Video: 2016 Jaguar XF - First Look

And we're here at the auto show. Let's see if this cat has what it takes to fight the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class. There's a little bit more of a technical appearance in the headlights, thanks to some of this kind of curly framework up here. But overall, the nose of the XF hasn't really changed that much versus the outgoing model. Front overhang is a little bit shorter, 2 1/2 inches or so. So it does give more of a wheels to the corners stance to the car whose wheelbase is actually two inches longer. But the overall length of the car is down just a tad. To get the biggest sense of change for this generation, head around and look at the back where the tail lights have incorporated some of the circular elements from Jaguar's F-Type, two-door car. Thanks to a lot of aluminum as well, Jaguar says the XF is now as much as 265 pounds lighter than the previous generation. Now, a lot of technology inside here. There's an available 10.2-inch center display here. It replaces the standard 8-inch display. Faster processing, Jaguar says. And it can work in tandem with this 12.3-inch gauge display. It could even do things like make this gauge display nothing but your map. Less impressive, some of the cabin materials in this car. The previous generation XF had really nice cabin materials, actually. It appears some of them, especially below arm and elbow level and in some of the finishes along the top of the dash, have taken a little bit of a step down. Now, the backseat in the last XF was fairly tight for taller adults. I gotta say, it's definitely improved this time around. Jaguar says it really worked to change rear seat dimensions and room despite the cars overall smaller length. Increased wheelbase really helped on that. Not too bad back here. A lot of amenities in this car at the auto show, things like quad zone, climate control, separate controls for the left and right passengers, climate controlled seats here. And if you're parents with small kids, the latch anchors for child seats are now nicely exposed instead of buried in the seat. Jaguar says the XF at launch will come with a supercharged V6 that's good for either 340 or 380 horsepower. Now, the first generation was a lot of fun to drive. And with the weight reductions, we think that that should carry through to this second generation, but we won't know for sure until we get behind the wheel closer to the cars on-sale date, which should be by early 2016. (classical music) (car trunk slamming shut)