While at a dealership getting my new key FOB programmed, I had an interesting talk with a salesman about the gorgeous new XF on the sales floor. I found out:

The body is aluminum

The largest engine is a supercharged 6-cylinder

The 6-cylinder block is the same as the Jag 8-cylinder block with only six cylinders bored out.

Now there are no dipsticks under the hood - the oil dipstick has also been removed and the oil level is now monitored electronically.

During the conversation, he pointed to a video that was showing the London debut of the original XF model. It was being driven high across the Thames on two cables - Wow!

The pricetag on the new XF was around $62K

 

I thought the XFR and S are still going to be 5.0L V8's.....Was this a 2017?

 

Sorry, I'm not sure.

 

The last gen XF is only produced till the model year 2015, 2016 and up are the all new XFs. No XFR or XFR-S yet for the new model.

 

None of the 5.0 have dipsticks in the first generation cars.

 

The largest engine available for now is the V6. They will be rolling out V8 versions as well.

 

There are only rumours of a possible new XF (X260) V8 in the next year or two, but nothing confirmed that I can find. Also, even if they did bring out an XF V8 it's not at all clear if they would continue with the AJ133 or replace it with a completely new Ingenium V8.

 

They would be fools not to bring a V8 to the lineup. No way they give that edge to their competition. There is nothing they can do to the 3.0 to make it competitive in that bracket either. I'd put money on a V8 coming next year. I too wonder which engine it will be though.

 

I'm not sure if they will feel there is enough to be gained with a V8 - a lot of the comparable(ish) players also ditched their V8 for the supercharged or turbo'd V6 3.0L...which is why I had to get a 2010 XFR ;-) Oh silly me....

 

If we're optimistic I think there is a good chance of an XF V8 down the track, mainly because of the F-Type. I can't see JLR dumping the "halo car" V8 F-Type R any time soon or replacing it with a V6 version (as the current V6S is pretty near maxed out anyway), especially now that the F-Type SVR has been released, and it makes sense from an economy of scale POV to have the same V8 as an option in the XF (and XJ).

 

Sadly the days of V8's are numbered I believe. However, BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Cadillac all still offer V8's in their top sedans. Jaguar would be silly not to follow suit. People are still willing to pay extra for that signature sound and power delivery. I do think they need to drop the superchargers and get into the turbo game as well though.

 

I don't believe that will happen either...you'll have the complainers saying the turbo lag spoils it.

 

Is right! There are those guys out there for sure. The good news is that turbo technology and engine tuning abilities have gone through the roof over the last few years with more and more manufacturers jumping on board in droves. These days, significant turbo lag is pretty much, note I said pretty much, a thing of the past. I'd love to hear and drive a turbocharged Jaguar V8!! That makes me excited just to think about.