Jaguar's last great four-door for sale
The new all-electric Type 01 is nearly upon us - the old XFR is a reminder of when it last broke the mould
Not long now. Not long till October rolls around and Jaguar, with its heart in its mouth and hopefully without egg on its face, launches the new Type 01. The journey, you’ll hardly need reminding, has been not just a long one (we first saw the concept nearly two years ago) but also about as fraught as it’s possible to imagine. Much of this anxiousness is of the manufacturer’s own making, even if some of the reactions to its initial unveiling now seem even more overblown than they did at the time. Still, it is all now grist to the mill. Jaguar will not want for eyeballs in New York.
Impossible, really, to compare the fanfare to anything it has done before because in previous years there was no giant tinderbox of public opinion to ignite. Or not at the bewildering, near-instantaneous scale there is now. Plenty of Jaguar’s cars are justly famous, but generally mean something to a much smaller crowd - i.e. those of us who like to visit ancient car forums to discuss them. That the Type 00 rivalled the likes of the Tesla Cybertruck for front page/viral presence says all you need to know about its impact on 2024.
Of course, in the aftermath of this tidal wave, Jaguar could at least console itself with the idea that its wider rebrand - always destined to suffer detractors - was definitely not going unnoticed. True, the firm’s old-school tie did not need ripping off like an unwanted band-aid (a stunning miscalculation), yet at the same time, it could hardly be blamed for thinking something wildly different was required. Too frequently in the past, Jaguar was guilty of flying under the radar.
The XFR is a case in point. Building a performance-oriented version of its crucial mid-sized exec made perfect sense - and in the then-new 5.0-litre supercharged V8, Jaguar had the ideal means to achieve it - but to look at, the flagship was as understated as Queen Elizabeth’s wellies. For those of us partial to such things, this velvet-glove-over-iron-fist approach was tremendously welcome; to everyone else used to the more shouty Germanic way of doing more than 500hp, it did not automatically appeal.
This was a shame not just because it helped convince Jaguar that there was no point in repeating its efforts with the XE, but because the XFR’s failure to sell in greater numbers became emblematic of a wider failing: i.e. yet another model that enjoyed much critical praise, but still didn’t resonate with sufficient customers for it to be considered a success. Little wonder that in time this came to seem like the writing on the wall, ultimately sending Jaguar down a path that resulted in a four-door EV with twice the power - and ten times the look-at-me attitude.
Time will tell if the new combination succeeds where the old one failed. But we do know for sure that after nearly two decades, a good example of the old XFR offers terrific value for money. This one, with around 80k on the clock, one previous owner and the subject of a far-reaching £8k service just last year, appears to be just that. Yes, because it looks great and sounds better and goes like the clappers (while being very composed and comfy), but also because it will cost you no more than £10,995. What better - and cheaper - way to say farewell to Jaguar’s fabled yesteryear?
They've proven to be tough and capable of big miles, probably the least needy >500bhp European cars you can get?
erm..... surely the x351 XJ, and its R version broke the mould after the XF which came before the XJ. The XF was only really a reskin of a pastiche of the 60s S-type rather than a complete smash of a 40 year tradition that the XJ was.
Still, XFR is a great car, looks so much better in facelift form
erm..... surely the x351 XJ, and its R version broke the mould after the XF which came before the XJ. The XF was only really a reskin of a pastiche of the 60s S-type rather than a complete smash of a 40 year tradition that the XJ was.
Still, XFR is a great car, looks so much better in facelift form
And by chance I may have one for sale...
I particularly liked the fact that the XFR wasn't particularly shouty to look at. Although it did have a LOT of "Supercharged" scripts dotted about the place. But almost none of the in-your-face vulgarity that seems to be increasingly the norm these days.
I've often been tempted to move away from Mercs into one of these or an SV8. Or an X150 for that matter.
The only minor issue I came up against when looking at the XK's was the relative effort and expense needed to retrofit Carplay/Android auto as you can't just piggy back something into the Aux channel.
It is a fair bit easier on these facelift models with the Bosch rather than Denso audio systems, although the add-on box has been known to kill the OEM sat nav hard disk.
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