Luxury carmakers the world over are burning the midnight oil over finding ways and means to reduce the sizes of their car models, to minify the engines propelling them, and thus their respective price tags. With soaring middle class aspirations and higher disposable incomes, most of these luxury brands have stepped down a level to compromise with their exclusivity, offering themselves as an accessible option to mortals with humbler monetary credentials. In the Indian context, however, among the more visible luxury brands, Jaguar remains one marquee which is still out of bounds for the pretenders. The entry point into the brand is way further than the red-carpeted doorsills of other manufacturers. Quite simply – buyers on a stretched budget cannot buy a Jag, and the brand still represents exclusivity and opulence which separates the arrived from the ascending.
Images: Chirag Mondal and Sachin Sangoi
All of that said, however, downsizing of engines is a universal phenomenon and if a Ferrari can think of going turbo, than pretty much every car has the right to have a pair of boosters replacing the ceecees. The car in question here, the Jaguar 2.0 liter turbo petrol is the newest and the most basic version of the XF you can buy in India. Powered by a 1999cc turbo charged petrol engine which essentially is Ford’ 2.0 liter Ecoboost unit, the new XF boasts 240PS of healthy peak power @ 5500 rpm and peak torque output of 340Nm @ 1750 rpm. While those numbers aren’t as enticing as those of the 5.0 liter V8, we can assure you that they translate into good performance in the real world.
The 2.0 liter turbocharged unit is a rev-happy, silky smooth unit, which has a muffled sporty note to it as the revs climb up. We love how that engine sounds at higher revs, and the understated aural sportiness of the unit suits the demeanor of a jag saloon well. Performance, as we mentioned earlier, is plausible for the engine size with 0-100 km/h coming in a sprightly 8 seconds or thereabouts, with top speed claimed to be electronically limited to 250 km/h. While double ton can be achieved without breaking much sweat, the claimed top speed of 250+ sounds a little optimistic in practicality. Claimed efficiency is in excess of 10 kmpl – though one should expect a real world figure of 6-8 kmpl depending on driving style.
Transmission duties are taken care of by the trusty old 8-speed ZF transmission which lays down all the power and torque to the tar via rear wheels. You can choose from the regulation ‘Drive’ or the enthusiast oriented ‘Sport’ mode on the unique central drive selector knob which has been finished with the detailing of a crown jewel.
Manual gearshifts can be made using the steering mounted pedals which offer a more fine grained control of gearshifts to someone looking to extract the maximum performance from the car. The ZF transmission is quick and doesn’t mind going down a few cogs to provide you the added spurt to leap ahead. While all of that is good for someone willing to go fast, it may take you by surprise while driving at slower speeds in city traffic. You really have to modulate the throttle well at slower speeds, or the car would charge ahead with more alacrity than anticipated, the transmission having gone down a few cogs at the slightest movement of the right foot.