2009 Jaguar XF

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Running his finger along the aluminum trim of the 2009 Jaguar XF's C-pillar, Ian Callum pauses for a moment to admire the expansive single-piece pressing that runs the perimeter of the sedan's sloping greenhouse. He's surrounded by reporters and Jaguar personnel, but Jaguar's director of design is, for the moment, alone with his latest creation.

"Lovely piece of sculpture," he mutters to himself.

Callum's rich blue eyes and lingering Scottish burr could sell an Eskimo ice cubes, but his designs sell themselves. He's the pen behind the Aston Martin DB7, the car credited with saving that storied British brand from extinction. Since then he has designed the Aston Martin DB9 Vanquish, Vantage V8 and Jaguar's latest XK. This guy doesn't draw duds.

But it's not getting any easier, because once again there's an entire car company riding on a Callum design. Jaguar is in trouble, has been for a long time, and the XF will either be its savior or its final coffin nail. Either way, by the time this sedan replaces the S-Type in Jaguar showrooms next March, Jaguar will have already been sold by the Ford Motor Company.

Expect the Unexpected
His moment of contemplation over, Callum takes a breath and a step back. His eyes wash over the car he has spent the last four years creating. He begins to explain why the Jaguar XF is the car Jaguar needs to fight the Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, Lexus GS and Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

"A very handsome car with too many references to the past doesn't make a Jag," he says, referring to recent Jag designs which have been criticized for being stuck in the past. "Taking design leadership worldwide is very important to us. Design modernity is rightfully ours and it's time to take it back."

"Did you expect more chrome?" he asks us.

"Yes."

"Because it's a Jag?"

"Yes."

"See," he says with enthusiasm. "We're breaking the rules; we're here to break the rules. But we're not reinventing Jaguar's design language. We're following the same basic design strategy that's been around forever. Sir William Lyons started it in the 1930s, building beautiful cars."

Profile of a Coupe
But Callum and his team are reinventing Jaguar. Since the original E-Type in 1962 and the original XJ6 back in 1968, every Jaguar has looked back. The XF's fastback silhouette pushes forward; it's a performance luxury sedan that's going to be marketed as a four-door coupe, continuing a trend started by the Mercedes-Benz CLS.

"We wanted to give the car the profile of a coupe," he says. "It looks as much like a sports car as a saloon car."

Although this description might be a bit of a stretch, the angle of the XF's backlight is the same as the rear glass on an XK. Of course, the XF's roof line still isn't as aggressive as the profile of the C-XF concept car that debuted at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show. "We designed the production car first," Callum tells us. "The showcar was visually lower because a showcar has to be."

Showcars, of course, don't have to deal in the realities of interior space, which forced the production XF's height to 57.5 inches. This measurement is only average for its class, as the Lexus GS is an inch lower, while the Mercedes E-Class is an inch taller. At 195.3 inches long and 73.9 inches wide, the Jaguar XF is longer and wider than all of its competition. Even its 114.5-inch wheelbase is also the longest in its class.

Back to the Future
Callum respects the past. He owns a 1932 Ford three-window hot rod and a 1956 Chevy Bel Air. (He bought the latter from eBay and had it shipped from Ohio to his home in England.) Callum understands that Jaguar's heritage is part of the brand's appeal, which is why he looked again to the 1968 XJ for inspiration.

"We started looking at the XJ's oval grille," he says of the Jaguar trademark design. "But I was uncomfortable with it because Lyons wouldn't have gone back."

The XF's new grille is sure to become the car's signature element. Callum modernized the shape and added an aggressive texture that will be used across the Jag line. He also adorned it with a new, more aggressive version of the Jaguar badge known as the "Growler."

But the crowd on www.jagsaresocoolilovethem.com can relax, because Jaguar will make its traditional "Leaper" ornament an option for those who just won't let go of the past. Callum also put the Jaguar script across the tail. "We wanted people to know it's a Jag," he says.

It's in the Details
Callum points out details in his design quicker than we can write it all down. First, it's the sculpture line in the door that visually pulls the car down to the road. Then it's the sculpted blades placed low on either side of the front end — Callum says they have been modeled after cutlery. He points to the spear lines around the headlamps. "Gives a sense of cats' whiskers," he says with a grin.

"One line catapults the entire design," Callum notes. He's referring to the character line that starts at the bottom edge of the air intake and runs down the side of the car, peaks over the rear wheelwell and finally goes around the trunk and down the other side. He again traces it with his finger.

