New Car Review: 2009 Jaguar XF

By Bob Plunkett

We're driving a zigzag course descending to a canyon, walls of granite to our left, a drop into thin air on the right, and ahead, the bleak expanse of California's Anza Borrego Desert. Our vehicle — the sleek new 2009 Jaguar XF sports sedan from Britain's Jaguar cast with sensuously smooth aluminum body panels and a huge V8 parked below the rippled hood — behaves itself superbly on this dicey road, rear wheels throwing torque muscle into each turn as the speed-rated tires claw for traction.

Spend time in the XF, as one driver manages through a series of tests on roads in San Diego County, and its performance and handling traits will no doubt impress, as will the comforts provided in a passenger compartment pitched toward unabashed luxury. But this one also dazzles the eye. A new design language is employed on XF. "The new XF pushes boundaries away from the 'three box' style and creates a four-door, five-seat saloon with strong coupe-like lines," said Ian Callum, design director at Jaguar.

To read more about the 2009 Jaguar XF, click here.

Subscribe to Roadandtravel Blog Bookmark this on Delicious