Think of a luxury car and Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Maybach come to mind. Apart from their price, luxury cars are defined by perception of the brand, excellence of design, quality of materials and craftsmanship.
But do you really have to spend millions to experience a luxury car? Not if the car is a Jaguar XF 3.0 V6 Luxury. The base-model XF defines entry-level opulence for the moderately well off.
Coco Chanel once defined luxury as the absence of vulgarity. She would like the cabin of the XF. It is a stunning piece of contemporary design, an amalgamation of rich, handcrafted leathers, real wood veneers, thick carpets and aluminium trim.
Entering the cabin, the backlit start/stop button pulses like a heartbeat. Press the button and the JaguarDrive gear selector rises, the air vents rotate open and phosphor blue backlighting accentuates the instruments, switchgear and major control panels. A seven-inch, full colour touch screen is the main feature of the central console. Its menu-based system allows intuitive fingertip operation of the climate control, the eight-speaker sound system, including iPod settings, and Bluetooth connectivity. The JaguarSense proximity sensors allow the interior lights to switch on and off with the mere wave of a hand, and the glove box opens similarly, as if by magic. The cabin is not just a nice place; it's a special place.
Refinement and comfort are key attributes of a luxury car, and the XF does not disappoint. The adjustable leather seats and steering wheel make it easy to find the perfect driving position. The gear changes are nigh on imperceptible, and there is an almost eerie lack of road, wind and engine noise until you floor the throttle when the engine note rises to a delicious muted snarl.
The ride is outstanding, soaking up the bumps, potholes and other irregularities on the Shek O Road with aplomb. For such a big car, roadholding is exceptional. The all-independent suspension, comprising unequal length wishbones at the front and a multilink system at the rear, provides excellent cornering, straight-line stability and strong anti-dive characteristics under heavy braking, with minimum road noise and vibration. The perfectly weighted steering is precise and reassuring through the bends and provides plenty of feedback as to what the front wheels are doing.
