2018 Jaguar XF Sportbrake Video Review: What Is This Car Doing Here?
Behold the 2018 Jaguar XF Sportbrake, a wagon version of Jag’s mid-size sedan. Other luxury brands like Audi and BMW have been running for the exits in recent years as they’ve dropped wagons from their lineups. And that got us thinking: What is this car doing in America, right now, of all times? Does it offer something different that those now-gone luxury models didn’t, that might get shoppers to reconsider one of these over an SUV? Let’s find out.
Related: 2018 Jaguar XF Sportbrake: First Impressions
If you hang around car enthusiasts long enough, you soon learn that many have an affinity for wagons. Preferably with a manual transmission. And a diesel engine. Or, in other words, the automotive equivalent of a needle in a haystack.
The XF Sportbrake doesn’t offer a diesel engine, but it does have something for the enthusiast driver: a supercharged V-6 engine, which boasts effortless acceleration. Unfortunately, the engine works with an eight-speed automatic transmission that’s uncooperative when you want to get the most from that V-6’s power. Full-throttle kickdowns are drawn-out affairs as the transmission is in no hurry to downshift to a lower gear.
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The XF Sportbrake stays flat and planted in corners, but numb steering feel is a downer. You can tell Jaguar wants this wagon to appeal to driving enthusiasts, but all in all I don’t think there’s enough here for them.
The XF sedan starts at a little less than $50,000, but to get the Sportbrake body style you have to spend considerably more — like $22,000 more. Add in optional features and it gets even more expensive; the as-tested price of this Sportbrake S is around $85,000.
For the rest of my thoughts on the 2018 Jaguar XF Sportbrake, watch the video above.
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