There's a method to Callum's madness. In fact, Jaguar says the XF has the slickest aerodynamic performance of any production Jag since the XJ220 supercar. Its drag coefficient is just 0.29, for which Callum credits the car's lightweight composite undertray and high trunk.

"Even Sir William Lyons wouldn't have been able to defy the laws of physics," says Callum. "We need the high trunk for the Cd [coefficient of drag], not just trunk space." We'll take his word on the air management, but the XF does have a sizable trunk at 17.6 cubic feet. Plus the rear seat folds down for long items.

The Inside Line
Things are just as new on the inside. "Everything you see, smell, feel and touch on this car is entirely new," says Mick Mohan, XF chief program engineer.

"And I promise you," adds Callum. "There's nothing from a Ford in here, either."

They're not kidding, as the interior of the XF is as fresh as anything out there, but the warm interior treatment that has become a Jaguar trademark is still the crux of the design. There's more wood inside than you'll find in an XJ, including large areas on the doors, and Callum says this gives the impression that the wood serves a structural purpose, just like in the old days. There's also heaps of textured aluminum and hand-trimmed leather on the dash and doors. And Jag says the phosphor-blue lighting echoes the ambience you might find in a favorite contemporary bar or restaurant. (Whatever; it's the same lighting used in MP3 players and most cell phones.)

Thin A-pillars and slimmed-down seats enhance a feeling of spaciousness, and the car's acoustics have been carefully tuned. Jag says the XF has the stiffest body in its class and there's a secondary bulkhead under the hood — a lesson learned from the XJ diesel program — to isolate engine noise from the interior. There's also room for five and drink provisions for each.

Grab Hold of This
Jag has also packed the XF with the latest and greatest gizmos. Bluetooth is standard. You can drive your iPod through the car's central touchscreen interface. There's voice activation, GPS navigation, a rearview camera and a blind-spot monitor. Buyers can also choose between two levels of audio systems, including a Bowers & Wilkins 440-watt surround-sound system with 14 speakers and a remote amplifier.

But the conversation piece is the shift lever. Jaguar calls it the JaguarDrive Selector and it's pretty cool. Get into the XF and the start button on the console pulses red, like a heartbeat. Press it to start the engine and the JaguarDrive Selector raises into the palm of your hand. Simultaneously, air-conditioning vents hidden behind rotating doors suddenly reveal themselves. Jag calls this process, "the Jaguar Handshake."

But back to the shifter. Basically, it's a knob. Simply turn it to your desired gear. Turn the car off and the knob automatically selects "Park" and retracts. The neighbors are sure to oooooh and ahhhhh.

Familiar Engines
Three trim levels for the XF will be offered in the U.S. market: Luxury, Premium Luxury and Supercharged. Each will be powered by an all-aluminum 4.2-liter V8 borrowed from the XK. In Luxury and Premium Luxury trim, the engine is normally aspirated, just as it is in an XK; in the Supercharged model, the engine is supercharged as it is in the XKR.

Fact is, most of the XF's mechanical hardware is lifted from the XK, including its four-wheel disc brakes, its six-speed automatic transmission, its variable-ratio power steering and its subframes and four-wheel independent suspension. Even its exterior door handles, steering wheel and shift paddles are lifted from the luxury coupe.

But the XK is a favorite with us, so this is no bad thing. Sans blower, the V8 packs 300 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque. Force-fed by a supercharger, these numbers climb to 420 hp and 408 lb-ft of torque. Jag says that's enough for 0-60-mph times of 6.2 seconds for the normally aspirated cars and 5.1 seconds for the Supercharged. Top speed for all the cars is electronically limited to 155 mph.

Mohan says the rear-wheel-drive XF has a weight distribution of 52 percent front/48 percent rear. The suspension has been refined on Germany's famous Nürburgring. The good news is the standard traction control and dynamic stability control (DSC) in the Supercharged cars can be fully disabled for some good old tire-smoking redneck fun.

The Supercharged XF is also the only car in its class with factory-installed 20-inch wheels. Eighteen- and 19-inch wheels will underpin the other models, and Callum says there will be five or six wheel designs to choose from.

Get Posh on the Phone
Is it enough to put Jaguar back in the black?

It might. The XF's shifter alone could be enough to get the car on the hip list. And that's what it's going to take. Jaguar needs the new-money crowd to notice. And Ian Callum knows it.

"We want people to have the deep-down desire, 'I must have one,'" Callum tells us. "We want Beckham in this car.... Well, maybe not." — Scott Oldham, Editor in Chief

The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.