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Jaguar InControl Touch Pro Infotainment Review | Improved, but far from the best

The infotainment systems in Jaguar or Land Rover vehicles over the past many years have been a cause for concern. They’ve been slow to respond, lacking in features and lagging behind the high-tech luxury competition by a wide margin.  Software updates and newer, better hardware keep coming, though. That being the case, it's time to take another look at what the latest infotainment system from Jaguar can do and how it goes about its business. We happened to be in JaguarÂ’s freshest product on the market for this test, too, the 2021 Jaguar F-Type R. Watch out for a full test on that car soon. Jaguar names its tech the Jaguar InControl Touch Pro system, and itÂ’s running on every model but the ancient XJ. The refreshed XE is also distinctive in that itÂ’s running the Touch Pro Duo screen setup that replaces the vast majority of the physical climate controls with a touchscreen. To get a visual guide and watch the screen in action, check out the video above.  In addition to the central screen, we also dive into the fully digitized instrument cluster thatÂ’s become the standard for other Jaguar models. The F-Type gained the screen this year, and it operates similarly to all the others.  On the surface, JaguarÂ’s infotainment system is rather simple and modern. ItÂ’s a clean UI thatÂ’s free of the many frills and fancies you might find in a Mercedes or Audi. YouÂ’ll never get lost in a sea of menus or settings a la BMW iDrive, as Jaguar never allows you to dive several levels deep. ThatÂ’s good for simplicityÂ’s sake and makes operating the system a cinch once you learn where the functions are. JaguarÂ’s bottom row of frequently used items is a perfect place to start, because thereÂ’s a good chance that youÂ’ll rarely need to stray from this small subset of functions. Both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto boot right up via a wired connection. They worked without issue all week long in the F-Type without glitches or failures to operate. In fact, we were generally impressed with this infotainment system and the accompanying digital cluster. It was only plagued by the occasional stutter or long pause between clicks, but not as often as in past Jaguars and Land Rovers. Unfortunately, itÂ’s tough to keep up when the German competition seems to be running systems that are faster, more fluid and bursting with features. Admittedly, some of those features are things that may never be truly useful and add to their aforementioned complexity.

Jaguar Land Rover exploring 3D HUD and infotainment projections

With its most recent technology research, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is exploring the use of 3D projections for a world before and/or after autonomous vehicles come to fruition. In collaboration with the United Kingdom's University of Cambridge, JLR has developed concepts for a 3D head-up display that shows information on the road ahead and a system that projects personalized 3D infotainment for vehicle passengers.  As of right now, hundreds of production vehicles are equipped with two-dimensional head-up displays, some color, others black and white. Using various techniques and different technologies, manufacturers display information in a flat image in front of a driver. Some might find it distracting or unhelpful to have this in the driver's line of sight, and JLR might have found a solution. Rather than wedge the information in between the person and the view ahead, a 3D system that uses augmented reality could display the info onto the road in front of the driver. JLR thinks the system could project navigation directions, safety alerts such as lane departure, hazard detection or other bits typically found in a car's infotainment or instrument cluster. Some might find this to be even more distracting that 2D head-up displays, but to each his or her own. While the 3D head-up display is something that could be used right now, if it were released and passed legal, part two of JLR's 3D technology research is imagined for a life where truly autonomous vehicles are skating across the country. Using head- and eye-tracking technology, the system could lock into the position of numerous people in a vehicle and give each of them a personalized 3D projection "screen." This could be used to track a trip, look up points of interest, or even watch movies. JLR points out this could be used during ride-sharing without bothering others in the vehicle. The work with the Center for Advanced Photonics and Electronics at Cambridge is still in development for now, but it's only a matter of time before 3D tech makes it into cars in some degree.

Jaguar F-Type Coupe unveiled with range-topping R model

This is the Jaguar F-Type Coupe, the long-awaited hardtop counterpart to the F-Type roadster we tested earlier this year. Besides adding a roof, it shuffles up the engine range that we saw on the Convertible model, and in two of three cases, it cuts the cost of entry rather quite nicely (a happy contradiction to earlier reports).
The big change is that the F-Type Coupe does away with the Convertible's V8S trim (although the 495-horsepower variant will still be available in the droptop), and adds an even more potent letter to the top of the range. The $99,000 F-Type R Coupe is the latest member of Jaguar's R Performance line, and despite being down a letter on the XFR-S and XKR-S, it features the same 5.0-liter, 550-hp supercharged V8. With all that power on tap, the F-Type R will sprint to 60 mph in just 4.0 seconds (if it doesn't break into the 3s in independent testing, we'll be shocked) and on to a top speed of 186 miles per hour. If you need to get to freeway speeds quickly, the F-Type R will also go from 50 to 75 mph in just 2.4 seconds.
As the top tier model, the F-Type R is loaded down with performance-oriented tech. The suspension features adaptive dynamics that manage the car's body movements and adjust accordingly, while the suspension itself is 4.3-percent stiffer in front and 3.7-percent tighter in the back than the F-Type V8S Convertible. Drivers can dial up an even stiffer suspension setting in Dynamic Mode, which will also tweak the steering, the shift schedule of the eight-speed SportShift automatic and the throttle response of that brawny engine.