The first picture of the high-performance ‘S’ version of the Jaguar XF Sportbrake has been leaked on the internet. A project of Jaguar’s Engineered to Order (ETO) ‘skunk works’, the picture shows the car in Jaguar’s iconic blue colour. The car had previously been spotted testing at the Nurburgring in July 2013. Currently available only with diesel engines, this model will be the first XF Sportbrake to be powered by Jaguar’s monstrous 5.0-litre V8 petrol engine.
The image shows the XFR-S Sportbrake featuring an aggressive body kit, along the lines of the XFR-S sedan. The wheel arches are slightly flared as compared to the regular XFR Sportbrake which house bigger alloy wheels. The car features a familiar front fascia with larger air intakes on the front bumper. Previous pictures had revealed that the car will have a beefier braking system and a quad exhaust arrangement at the back.
The XFR-S Sportbrake will carry the supercharged 5.0-litreV8 engine which pumps out a massive 542bhp and 680 Nm of torque. The engine will be mated to an eight-speed gearbox developed by ZF. The top speed will be electronically capped at 300kmph with the first 100kmph coming up in 4.6 seconds.
We expect Jaguar to debut the XFR-S Sportbrake at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, next month. Speculations suggest that the XFR-S Sportbrake will be priced around GBP 80,000 (Rs 82.7 lakh), which is way over the GBP 52,000 (Rs 53.75 lakh) price tag of the current top-of-the-line Diesel S Portfolio model. While it will be an interesting car to see on the roads, a 5.0-litre petrol V8 in a sensible estate doesn’t seem logical. But cars like the Audi RS6 Avant and Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Estate rarely need to make much sense and are just for a select few who can afford the complementary high fuel bills which come with the car.
Source: AutocarUK