First Drive: 2021 Jaguar XF P300 Review

The second largest saloon in the Jaguar range was a big hit when it first arrived on the scene. But then the emissions scandals hit, just after the shift to SUVs had begun to bite saloon and estate sales, and sales of almost all JLR products (80 per cent of which had been diesel) plummeted. The XF soldiers on though, still the E-segment saloon car of choice for many who prefer their motoring a little more British than German. Now it has had a mid-life refresh, with a new exterior, new interior, and mild hybrid features for the diesel motors.

For a design refresh, this is one of the more noticeable ones, at least if you look at the car from the front. The lamps are the same shape, although refreshed with some sharper LED strips inside, and the grille is roughly the same shape, but everything else has been properly switched up. That grille is now bigger, higher and has a more prominent diamond patterning inside – rather than the good old-fashioned chicken wire of old. The lower grille follows the much trodden modern trend of flanking with pentagonal openings either side, replacing the bladed quadrangles of the original gen-two XF. The mid-grille is more XJ-style, standing quite proud from the front, while the lower middle portion has been styled black for the look of an almost complete delete.

At the rear the XF is a bit more business as usual, but a big faux diffuser has sprouted, for a more “sporty” look. With the front mid-bumper have gone the XF’s exhaust outlets, spirited away to apparently be replaced with... nothing. Overall it works quite well, a nice refresh for a design that still has its roots in the very original XF that launched in 2007.

We’ve driven the XF in the launch spec petrol P300 engine. Jaguar’s nomenclature is one of the more easy to understand in the motoring world these days: P equals petrol, 300 equals 300PS (221kW). There are two petrol engines, both inline-fours, one with 200PS one with 300, and a single diesel engine in the range. The P300 is the same 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder engine that’s now powering the base model F-Type.

In the XF the P300 engine will get you to 60mph in 5.8 seconds (a whole tenth slower than the F-Type) and on to a limited 155mph top speed. Torque is stated at 400Nm (295lb ft) and available from 1,500rpm, with power topping out at 5,500rpm. Weirdly there’s a slightly lacklustre response from the XF low down – it feels more like that max torque can be found higher up. It prompts you to keep the XF in a lower gear for a bit longer than you might want to. We drove the XF back-to-back with the Sportbrake estate fitted with the new mild hybrid diesel engine, and would probably advise heading the way of the oil barons if you had to pick. The steering response is also a little off-putting at times. The XF’s rack is weighty, but that weight feels fake, like it’s been tuned so it should add resistance which isn’t naturally there.

Where the XF really comes into its own is on the cruise though. In comfort the suspension is refined and the new active noise cancellation does work very well for a quiet ride. There’s an eight-speed automatic ‘box and traction comes through an all-wheel-drive system in the P300 (although rear-driven options still exist on lower-powered engines). The gearbox is a bit sluggish when you ask it for anything suddenly, but changes are imperceptible, especially in automatic D mode. You can take manual control yourself, and this is preferable if you’re attempting any kind of adventurous driving, by using the beautifully machined metal paddles on the wheel. Unlike most autos these days though, the XF will not resume automatic control until you tell it to, and there’s no specific manual mode to select on the knob.

Here’s where the new XF really hits it out of the park. There wasn’t much particularly wrong with the old interior, indeed it featured one of the nicer integrations of a touchscreen to look at. But the new interior – shared with the bigger brother F-Pace – is a notch up in terms of both design and finish. The “Pivi Pro” infotainment system now stands slightly proud of the dash, which in pictures looks a little awkward, but is so thin that in the flesh the positioning actually works very nicely. It’s similar to the system you’ll find in the new Defender, but blown up to 11.4-inches in the XF. The layout is very easy to use, with plenty of simple to understand graphics to return you to main menus at a single tap. Indeed so good is the system that Jaguar has taken the bold move of completely jettisoning physical controls for the screen, allowing for a much cleaner centre console than some rivals. Gone also is the old rotary gear selector, the old dial that used to rise from the dash in a very regal manner, but you get the feeling that a disappearing gear lever is perhaps just something that could so easily go catastrophically wrong. In its place is a stubby selector, covered rather nicely with leather, flanked by a roller volume control (push to mute, roll to change) and a rotary dial to select drive modes.

Perhaps the only downside to this focus on nice, new tech is that the physical buttons have suffered. Rejoice that they still remain, with the climate controls and mirrors still controlled by things you need to push and spin, but they feel of a much lower quality to the rest of the cabin now. The push buttons are all a single piece of plastic, which means you’re never quite sure if you’ve hit the right button or indeed if you’ve actually clicked anything at all. The rotary dials for the temperature also feel a little like cheap plastic on the edges, which is a shame in a car with an otherwise excellent finish.

Test cars were provided in R-Dynamic SE trim, which with the P300 engine, means a list price of £41,850 (the new XF starts at £32,585 for an P200 S with rear-wheel-drive). As well as the excellent Pivi infotainment system, that meant a fully digital dash (lovely to look at, but a little awkward to control from two buttons and a roller on the wheel), active road noise cancelling, a 360-degree parking camera, a head-up display, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, wireless charging, heated seats front and rear and JLR’s fancy “clearview” digital review mirror.

The updates to the XF are welcome not only in quality but in how wide ranging they are. The exterior refresh is an improvement on a slightly tiring formula, but it is inside where the XF has taken a clear and large step forward. The Pivi Pro system – which cleverly works on its own power source to allow for faster start up – is one of the simplest to use you’ll find, and the difference it has made to the interior is striking. It feels like the interior team at Jaguar have taken a step back to basics, simplifying design in places where it had become needlessly complicated before (who really needs a rotating gear lever that hides itself into the dash when you get out?). It’s worked. The new XF feels like a place you could easily imagine spending time, and could also really think about as an alternative to what’s on offer from the Germans – it certainly feels lot less intimidating than the inside of an E-Class. The drive is agreeable for long distances, but we can only hope for something with a bit more feel for those who want some driving pleasure. If you’re looking for an executive cruiser with good room, kit and boot, then the XF can really be on your list.