You’ve got to understand we can’t fully control the scoops that fall into our lap. The car paparazzi take their shots, we publish them (by and large). Okay, sometimes we receive intelligence and ambush prototypes, but on the whole CAR receives a stream of scoops on the latest cars – and we publish the spyshots the moment they land in our inbox.
So don’t tell us we’re going overboard on the new 2009 Jaguar XF-R! Okay? A quick glance at the related stories links to the left shows that it’s one of the most scooped cars of the past 12 months (along with the Porsche Panamera and Aston Rapide). Which says that a) there’s a lot of development work going on and b) that it’s a homegrown product that’s relatively easy to scoop.
Okay, so the Jag XF-R is highly scooped. Remind me of the story…
We’re only days away from seeing the full official details about the Jag XF-R, once the covers slide off the BMW M5 rival at Detroit’s North American Inernational Auto Show on 12 January 2009. But ahead of its official launch, here’s the lowdown.
Jaguar has taken one XF saloon and thrown its entire fast-car knowledge at it. All XFs are about to upgrade the 4.2-litre V8 petrol engine to the new direct-injection 5.0 lump – and the XF-R will use that as its foundation.
The Coventry boffins are strapping a supercharger to the V8 to produce a power output approaching 510bhp; bonnet scoops feed air to the compressor and a host of other aero mods are clearly visible in our latest spyshots. A single XF-R model is planned, but Jag is considering launching a further XF-R S with harder-core suspension, chassis and design mods in the vein of the XK-R S.
While the supercharged motor will provide ample thrust (we’re talking 0-60mph in less than 5.0sec), the running gear has also been upgraded to turn the XF from wafter to sports saloon. The rear wheels will be kept busy coping with around 500lb ft of twist, so fatter rubber and a trick diff will help tame the expected tarmac adhesion problems.
>> Stay tuned to CAR Online this weekend for our live coverage from the Detroit auto show 2009. And we drive the XF-R in February 2009