Last May, the newly introduced Jaguar XF surprised us. It went head to head with the best midsize luxury sedans from Germany and came out on top. It was fast, comfortable and surprisingly competent through turns, but of course, that was the top-of-the-line supercharged model.
For 2010, the Jaguar XF gets a pair of all-new 5.0-liter V8s: one normally aspirated in the XF Premium, the other supercharged in the new XFR. We'll test an XFR soon, but today Inside Line is the first to take the new non-supercharged 5.0-liter-powered 2010 Jaguar XF Premium to the test track. Rated at 385 horsepower and 380 pound-feet of torque it's not quite as powerful as the former 4.2-liter supercharged V8, but it's close.
To see just how close, we brought back a 2009 BMW 550i to see how the new Jag stacks up when it's not getting help from a supercharger. Given that the BMW is giving up 25 hp and 20 lb-ft of torque, we expected a close contest - and got one.
Read Article