First Drive: 2021 Jaguar XF Sportbrake Review

Sportbrake is a bit of a made up word from Jaguar. It basically means estate, so this is the bigger-booted version of the newly updated for 2021 XF. But that actually isn’t all, because the D200 part of the overly complicated name on this car means that it’s a diesel, and not just any diesel, a mild-hybrid diesel, a new direction for Jaguar. You see Jaguar (and sister company Land Rover) have a massive problem: they used to sell an absolute boatload of oil burners, but then the last decade happened and suddenly everyone wanted nothing to do with them. So JLR moved to selling more petrol engines, which is fine, but they spent a hell of a lot of money on developing those diesel engines (and in reality they were quite good) so they would quite like to use them again in some capacity. So rather than just ditch them, Jaguar has attached a new mild-hybrid system to them, both to actually reduce emissions and – let’s be honest here – because it’s much better PR.

It’s not a brand new XF, this is a facelift, but the underlying design of the XF hasn’t changed a lot since it debuted in 2007, so even a full overhaul in 2015 didn’t bring revolution. But this update is actually quite significant, more notably on the inside (which we’ll come to later), but also giving the XF a new, more modern face. The changes involve a modification to the classic Jag grille – which now sits larger, prouder and with a much more pronounced diamond pattering on the inside – new lower air intakes, with a wider looking face and black features hiding the mid-chin, and a “sporting” faux diffuser at the back. Altogether it works very well on both saloon and estate, although I must object to the shiny silver inserts on the lower intakes on this particular XF, which just look, well, bad.

The new MHEV (Emm-Hevv?) diesel is far more interesting than its petrol siblings in the XF range. Basically it is a 204PS (150kW) 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit, driven through an eight-speed automatic box to just the rear wheels – all-wheel-drive is also available. That’s good for 430Nm (317lb ft) of torque from just 1,750rpm (the beauty of a diesel). The clever bit is that it is also attached to a DC-DC converter on the rear axle and a belt-integrated starter generator. Between them these recover energy when you lift off the throttle, storing it in a small 48V battery under the rear seats. While it will never run on pure electric power, or provide an absolute smash of extra acceleration, what it can do is add an extra bit of torque to help in acceleration as the car transfers from set-off to consistent cruising. It’s basically like a bit of ‘free’ torque for a few seconds each time you accelerate. The odd thing is that, despite being “mild”, you do actually notice it; there is a real feeling of very gentle torque fill, which translates itself as the engine feeling just a bit more ready to go. Where the petrol feels a little sluggish, the diesel’s extra helping hand just boosts it into action that teeny bit more. It also means a reported 57.2mpg and a very impressive 137g/km of CO₂, which is a near 30 per cent reduction on the petrol P300 we tested in the saloon.

It doesn’t mean the XF Sportbrake is a sportscar, but 60mph is hit in 7.3 seconds and it’ll go on to hit 143mph should you wish, so it’s no slouch. It makes the XF feel a little more alive in the mid-range too, which is probably more important – how many times do you smash out a standing quarter in an XF estate? The steering is a little disappointing, given this is a Jaguar, feeling heavy for the hell of it rather than through any real reason underneath. But on a cruise the XF is a real contender, and that extra bit of mid-range torque helps most when changing lanes.

Here’s the big thing for the new XF, an updated interior that is now close to class leading. It’s lead by the new PIVI-Pro infotainment system, all 11.4 inches of it now sits proud of the main dash, following the latest Tesla-inspired trend, with a black plastic row of buttons and dials for the climate control below. Whereas some of the proud infotainment systems feel sort of ‘plonked’ a bit awkwardly in place, this one, probably because it is barely a couple of centimetres thick, looks good. And the system it runs is excellent, one of the easiest to use and simplest systems around. Which is good, when everything except the heater controls and wing mirrors runs through it. The materials used in most of the dash are also now of excellent quality, let down slightly by very plastic feeling rotary dials for the climate control, but highlighted by the excellent, metal gear paddles. Sadly the focus on the incredible screen has meant the actual buttons are a bit of a let-down. The whole array of buttons is set on a single piece of plastic, so each prod is a bit of a hit and hope, you’re never entirely sure if you’ve actually hit the button.

The active noise cancellation is also rather clever, highlighted when you open a window and realise that there’s quite a bit of tyre roar from the XF’s big 20-inch wheels. All together it feels like a soothing place to spend a longer journey, and the boot is a sizable 1,695 litres if you drop the seats – not much less than the new F-Pace.

We’ve already gone into detail on the new mild-hybrid system, but the PIVI-Pro system is probably the other tech highlight here. Running off its own power source for faster start-up when you get in, it’s intuitive and nice to look at, preferring to give you a number of quick return buttons to get back to the main features you’d use when driving (nav, media etc.) than make you rifle through back buttons and sub menus. You can also customise it to show you only the things you really use, which should reduce faff time while driving. Our test car was in base non R-Dynamic SE trim which, with the rear-wheel-drive option, will set you back £37,735 and comes with a decent whack of features. These include the adaptive dynamics system (dynamic, comfort mode etc.), wireless charging, a 360-degree reversing camera, a head-up display, cloud connective sat-nav – which will mute itself when you get to roads it thinks you know, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and heated front and rear seats.

While the new XF impresses in all guises with its excellent new interior, it’s the diesel MHEV engine that feels like the choice to go for. If you can survive the extra two seconds waiting to get to 62mph, and if you can’t you really should be waiting for a more sporting car than the launch P300 petrol, then the diesel is more economical and feels more willing in the mid-range than the petrol and therefore more usable in real life. The estate will always be the choice for us at GRR, and perhaps it is time to save both diesels and estate cars in one simple package?