Jaguar XF test drive since 2012 sedan

Rebirth of the classics

You can dye your hair in some kind of radical color. You can defiantly open. You can, on the contrary, undress Donaga in front of everyone. You can start grueling the song right on the street. You can fight with a run over the wall with your head. But none of the above will attract, perhaps, as much attention as the brand new Jaguar XF on the streets of even such an sophisticated city as Moscow attracted.
 
After the first pair of minutes driving Jaguar, I realized that I will not have a calm life in the days of the test drive. The views of all those around him seemed to be directed precisely on me. And I realized how to feel (if they have consideration) exotic fish in the aquarium or what was the underwear to the king. But, of course, not my modest person forced everyone to turn their neck. The people liked my cat. Wonderful, emeraldly green cat. No, this definition is not a consequence of an acid evening. The people who turned after the XF rushing past will understand me about a very beautiful color, delightfully transfusing in the sun, remotely reminiscent of the legendary British Racing Green.
 
Having parked the car near the editorial office, I sometimes leaned out the window and saw that madness was ongoing. Around the car, several people constantly walked, looking at with undisguised curiosity, studying it and peering through the glass inside. Once again I went out into the street in order to poison myself with the usual amount of nicotine, I found a couple of boys around XF, one of whom, not quite understanding what kind of outlandish car was in front of him, expressed various assumptions. To which the second, apparently more knowledgeable in this matter, answered him: yes you cho! Well this is Jaguar, bast shoe!
 
I stand, watch these boys, and I myself think: is it Jaguar? (At this place, another portion of readers will not consider me in their right mind, but there is a meaning in my words.) Beautiful? For the majority, of course, yes. In English is stupid? Perhaps it is. Solid? What! Compared to the previous S-Type, its successor increased significantly in size. Elegant? Without a doubt! Take a look at least at the very inclined front and rear windows, a stylish hood with a substete and a magnificent rear part with a chrome -plated bar with a jaguar inscription in a full width. But something is still wrong.
The breed is not traced as clearly as before. The heir to the glorious MK is with difficulty. The idea that true English values \u200b\u200bin design are lost is constantly moving somewhere in the depths of the subconscious. Where is the classic quad -eyed lighting technology, where is the obligatory sloping trunk? They are not here. And those who remember the legendary models of KH and XJS of past generations, this cannot but upset.
 
But one cannot but admit the absurdity of the conversations that Jaguar should remain a jaguar. In the modern automobile world, this is impossible, whether we want it or not. The British, working on the creation of XF, understood this very well. As they understood the fact that now on some branded traditions you will not go far that you need something else to increase sales. The concept of Car C XF, presented at last year's Detroit car dealership, showed that the new Jaguar will be different. And thousands of people around the world froze in anticipation of a serial sedan. The brand fans were waiting for the start of sales with the hope that XF would still be more like her classic models. The rest, realizing that there would be no return to the past, were waiting for the Jaguar of the 21st century original and high -tech. And, as we see, it was their hopes that were justified.
 
It is worth admitting: despite the fact that the appearance of the modern Jaguar can hardly be seen by the English car, it cannot be called ordinary. The squat silhouette in combination with some stunning designer finds of air intakes on the front wings, powerful hips, original lighting and stamping on the sides attracts views like a magnet. The car really resembles a cat prepared for jumping, tense and assembled. Once again I run around on the smooth surfaces of XF and I understand that, perhaps, in fifty years and about this car they will talk about a representative of a classic English school. Everything flows, everything changes.
 
The Jaguar XF interior may not be as comfortable as the company's previous models. He conquers others: filigree manufacturing quality and a number of innovative solutions. Chairs, a convenient planting in which you find the first time, are sewn from magnificent light leather. The top of the front panel and the steering wheel are also decorated with skin, but dark brown. The seams are perfect. The decoration with wood and metal everywhere to the place and leaves no doubt about its presentness. The blocks of control of microclimate and glass windows are somewhat out of the chic situation, borrowed from the Ford, but taking into account the space blue backlight, you do not even remember this. In the dark, this neon glow literally fascinates!
 
I click on the engine start button, and at the same time as a long -known 4.2 liter eight comes to life under the hood with juicy grunts, two things are happening in the cabin, which cause a children's smile of emotion on my physiognomy: a rotating cylinder grows from the central tunnel, using it, using Which is the choice of the operating mode of the 6 -step machine, and, breaking around its own axis, ventilation deflectors appear, which before that were disguised for the metal finish of the front panel. Neither one nor the other had previously found on any of the serial cars. The original solutions! Although, of course, costing additional money and potentially fraught with excess malfunctions.
 
In the Jaguar movement is incredibly comfortable. The suspension with adaptive shock absorbers of Cats calmly, without fuss, practices irregularities, almost not disturbing passengers. Again, like a cat, gently walking on its paws. Perhaps E Classe and 5 Series, with which XF is called to fight, is not rivals here. With an increase in speed, I notice that the volume of the Bowers & Wilkins audio system (not some kind of Bose!) Does not increase. And this is not necessary! Silence in the salon at any speed of the grave. Only the voice of the motor and baritones of perfectly configured release at high speeds slightly breaks through exactly so much as not to forget about 300 power forces, nothing more. And outside this sound simply excites blood! Here the breed has not gone away this Jaguar!
 
I go to the familiar wide highway near Moscow with one thought: was it really the whole point in creating another comfortable liner? Will the XF manage its competitors in handling and speed? I translate the lever, I turn it (I don’t know what to call it in Russian, but in English there is a wonderful word JOG) This same JOG automatic checkpoint in position S, and the cat will fare away! Gas reactions become much sharper, the suspension is assembled, the box makes the engine spin to the very top and holds the transmission to the last. Great machine gun. Holding petals are an empty toy for homegrown Schumachers. XF rushes forward. The set of the second hundred is almost as rapid as the first. Do not have time to blink, and on the speedometer already for 200 km/h.
 
The steering wheel for high -speed maneuvers is poured with pleasant informative weight. Perhaps we can say that XF controllability is slightly inferior to the XK compartment if it is inferior at all. The 20 km of the highway flew quietly. I unfold on the butterfly interchange, noting very small rolls and an excellent balance of the car, and return to the city. Speed \u200b\u200babout 180 km/h cruising. There is a feeling that you are slowly rolling at 100120. In the cabin, there is still the same silence and calm. But on each maneuver or overtaking, the cat strains muscles and again quickly rushes forward, devious kilometer per kilometer predatory. Blimey! Excellent!! But this is a version of XF with an ordinary, and not more than a 400-horsepower turbocharged engine !!!
 
It seems to me that the defenders of English classicism are in vain spit after the new Jaguar XF. Don't like outwardly? And the classic should be reborn. Not like a strange interior? But he is still perfectly hidden and, moreover, acquired a lot of interesting, original and perfectly executed things. There are not enough arguments. They are nothing, even in comparison with how the XF is going perfectly.
 
Of course, I am not Nostradamus, but, I see such a future. XF is awaiting success. Moreover, many people who had not previously had about Jaguar will buy it, and not least for his modern, and at the same time different from others, for being in the spotlight. And they definitely will not regret the purchase, knowing this car in motion. And those who now accept XF in hostility will understand that it was a real Jaguar when the next generation of the model is born. It has always been so, it will be so in the future
 
Dmitry Krotov

 
 

Source: Motor magazine [May 2008]