Special XF—the new-style Jaguar

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There’s a tendency for older guys who still have most of their hair to keep the style they had in their heyday. Rod Stewart is a prime example. Queen’s guitarist, Brian May, is another. This was Jaguar’s problem. Instead of coming out with breathtaking designs as it did with the old XK, C-, D- and E-Types, it was retreading past glories, creating the sort of retro-abomination that we know as the X-Type or the pastichioed S-Type.

Thank goodness for Scotsman Ian Callum. He has breathed new life into Jaguar’s design department. And it’s life as we know it, Jim. Mainly because Callum’s previous gig was penning cars for Aston Martin, starting with the DB7, a car as fetching as anything to come out of Italy. Which is why the current XK models and the back of this all-new XF look most Aston-like. The guy has his style.

He’s also smart enough to get in some young blood. His collaborators on the XF, Adam Hatton (exterior) and Alister Whelan (interior), are both in their early 30s. And on these three sets of shoulders rests the fate of Jaguar. That might be putting it a little melodramatically, but the XF, the replacement for the S-Type, needs to be a big seller if the company is to go from limping cat back to leaping cat.

At least the omens are good. The XF comes from a different mold, one that isn’t marked ‘Retro’. Yet it still has a character, presenting a tempting alternative to the German/Japanese stranglehold on the mid-size luxury sedan market. And there’s nothing wrong with Jaguar drivetrains these days, especially when there’s a supercharged 4.2-liter V8 involved.

Techno-wise, everything from shift-by-wire to touch-screen controls via the ubiquitous iPod connectivity is found on the XF. And the wide rear track and stiff body bode well for the car’s handling prowess. The XF should hit the showrooms early in 2008, with prices similar to the S-Type (roughly between $48,500 and $65,000). Although any be-mulleted bargain hunters could probably negotiate a sweet deal on the outgoing model.

--Colin Ryan