2009 Jaguar Xf Supercharged Sedan 4-door 4.2l on 2040-cars

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Wacky Jaguar crossover mule is a mind-blowing mashup

As Jaguar prepares to introduce its first-ever utility vehicle, our spy shooters have captured this jacked-up XF mule out testing. While a production Jaguar crossover will surely resemble something closer to the recent C-X17 Concept, we can't help but think that the automaker could sell at least a few of these lifted, four-wheel-drive sedans.
Other than proving that Jaguar is hard at work developing this new model using a cobbled-together body, there are some details we can put together about this luxury CUV. For one it's about the same length as an XF, while the ride height is obviously taller and the tire track wider. We're not sure what the rig on top of this mule is for, but the whole car has us reminiscing about the old sedan versions of the Subaru Outback and the AMC Eagle (with a luxury spin, of course).

The Jaguar XKSS, famed ride of King of Cool, is new again

You might remember earlier this year, when we told you Jaguar had confirmed that it would follow up the limited-run of continuation E-Types – completely new, built from scratch classics – with a new run of the impossibly cool XKSS. Those folks in Coventry weren't pulling our leg, because we're here in LA and the brand new XKSS is here, too. Actually, they're 60 years late. If you remember the story we told you when Jaguar said it'd be building these things, there were originally to be 25 cars in total. 16 were built, and the other nine were destroyed in a fire at the Browns Lane factory. Thus, nine original XKSS cars have been missing, and the nine XKSSs that Jaguar will build for a cool GBP1 million each will round out the initial production run. If you're not familiar with the XKSS, here's a little background. Jaguar won Le Mans three times in a row in a factory racer known as the D-Type. After withdrawing factory support in 1956, some privateers continued on with the car, but Jaguar didn't. That left several D-Types sitting about Browns Lane in various degrees of completion. Sir William Lyons had them converted to road spec, which involved adding such niceties as a windshield and passenger door, but otherwise they were not far removed from the Le Man-winning cars they were based on. That meant that they were, to put it mildly, a lot of car for the street. The kind of person an XKSS appealed to was stylish and adventurous, and someone who craved speed. Someone like Steve McQueen, perhaps. His old XKSS is sitting in the Petersen Museum in LA, which not-coincidentally is where Jaguar assembled us to see the wraps pulled off the new one. The "new" XKSSs are generally faithful to the original design, with the bodies hand-formed off bucks that were themselves created off an original XKSS. The body is made out of exotic magnesium, an extremely lightweight metal which is often misunderstood to be extremely flammable. It is, but much more so when it's in little pieces, like shavings; formed into a car body, it's not quite the incendiary device you might think it'd be. Even the processes to form the chassis is the same, such as the bronze welding technique used to bond its tubing. A few concessions to modern safety are fitted, however. There's a fuel cell, partly due to the additional safety it provides but also to better resist the harrowing effects of modern ethanol blend fuel.

2018 Jaguar updates include a new 247-hp four for XE, XF, and F-Pace

Jaguar has announced changes and updates to its 2018 XE, XF, and F-Pace models, and the big one is a brand-new Ingenium four-cylinder engine. It replaces an older four-cylinder that was available on the 2017 XE line, and it will be the first gasoline four available on both the bigger XF sedan and the F-Pace crossover. This latest Ingenium engine is a turbocharged 2.0-liter gasoline four-cylinder like the older Jag engine it replaces; this one has its exhaust manifold integrated into the cylinder head, and it uses a twin-scroll turbocharger. It produces 247 horsepower and 269 pound-feet of torque, which are improvements of 7 hp and 18 lb-ft over the XE's old turbocharged four. Plus, peak torque is also available a bit lower than with the previous engine, at 1,200 rpm versus 1,750. It shares its architecture with the Ingenium diesel four-cylinder. The XE also gets some powertrain love at the top of the range, borrowing an engine from its bigger siblings. Jaguar is introducing a new XE S model with the 380-horsepower supercharged 3.0-liter V6. Previously, the most powerful engine available on the XE was the 340-horsepower version of that V6, which will still be available. The XE gets another upgrade in the form of an available 12.3-inch instrument panel display, when optioned with the Jaguar Touch Pro infotainment system that's also available on the other models. The big news for the XF is that its base price drops ever so slightly now that a four-cylinder model has been added. The rear-drive model with the new Ingenium engine starts at $48,770 as opposed to $49,245 for the cheapest 2017 XF, which had a diesel four-cylinder and rear-wheel drive. The downside is that diesel buyers will be paying $50,270 for the 2018 version of the same car. Some other technology upgrades have permeated the lineup as well. These 2018 Jaguars will be available with a forward cross-traffic alert and a system that will show steering angle and distance to objects on screen during slow forward maneuvering. The latter seems mainly useful for tight parking spaces. These features are available with Jaguar's Surround Camera System. Jaguar also introduced a system that will allow users to pay for gas (or diesel) from the car's touch screen using Apple Pay, Android Pay, or PayPal. The system will be introduced first in the UK and later this year in other markets, and it can only be used at Shell gas stations. Related Video: