auto Fastest-ever Jag saloon

Fastest-ever Jag saloon

• Published: 3/12/2012 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: Life
• XFR-S gets 550hp supercharged power to rival the BMW M5 and Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG
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  Man, they really transformed it! 
  Yes, they sure did! It's a bit like a gentleman stripping off his smart suit to don a skimpy swimsuit _ and in shocking blue no less!
  Meet the XFR-S, the fastest-ever Jag saloon and the most powerful XF. It's aimed at sprucing up the model's post-midlife appeal.
  Go ahead and savour these official pictures which show racy details of the car like that rear spoiler and air diffuser.
  How much more power has it got?
  

  The interior design is much more restrained.
  Jaguar has taken the 5.0-litre supercharged V8 in the regular XFR and modified it to take power up from 510hp to 550hp and torque from 625Nm to 680Nm. The suspension has also been stiffened by 30% to improve steering precision and chassis responsiveness.
  The result is a 0.1sec improvement in the 0-100kph acceleration time, at 4.6sec, when equipped with the sole transmission on offer: an eight-speed automatic from XF.
  Hmm... but isn't an M5 quicker?
  Yes, and that could be one reason why you shouldn't go for the XFR-S. The BMW M5 has been given a 560hp/680Nm 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 that can do 0-100kph in 4.4sec when armed with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.
  The same goes for the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG whose 525hp/700Nm 5.5-litre bi-turbo V8 helps propel the car to 100kph in 4.3sec with a similar auto to the Bimmer's.
  This many sound rather irrelevant for potential buyers. But both of these uber saloons are capable of an average fuel economy of over 10kpl.
  Jaguar says that, despite the increase in performance, fuel economy hasn't been affected: it has a 7.9kpl average which is quite some distance from the Bee-em and the Merc.
  A saving grace in the Jaguar could be the XF's acclaimed driving characteristics such as nimble handling. You'd need to be a die-hard fan of fast Jags to go for the XFR-S which is set to cost a cool 15 million baht when it goes on sale here.
  

  The exterior gets racy upgrades like a rear spoiler.