Both engines are mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission. The base P 250 S is rear-wheel drive, while the other models are all-wheel drive (AWD).
Though you expect performance and luxury from a Jag, you get more of the latter from the XF. it has a lovely and compliant ride but doesn’t feel very quite sporty, even in R-Dynamic trim.
The chassis, transmission, brakes, and engine all have individual merits. The body motions are controlled and don’t crash over rough bumps, displaying the longer travel, comfy-on-a-country-lane suspension familiar to British cars. The transmission’s shifts are smooth and precise; it’s the same ZF 8-speed used in the Audi A6 and BMW 5 Series. The brakes have plenty of bite. The motor has a decent amount of thrust and a sweet exhaust note.
But these components don’t add up to the satisfying experience most rival sedans offer. The car feels like it’s arguing with itself, misunderstanding the instructions each system sends to the central brain. It wasn’t unbridled, like a wild horse—that can be fun. It was more like driving a team of horses, all with slightly different ideas of how to get somewhere.
Jaguar’s lack of any additional powertrains means it has no answer for any of the higher-spec models in the German and Korean arsenals, like the AMG E 53 or G80 3.5T.
Style & Design: 7/10
While still a good-looking and curvaceous design, the XF is not helped by the fact that this second-generation model drew so closely on the styling of the circa-2007 first-gen model. Though the details are different, it was not easy to tell them apart at first and now that it’s been eight model years, it looks older than it should. It’s still pretty, but looks like something you’ve seen before because you have. It lacks the newness of competitors from Germany, Genesis, or even the Cadillac CT-5.
2021’s cabin updates gave the XF better tech features and a nicer (if still a little temperamental) shifter, but they also seem to have erased some of the magic of the cabin as it was before. It’s spare and modern, but lacks the charms of old-school burled walnut Jags. It’s a cut above any mainstream sedan but seems a bit anonymous compared with the A6, G80 or E-Class.
It may be graying, the XF is sure to be the last in a long line of sporty sedans from this famous make, and you only have until 2024 to get one. Forbes Wheels Staff
Infotainment: 13/15
The XF comes standard with an 11.4-inch infotainment touch-screen and runs Jaguar Land Rover’s Pivi Pro infotainment system, which is currently making its way through all of the company’s products. You’ll find a similar setup on the F-Pace, and the system should stay fresh for a long time as it can handle over-the-air updates.
The screen is big and the graphics top-notch, as are the maps in the standard navigation system. It’s not a hard system to learn and the menus are easy to navigate and read even in motion, though we prefer a system with more hard controls. If you don’t care for Pivi Pro, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard, as is a wireless cell phone charging dock and a 12-speaker Meridian audio system.
Jaguar quotes 19.1 cubic-feet of space in this trunk, which is huge for the class, although it isn’t necessarily easy to use all of the space. Jaguar
Notes to Editors
Information about Jaguar North America products is available to consumers at www.jaguarusa.com. Visit us.media.jaguar.com for news releases, high-resolution photographs and broadcast quality video footage. Additional media updates are available on Facebook (JaguarUSA) and Twitter (@interactivejag).
About Jaguar
Jaguar has made dramatically beautiful luxury cars since 1935, driven by its passion to make life more extraordinary for its customers. Today’s world-class Jaguar model range comprises of the XF luxury sedan, F-TYPE sports car, F-PACE performance SUV, E-PACE compact performance SUV and all-electric performance SUV, the I-PACE. From 2025 Jaguar will become a pure electric modern luxury brand with a dramatically beautiful new portfolio of emotionally engaging designs and pioneering next-generation technologies. The journey towards electrification is already under way with a range of mild hybrid and full electric models available today. For more information, visit the official Jaguar website at www.jaguarusa.com.
About Jaguar Land Rover: Reimagining the future of modern luxury by design
Jaguar Land Rover is reimagining the future of modern luxury by design through its distinct, British brands.
Our current model range embraces fully electric and mild-hybrid vehicles, as well as the latest gasoline engines. Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles are in demand around the world and in Fiscal 2020/21 we sold 439,588 vehicles in 127 countries. Land Rover is the global leader of luxury SUVs through its three families of Range Rover, Discovery and Defender.
At heart we are a British company, with two major design and engineering sites, three vehicle manufacturing facilities, an Engine Manufacturing Centre and a Battery Assembly Centre in the UK. We also have vehicle plants in China, Brazil, India, Austria and Slovakia. Three of our seven technology hubs are in the UK – Manchester, Warwick (NAIC) and London – with additional sites in Shannon, Ireland, Portland, USA, Budapest, Hungary and Shanghai, China.
Central to our Reimagine strategy is the electrification of both the Land Rover and Jaguar brands with two clear, distinct personalities. All Jaguar and Land Rover nameplates will be available in pure electric form by the end of the decade. This marks the start of the company’s journey to become a net zero carbon business across its supply chain, products and operations by 2039.
As a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors since 2008, Jaguar Land Rover has unrivalled access to leading global players in technology and sustainability within the wider Tata Group.
JAGUAR CONNECTIVITY
AMAZON ALEXA
Amazon Alexa will be available on all new and existing Jaguar vehicles fitted with its advanced Pivi Pro infotainment system2,3. Owners of compatible vehicles will be able to enjoy the benefits of intuitive voice-enabled experiences thanks to a no-cost software-over-the-air update.
The seamless integration brings the familiar Alexa experience into the vehicle and provides natural voice interaction with Pivi Pro features including navigation, media playback, phone calls, and compatible smart devices.
APPLE CARPLAY AND ANDROID AUTO
Every vehicle in the 2023 Jaguar lineup is equipped with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto(8).
Owners can interact with key mobile apps, such as Spotify, WhatsApp and Waze, through the vehicle’s touchscreen in a manner similar to a smartphone. Where equipped, certain functionality can even be controlled via the vehicle’s Voice Control, providing additional convenience. Owners will simply connect their smartphone to the vehicle via a compatible USB cable and select Apple CarPlay or Android Auto on the vehicle’s touchscreen(8).
Safety & Driver Assistance Tech: 11/15
The 2023 XF has not been rated by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) nor the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which costs it some points in our evaluation. However, it gets a five-star rating from the European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP), an EU Agency which conducts similar tests.
Jaguar also bundles in many active safety features, some of which cost extra on the XF’s German rivals. They include forward automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring, exit warnings and rear cross-traffic alerts.
The XF offers more rear seat room than BMW or Mercedes-Benz, despite the Jag’s sleek shape and sloping roofline. Forbes Wheels Staff
Is the 2023 Jaguar XF Worth it? Which XF is the Best Value?
The base XF P250 S starts at $48,275 including a $1,150 destination fee, and it’s the best value of the lot. It comes with lots of standard equipment including all the active safety gear, heated leather power front seats, a power sunroof, surround-view monitoring and lots more. Right out of the door, this is $2,000 less than the G80, $7,000 less than the BMW 530i and nearly $9,000 less than the entry-level Audi A6 and E-Class models. Whatever the Jag’s shortcomings, that’s at least a bargain.
Upgrading to the P 250 SE ($50,575) adds AWD and some extra equipment, and the P 300 R-Dynamic SE ($53,975) adds the more powerful engine. The extra power is nice, but it also puts the car in more direct competition with the yet-more-powerful and roomier G80, which also has a lengthier warranty and other advantages. Stick with the base model if you’re after an XF.
