SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get at home.

Unlike most car reports, what you read in these pages will not be a faithful reproduction, albeit slightly reworded, of what appeared in the manufacturer's press release. We look for background material, user experience and whatever else we can find that's beyond the obvious. Our guiding rule is that you will be able to tell that the car was actually driven.

*To read one of our archived road tests, just select from the alphabetical menu of manufacturers' names on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu that appears.

*Pre-owned: Our tests go back quite a few years, so if you are looking for something pre-owned, you might well find a report on it in here.

*Please remember too, that prices quoted are those ruling at the time the reports were written.


We drive the Jaguar XF 3.0; supercharged and upgraded for 2014

pics supplied

Sprints like a horny tomcat

Posted: 22 August 2014

To be honest, the 3.0-litre petrol engine in earlier Jaguar XFs was considered a little passé. Delivering 175 kilowatts and 293 Nm, it got the job done but if you wanted bragging rights and a decent head of steam you chose one of the 5.0-litre V8s - or at least the 3.0 diesel.

Times change, we get pickier and the folk at Jaguar keep feeding our want-etites. Today’s XF line-up consists of eight models using five motors - six if we count two levels of supercharging on the V8 as different engines. Briefly we have 2.2- and 3.0-litre diesels, 2.0- and 3.0-litre petrol motors and the pair of 5.0-litre supercharged petrol V8s for those who don’t know when enough is enough.

If the original petrol V6 was sufficiently powerful for you the new, supercharged 1999cc four-cylinder produces 2 kW more power and 47 Nm more torque. And it’s lighter on fuel. Further, being supercharged, the latest version of the 2995cc petrol V6 provides a lot more; 250 Kilowatts and 450 Newton-metres to be exact – overshadowing *35 Beemers. And do we need to reassure you that, provided you drive reasonably, it’s more fuel-efficient than the old version was? Keeping things simple, it comes only with Premium Luxury trim and a manageable list of options – unlike you-know-who.

Speaking of what you get, there’s the excellent eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox with sport mode and paddles, six airbags, all the usual traction aids, pedestrian impact sensing to pop the bonnet up at the crucial moment, speed proportional power steering, multimode (normal, winter and dynamic) Jaguar Drive Control, rain sensing wipers and automatic Xenon headlights, power opening for the boot with soft closing function, heated and folding exterior power mirrors with autodipping, an inside rearview that dips automatically, filtered dual zone climate control, keyless entry with push button starting, powered adjusters for the multifunction steering wheel and cruise control with speed limiter.

The seats are made of soft grain leather, warmed and fitted with powered adjusters; 10-way for the driver (two memories) and six-way for the co-pilot. Sound is provided by a 380-Watt, 11-speaker, 12-channel, class D Meridian system with seven-inch touchscreen, iPod and auxiliary slots, and Bluetooth with music streaming. Front and rear parking beepers are supplemented by a reversing camera. Then there’s satnav, but we were saving that because this version is rather special.

As from a short while ago, all Jaguars and Land Rovers sold in South Africa are fitted with Extended Navigation. This is a combination of Tracks4Africa (for off-road wanderers) and NokiaHERE with the most up-to-date urban mapping available for South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. To save you time and fuel, it provides lane advisories and remembers previous journeys. Hopefully, that will mean fewer reminders to “turn here” when you always take the next off-ramp. With ongoing updates and user input, the mapping content is ‘alive’ and easily upgraded.

If you want intelligent cruise control to keep from ramming the car in front, headlights to shine around corners or that dip automatically, a sunroof, adaptive dynamics, tyre pressure monitoring, different alloy wheels or alternative interior trim, there’s the options list mentioned earlier.

So how does it go? In plain Drive mode, letting the gearbox do all the thinking, it sprints like a horny tomcat after a flirtatious queen. Pushing the selector knob down with a click to the right engages Sport mode. That holds gears a little longer and remaps throttle response from eager to aggressive. Work the paddles, let the revs build and it really comes alive. Steering and suspension responses remain the same but it’s amazing how well the car remains on course without having to resort to Teutonic hardness. Comfort and handling can co-exist.

Engaging Dynamic on the mode selector gives you much the same, except that the ESC is dialled back slightly to a less nanny-like state. That should be reserved for track use, but if you want to Clarkson around that’s your business.

Bearing in mind that XFs are primarily family sedans, let’s look at some practicalities. The boot opens at mid-thigh level using a button on the key fob or another one on the dash. It’s big but tends towards “shallow and long” so you won’t be standing many bags upright. Its loading lip is about 15 centimetres deep so getting stuff in and out should be easy enough. The spare is a spacesaver stored under the floor board along with the battery.
 
The standard tall passenger found adequate headspace, despite the coupé styling, and plenty of leg room. Unfortunately his feet under the fully lowered driver’s chair were not as lucky. It’s a common complaint. Two seatback pockets and small door bins are supplemented by a pair of cup holders in the fold-down armrest.

A full set of grab handles for when the driver sets off in hot pursuit, and aircon repeater vents in the back of the console, look after comfort. There are three full belts and a trio of head restraints but the centre seat is best reserved for a small person because of the large transmission hump. Or just leave the wee one at home so that others can use the armrest and cup holders?

Up front, the chairs are multi-way adjustable and very comfortable although we felt that the driver’s lumbar adjustment needed more range. In case you get the idea that all character has been designed out of this quintessentially British car, relax. It has a few oddball features like the electric parking brake that self-releases but has to be applied consciously, doors that lock from the outside when you touch the black buttons but only re-open when you grab and pull, or the need to go into the menu to find vent controls and trip meters.

Pleasanter surprises include real speedometer and rev. counter dials even though the clock is virtual, opulent leather dash and door toppings and a proper release button for the cubby. That airy-fairy virtual almost-touch effort on previous models drove many a strong person to inappropriate beverages.

In short, this supercharged XF goes very decently indeed, is comfortable, handles well, has enough room inside and in the boot, and possesses a measure of character. We liked it. It earned enthusiastic spousal approval too; which possibly explains why so many women choose XFs as their personal wheels.

Test car from JLRSA press fleet

We drove the 2015 Jaguar 3.0 XF-R Sport here

The numbers
Price including carbon dioxide tax: R824 720
Engine: 2995 cc, DOHC V6, supercharged
Power: 250 kW at 6500 rpm
Torque: 450 Nm between 3500 and 5000 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 5,6 seconds
Maximum speed: 250 km/h (governed)
Real life fuel consumption: About 11,8 l/100 km
Tank: 70,1 litres
Boot: 500 litres
Warranty and maintenance: 5 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.

Comments?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you thoroughly disagree with what I say? That's your privilege, because if everybody agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place. All I ask is that you remain calm, so please blow off a little steam before venting too vigorously.