Overview

The Jaguar XFR-S is a large, four-door super-saloon which aims to take on some extremely good competition. Effectively it’s an XFR turned up to 11, and represents the quickest of the XF family of cars.

Rivals include veritable icons of the motoring world such as the BMW M5, Audi RS6 Avant and the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG. With a group like that to compete with, it’s going to have to boast a cocktail of big numbers and handling talent.

Fast, furious and fun

On the face of it, the big Jag certainly doesn’t disappoint. The excellently noisy 5.0-litre supercharged V8 is coupled to an eight-speed automatic gearbox, which should be a decent enough recipe. The fly in the ointment is the rowdy nature of the power delivery, though.

It’s almost hilariously tail-happy, and if you’re slightly ham-fisted with the throttle mid-corner the tail will start to swing out even if you’ve left all of the electronic assistance systems switched on.

That isn’t to say it handles badly, though. It’s compliant and sharp-steering, with a clever suspension set-up which offers a good blend of ride quality and stable cornering.

You get a range of settings on the XFR-S which allow you to adjust the car’s character depending on the type of driving you want to do. Pressing the button with the chequered flag on it switches the car into Trac DSC mode, which sharpens the car up and tones down the stability control intervention. You can turn the electronic nannying off altogether, but you’d be certifiably insane to try that on public roads. This is one tail-happy beast and it’s highly likely to catch you out.

Packed with kit

Inside there’s a smattering of toys from the upper echelons of the Jaguar parts catalogue, including some extremely comfortable sports seats which do an admirable job of keeping you tightly supported.

You’ll be able to spot the most hardcore of the XF family over its XFR sibling thanks to liberal use of carbon fibre, those gaping bonnet vents, the rear diffuser and the huge rear spoiler (though you can delete the latter at no extra cost if you’re not keen on it). These help with the car’s aerodynamics, apparently ensuring 68 percent less lift than the regular car.

Huge brakes sit behind those flashy 20-inch alloy wheels, and while this is unmistakably a large car, it stops incredibly well.

The quad exhausts and bespoke side skirts round off the exterior changes, while as you can see in the pictures it’s available in some rather special colours like French Racing Blue.

To find out more about this snarling animal of a saloon car, read on for the full Jaguar XFR-S review.