Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake: Review

Geneva streets were no place to test the XFR-S Sportbrake; so to the Nurburgring

Does anyone really need a menacing looking V8 Jaguar XF estate car with 550hp, quad exhausts and the ability to smear your Labrador across the inside of the rear screen with just a twitch of your right foot? Probably not. But far be it for us to sound ungrateful at Jaguar building such a thing.

Peace and quiet? Not with the XFR-S around

The formula is pretty straightforward. Take XFR-S underpinnings, insert into the Sportbrake body, lay thick black lines on tarmac at your leisure. The case for such cars varies according to which brand you ask. Audi's Quattro division started out with the RS2 Avant and continues to be defined by them. AMG wagons have a small but passionate following despite being outsold by their saloon equivalents to the tune of four to one. BMW doesn't see the point though, having sold just 1,009 E60-generation M5 Tourings against 19,494 saloons and declared itself officially disinterested in ever going down that road again, no matter how hard we pester them on launches. We tried on the recent M3/M4 launch. They said no, nobody buys them, shut up about it already.

The C63 wagon on the long-term fleet probably tells you all you need to know about the PH attitude to fast estates though. There's something amusingly absurd in the combination of sensible shoes family transport packing serious heat under the bonnet so it's easy to approach the XFR-S Sportbrake with a generous disposition. With no XFR Sportbrake in the range this is a proper halo model too and, at £82,495, pretty much a £30K step up from the next most XF estate.

Stratus Grey the preferred choice for max menace

Hope and glory
Forget the garish Ultra Blue of the car in the main batch of pictures accompanying this story too. The actual one we drove was a more appropriately menacing Stratus Grey Metallic. And as front ends go few are more sinister; there's no British term to describe the German phenomenon of 'uberholprestige' but unbridled by the 155mph limiter of German rivals and capable of hitting 186mph the Sportbrake is the boss on the Autobahn. If you feel it necessary to mention the war do so now or forever hold your peace.

The JLR 5.0-litre supercharged V8 has never wanted for noise and drama but in this most fruity of guises it's bursting with character the turbo'd German equivalents can't equal. A hint of supercharger whine under load provides charismatic backing vocals to the centre stage V8 roar, the savagery of it from the outside enough to turn heads from some distance.

A scary thing in your mirrors; fast lane is yours

An early potter around busy Geneva around the time of the car's official show debut didn't really offer much in the way of dynamic impressions of the Sportbrake. A situation more than rectified with a bit of Autobahn, some lightly trafficked German twisties and then a couple of laps of the Nordschleife.

Big boy
No mistake, the Sportbrake is a big car, possibly a bit too big for the B-road sized rural roads clinging to the steep sides of the Rhine valley. Characteristically light steering initially feels at odds with the overt manliness of the rest of the package too, not least the firm but fair revisions to the suspension. Unique among Sportbrakes the S drops the air-sprung rear axle and gets coils all round with Jaguar's adaptive dampers controlling them. The Sportbrake benefits from components developed for more obviously sporting Jags too, including XKR-S steering knuckles for increased stiffness and F-Type power steering valving. Wider rims and tyres apparently have the effect of 'preloading' the sidewalls, all with the aim of improving steering response just possibly at the expense of a degree of waft and comfort.

Supercharged V8 in a family estate? We like!

Compared with the mode-obsessed configurability of the German rivals there's a pleasing simplicity about the XFR-S, belying the fact it's underpinned by tech like those adaptive dampers and Jaguar's fully active locking differential. It's got a Dynamic mode and a Trac DSC setting but at heart it's a sling it in Drive and surf the power kind of car. Manual shifts for the eight-speed auto come quickly to hand via the paddles but it'll always default to self-shifting in extremis and, frankly, after playing about a bit that tends to be how you drive it.

Performance is at the comedic and brutal end of the scale too. Dawdling locals on the backroads are dismissed in the blink of an eye and, so long as you're patient with corner entry speeds and settle the nose into the turn, it'll erupt out if it with genuine ferocity. And, if you've got the necessary space, denial and/or skill plenty of oversteer on demand. Power delivery is more progressive than the turbocharged equivalents from the Germans and there's a softness to the controls and limits that makes it easy and predictable to balance on the throttle while covering ground at quite astonishing speeds. Pity there's no option for F-Type ceramic brakes, given the amount of weight you're having to haul up though.

Cabin quality shown up by newer rivals

'ring ready
We've had our discussions about XFR-S ride quality before and it's fair to say there's less of the float you get in most Jags and a more assertive desire for the dampers to hammer the Sportbrake into the road. As such there's a brittleness at slower speeds that may surprise but with a few miles - and mph - that fades into the background and the easy-going confidence wins you over.

Argue the toss about 'ring development miles and their relevance to road car behaviour but on the Nordschleife the XFR-S is rather astonishing. You feel that considerable weight being flung about with real violence but the dampers never lose their grip on the body control and even a fairly comfortable pace dictated by Jaguar's chaperones sees an easy eight-and-a-half bridge to gantry pace. No time was disclosed but there's probably close to another minute in the car against a more exacting stopwatch. Pointless, perhaps. But rather fun.

Relevant? Discuss. Definitely fun though.

Weaknesses? Do we need to discuss fuel consumption and CO2? You can probably figure that bit out for yourself. More pressing is a sense that the interior is starting to show its age, both in design and tactile quality. Hopping between the XFR-S and more confidently stylish XJs and F-Types on the launch event underlines how quickly Jaguar itself is moving in this regard; against the Germans it's an even bigger gulf and the XF just feels a bit old.

The appeal of the basic formula is timeless though, and stylishly executed. And if the price seems a bit steep now just sit back and bide your time in the classifieds once initial depreciation has taken its bite. You'll need some money in the bank for fuel and tyres after all...

JAGUAR XFR-S SPORTBRAKE
Engine: 5,000cc, V8, supercharged
Transmission: 8-speed auto, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 550@6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 502@2,500-5,500rpm
0-62mph: 4.8sec
Top speed: 186mph (limited)
Weight: 1,963kg (manufacturer figure)
MPG: 22.2 (Combined)
CO2: 297g/km
Price: £82,495 before options