Jaguar XJ 2016 preview

 Jaguar XJ 2016 preview

Continue Reading
The Control system works well and is a vast improvement over the outgoing unit. As tends to be the case, it lacks the intuitiveness and expensively engineered slickness of an iPad or a top-flight Android tablet, but users will soon adapt to it. Despite the upgraded hardware, we found some hesitation, especially when the system was asked to swap between functions. But our praise for the new navigation is unambiguous—it’s smart, smooth-scrolling, looks good, and features a clever address-guessing trick that tries (and normally succeeds) in figuring out where you want to go before you finish typing. It also will learn regular routes, such as your commute to work, and recommend alternatives to beat traffic, in the manner of the popular Waze smartphone app.

The bigger news comes inside the cabin where the old XJ’s electronics interface, which could probably be dated to the late Paleolithic era, has been replaced by a first outing for JLR’s new InControl Touch Pro system, which is being rolled out across the Jaguar and Land Rover ranges. InControl Touch Pro boasts a new quad-core processor and a 60-gigabyte hard drive, with the main interface being an 8.0-inch central touch screen. The system works like a big smartphone. You can rearrange icons and even swipe between configurable pages, with a choice of various apps including real-time weather forecasting and a flight tracker. The new navigation system includes satellite mapping, pinch-to-zoom, and the option to put a map in the instrument display screen, as in the new Audi TT and A4. Connectivity options include an HDMI interface, allowing a Chromecast (or similar device) to beam media into the car.

Oscar Wilde’s line seems particularly apt when applied to another great eccentric, the Jaguar XJ. Because despite being both a fine luxury sedan and the conspicuously charismatic choice in a part of the market typically more conservative than Texas talk radio, the big Jag has never gained much traction against its obvious rivals.

They XJR combines the sort of effortless low-down performance that luxury-sedan buyers expect with the ability to deliver truly startling pace at very little notice. The eight-speed automatic transmission shifts intelligently: it’s unobtrusive when asked to waft and acts with appropriate aggression when required. Test-track performance is impressive enough—we ran the 2014 version from zero to 60 in 3.9 seconds and from rest to 100 mph in 8.8 seconds—but real-world pace feels even stronger. The car found impressive traction even on the greasy surfaces of the English roads where we drove it. The XJR feels like a big car due to the simple fact that it is, but it also feels lighter and more responsive than all of its obvious rivals.

Continue Reading