What's all this about?
Lovely bit of news for estate car fans (i.e, us) here, as Jaguar has given us its first full look at the forthcoming XF Sportbrake. It was part of a PR stunt involving Andy Murray, his tennis trophy and a tour of Britain, but let's ignore that tomfoolery and instead bring you news of the wagon that might never have been built.
Eh? What do you mean?
There was briefly a belief, now clearly exposed as erroneous, among the chattering types in the automotive world that, because the F-Pace had been such a hit, Jag felt an XF Sportbrake MkII was unnecessary. Reputed to be based on something the Big Cat's design chief Ian Callum said (which he later denied and said was 'misreported'), we're delighted that it has turned out to be bunkum because the XF Sportbrake introduced in 2012 was one of our favourite executive estates. And this one's a looker too, if you don't mind us saying.
I don't. What have we got in terms of engines?
Overall details on the XF Sportbrake are a little sketchy, but we know the motive power line-up and prices. Starting at £34,910, a premium of £2,420 over the equivalent saloon XF, the entry Sportbrake is powered by the 2.0-litre, 163hp Ingenium four-cylinder diesel with the manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive. Expect 62.8mpg, 119g/km CO2, 0-62mph in 8.7 seconds and 132mph flat out. Add an eight-speed automatic to that engine and the price swells by £1,750.
OK, and moving up a little?
There's then the 180hp iteration of the same engine (from £37,160), which is only fitted with an automatic transmission, but is optionally available with four-wheel drive (+£1,840); and a twin-turbocharged '25d'-badged version with 240hp that is auto and AWD as standard for a £42,300 outlay. Top dog status for diesels, and the whole range, goes to the V6 3.0-litre unit with 300hp, capable of 0-62mph in 6.1 seconds and a 155mph limited top speed, all while returning up to 49.6mpg with just 149g/km of CO2. Yours for £49,600. Trim levels, by the way, run Prestige, R-Sport and Portfolio on all models, bar the 3.0-litre, which goes Portfolio, S and First Edition.
Hold on... no supercharged range-topper?
Not here, we're afraid. Yet. However, given there was an utterly bonkers, 550hp XFR-S Sportbrake in the original estate's fold, we'd be disappointed and mighty surprised if Jaguar didn't give us at least one 'proper' performance wagon this time around; we'd also expect V8 versions to be in the pipeline. For now, you're looking at a 250hp turbocharged four-cylinder 2.0-litre lump as your only option if you hate diesel. It's acceptably brisk with a 0-62mph time of 6.7 seconds and a 150mph top speed, but it's also the wrong side of 40 grand. Tsk.
Any other details available now?
Well, the boot is rated at 565 litres and can be expanded to a frankly huge 1,700 litres of clobber accommodation, while the XF Sportbrake can tow up to 2,000kg - it also has self-levelling rear suspension. Further tech gizmos include a lush panoramic roof and Gesture Control, plus all the accoutrements we've already seen on the four-door XFs. If the estate drives anything like as good as the saloon, this Sportbrake could be an absolute cracker. Especially if Jaguar shoehorns a 5.0-litre bent-eight into it and give us the SVR we all so obviously crave...
Matt Robinson - 14 Jun 2017
