Jaguar XF review

Featuring a sophisticated design and unique interior styling, the XF is a luxurious car that stands out. It elegantly combines excellent engines with plenty of tech.

This upmarket car promises an exciting drive with punchy performance and excellent ride comfort.

The latest generation launched in 2015 with new engines, including Jaguar Land Rover’s own Ingenium engines which offer better efficiency. Looks-wise, it's similar to the previous generation but has even more interior space so it’ll feel pretty roomy inside.

The interior exudes luxury with huge swathes of leather, classic clean lines and neat accents of aluminium. The buttons are simple and well laid out. Everything feels solid and high-quality, including the digital instrumentation.
The 10.2-inch touchscreen is an improvement on the pre-2015 generation and the laser head-up display is one of the best there is. This projects information onto the windscreen and in the driver's line of sight, so you don’t have to take your eyes off the road to see the speed you’re travelling at.
The seats have plenty of adjustment options and are comfortable on longer journeys, while the performance versions have sports seats that hold you well.

The rear seats are equally comfortable with lots of legroom, although not as much as in the Audi A6 or Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
Boot space is 540 litres which is similar to rivals and has enough space for a number of large suitcases. You can fold the rear seats to increase space to 885 litres. If you need more luggage space, the XF Sportbrake luxury estate is worth looking at.

Ride comfort is a strong point for the XF, particularly if you buy one with adaptive dampers. This allows you to adjust the suspension and steering to cope better with the various driving conditions like bumpy roads. With dampers, you can also drive a little faster around a corner with the confidence that the XF will stick perfectly to the road.

There’s plenty of choice for used car buyers with a number of diesel and petrol engines with different power outputs. There are also some all-wheel drive models available. All models have an automatic transmission that’s smooth in traffic and responsive on open roads.

The performance XF S version is exceptional but you’ll pay much more for it.

With sporty Jaguar technology, the XF is better to drive than the Audi A6, but it's not quite as good as the BMW 5 Series.

Buying a used XF, even one less than a year old, is likely to save you a fortune since values plummet on new cars. There are various packages available on XF models, so look for one that already has the options you want fitted so you get even more for your money. The Advanced Parking Assist package is worth looking out for as it’ll help you park using sensors, which is especially useful in town.

Running costs are quite good with the diesels returning up to an excellent claimed 70 mpg and insurance groups are slightly lower than the equivalent BMW 5 Series models.

Jaguar has worked hard on its reliability issues but while it has fixed some things, the XF fails to score well in a number of reliability surveys. Watch out for electrical problems, particularly with the infotainment system.
Safety is excellent with all the usual essentials. It’s worth looking for an XF that has the Active Safety Pack fitted when new, which includes active cruise control and a clever traffic detection system when reversing.