Thursday 31st March 2011

Jag XF Gets Facelift (And Four-Cylinder Diesel)

XF goes all 'age of austerity' on us with new super-economical diesel

---

Jaguar is to introduce a four-pot diesel to its XF range. The engine, familiar to many a Ford/Peugeot/Citroen/Land Rover driver, is the Ford-PSA developed 2.2 litre common rail turbodiesel, albeit fairly extensively modified.

It is installed longitudinally for the first time, gets a water-cooled turbocharger with low-friction pistons, new injectors and a new crankshaft. That north-south layout also allows a new oil pan and new electronic systems affecting the crankshaft, making the stop-start system more effective. It produces 188bhp, puts out 332lb ft of shove at 2000rpm and is likely to make its debut at this year's New York motor show.

The new diesel will be part of a facelifted XF which, as you may be able to tell from these mule pictures, will be taking on a little more of the XJ's on the nose and tail.

The 52.3mpg 2.2 will be the first XF to emerge from Coventry priced at under £30,000 and emitting less than 149g/km of C02, both factors being massively important to the company car buyers (and will no doubt help reduce Jaguar's overall CO2 average nicely).

The other major debut for the XF facelift will be the ZF 8-speed automatic gearbox. Considering the wonders Jaguar's engineers have managed with the 6-speed ZF unit, that should make for progress smoother than a Barry White CD covered in double cream.

What worries us here at PH HQ is whether or not this engine will be able to shift the big Jag (all 1600kg of it) at a rate suitable for a car wearing a leaping cat. Although the 2.2 XF's 0-62mph time of 8.5secs and 140mph top speed do at least seem respectable...

[Toffer]

I enjoyed the 2.2HDi engine in a C5 estate...very well developed, refined and astonishingly economical engine.

I am sure that with Jaguar's latest modifications and careful engine mounting, you will find it difficult to believe it has only four cylinders.

Also, with almost 200BHP and over 300lbft of torque it should go nicely...especially mid-range acceleration.

I think Jaguar have a potential winner here, that will get some company car drivers out of their Teutonic tackle and enjoying Bombay Dreams!

[Wadeski]

will the front end look a bit more like the concept?

[TaRD]

Ahh, that's what I saw a couple of weeks ago.

[tali1]

I think this is first time a car in this class has had a 4 cylinder engine?

[TheEnd]

There's quite a few of these out testing round Birmingham at the moment, I've seen a couple already today.

[Mafioso]

tali1 said:

I think this is first time a car in this class has had a 4 cylinder engine?

Several German cars spring rapidly to mind...

[anonymous-user]

tali1 said:

I think this is first time a car in this class has had a 4 cylinder engine?

Apart from the BMW 520d and the Merc E200/220/250?

Not sure that the 2.2 TDi engine is in the same league as the BMW 4-pot diesel TBH, unless Jag's fettling manages to unleash a wider power band and a bit less NVH. Hope they fit an uprated oil cooler too after the one in my wife's Land Rover Freelander failed and filled the cooling system with oil. Not an isolated incident either judging by LR's own admission, but they did deal with it exceptionally well.

Would be great if Jaguar can provide a rival to the 520d and I'd certainly consider trading a little CO2 and over-complicated engineering for JaguarLandRover's customer service.

[Swoxy]

It should have had this engine in it form the start to steal company car sales from the 520d and A6 2.0 TDI

It's figures are similar to them, too ...

Edited by Swoxy on Wednesday 30th March 17:55

[[AJ]]

TaRD said:

Ahh, that's what I saw a couple of weeks ago.

I spotted it at the weekend on the M6 too.

[anonymous-user]

I think that when they eventually bring out the estate version of this they will sell shed loads!

[kambites]

From what I can see of the headlight shape, it looks like they might have fixed the only bit of the XF's styling that I didn't like.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 30th March 23:19

[va1o]

The new 2.2 diesel is a good idea and should make a decent entry level XF. I assume it will get the automatic gearbox standard fit along with the high level of equipment such as leather and nav etc.

They did however used to offer the 3.0 V6 petrol for £29,900 up until recently, so this won't be the first XF to slip under the £30k mark!

[kambites]

I'd be surprised if there's no manual option. What you call "standard fit", I suppose is debatable.

[va1o]

milesr3 said:

tali1 said:

I think this is first time a car in this class has had a 4 cylinder engine?

Apart from the BMW 520d and the Merc E200/220/250?

and the Audi A6 2.0 T/ TDI, Volvo S80 1.6 D plus a few others I'm sure

[Hairspray]

va1o said:

and the Audi A6 2.0 T/ TDI, Volvo S80 1.6 D plus a few others I'm sure

So in fact, this is pretty much the only car in the class that hasn't had a 4 cylinder yet...

[davepoth]

tali1 said:

I think this is first time a car in this class has had a 4 cylinder engine?

I'd say it's actually the last car in its class to get a 4 cylinder engine...

[Fleckers]

I still dont like it

too much like a monsignia for my liking

[peter450]

The 8 speed box should hopefully help the car to get the most from the engine, i guess jag need to do this to match rivals

[H100S]

This will be a great car. The XF V6 diesel is the best 'all things considered car' I have ever driven.

[taffyracer]

4 cyl that takes 8.5secs to 60......that's not my idea of an exec car