2018 Jaguar XF Sportbrake Review – Cars.com

this is the 2018 Jaguar XF Sportbrake a wagon version of Jags midsize luxurysedan now other luxury brands like Audi andBMW have been running for the exits in this class in recent years as they’vedropped wagons from their lineups and that got us thinking what is this cardoing in America right now of all times does it offer something different thatthose now gone luxury models didn’t that might get shoppers to reconsider one ofthese over an SUV let’s find out if you hang around car enthusiasts long enoughyou soon learn that many have an affinity for wagons preferably with amanual transmission and a diesel engine or in other words the automotiveequivalent of a needle in a haystack the XF Sportbrake doesn’t offer a dieselengine but it does have something for the enthusiast driver with itssupercharged v6 engine which offers effortless acceleration unfortunatelythe engine works with an 8-speed automatic transmission that’suncooperative when you want to get the most from that v6 is power full throttlekick downs are a drawn-out affair as the transmission is in no hurry to downshift to a lower gear the XF Sportbrake stays flat and planted in corners butnumb steering feels a downer you can tell Jaguar wants this wagon toappeal to driving enthusiasts but all-in-all I don’t think there’s enoughhere for them the XF sedan starts at a little less than $50,000 but to get thesport brake body style you have to spend considerably more like around $22,000more add in optional features and it gets even more expensive the as-testedprice of this sport break s is around $85,000 that kind of pricing puts thesport brakes squarely in competition with luxury models from Audi BMW andmercedes-benz but compared with the German offerings the sport brakes cabinlooks decidedly mainstream both in its overall design and in the type ofmaterials used you only have to look as far as the delightfully luxurious cabinof the Mercedes e-class to see all that you’re missing here the XF Sportbrake ismore successful however when it comes to carrying passengers and cargo front seatcomfort is good and the side bolsters keep you firmly in place in fast cornersand the back seat is big enough to comfortably carry it out passengers -if you need more space than the 31 point 7 cubic foot cargo area offers the backseat folds flat with the cargo floor for a total of 69 point 7 cubic feet it’s auseful obstruction free space the only thing compromising its utility somewhatis the shorter opening because the cars raked roofline the SUV has replaced thewagon as America’s family vehicle but wagons still have that utilitarianfamily hauler image even though they’re now nothing like the ones of years pastthe XF Sportbrake drives the point home it’s stylish and sporty with the samelow slung stance as its sedan counterpart and has anintimidating-looking front end with gaping grilles finished in Firenze –redpaint piano black accents and black wheels it turns heads it wasn’t thatlong ago when Jaguar exclusively sold cars but the British brand has jumpedinto SUVs in recent years first with the mid-size F pace model and more recentlywith the compact e pace with the popularity of SUV soaring the move makesa lot of sense but we still don’t know what this thing is doing stateside eventhough its silhouette closely resembles the F pace it’s low ride height is thecritical difference in the thing that will prevent it from ever being morethan a niche model in the USyou

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