Leaper, Large: The 2019 Jaguar F-Pace SVR

The 2019 Jaguar F-Pace SVR.

About that headline.  "Leaper" is the name of the cat featured on Jaguar's hood ornaments (when they had them).  And "large" is the best way to describe the Jaguar F-Pace.  Yes, it's shorter than the big XJ luxury sedan, but in every other dimension, the F-Pace is the biggest Jaguar, not only in the current lineup, but in the history of the marque.

30 Minutes With: The 2018 Jaguar F-Pace S

The 2017 Jaguar F-Pace S.

Publisher's note:  Normally, the cars you read about here at TireKicker are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days.  Seven is typical.  Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days.  Our "30 Minutes With" series are cars that we spent half an hour behind the wheel of during the just-concluded Western Automotive Journalists Media Days in Monterey, California.

Day one of Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca via Laureles Grade.  Once there, you swap cars with another journalist for the drive back, and then swap cars again once back at the Quail. Apart from an hour's lunch, this is your day from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Each run is about half an hour, and driving 10 to 12 cars back-to-back-to-back gives you interesting points of reference about the next one.

My seventh car of the day was my third Jaguar and second in a row, having begun the day with the XE 35t AWD and just having gotten out of the phenomenal F-Type SVR.  And it was the one I had wondered most about...the marque's first SUV.

30 Minutes With: The 2017 Jaguar F-Type SVR

The 2017 Jaguar F-Type SVR.

Publisher's note:  Normally, the cars you read about here at TireKicker are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days.  Seven is typical.  Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days.  Our "30 Minutes With" series are cars that we spent half an hour behind the wheel of during the just-concluded Western Automotive Journalists Media Days in Monterey, California.

Day one of Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca via Laureles Grade.  Once there, you swap cars with another journalist for the drive back, and then swap cars again once back at the Quail. Apart from an hour's lunch, this is your day from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Each run is about half an hour, and driving 10 to 12 cars back-to-back-to-back gives you interesting points of reference about the next one.

My sixth car of the day was something I frankly wasn't expecting.  Pre-recession, Jaguars were fairly common in press fleets and I'd drive a few a year.  Smaller publications like TireKicker fell off their radar when times got bad.  In the seven and a half years since I last drove a Jaguar convertible, much has changed.  Namely, the level of ferocity.  In 2009, Jag was building fast, comfy droptops. The 2017 Jaguar F-Type SVR is much, much more than that.

30 Minutes With: The 2017 Jaguar XE 35t AWD

The 2017 Jaguar XE 35t AWD.

Publisher's note:  Normally, the cars you read about here at TireKicker are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days.  Seven is typical.  Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days.  Our "30 Minutes With" series are cars that we spent half an hour behind the wheel of during the just-concluded Western Automotive Journalists Media Days in Monterey, California.

Day one of Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca via Laureles Grade.  Once there, you swap cars with another journalist for the drive back, and then swap cars again once back at the Quail. Apart from an hour's lunch, this is your day from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

I jumped in the 2017 Jaguar XE 35t AWD for my first run of the morning (the longest one of the day, from the Monterey Tides Hotel at Sand City, past Mazda Raceway, onto Laureles Grade and then back west via Carmel Valley Road to the Quail.

2017 Jaguar XE and the Art of Performance Tour

Yes, the gray-haired fellow in the sweater dispatching enemy spies through his deft work behind the wheel of the 2017 Jaguar XE is yours truly, Mike Hagerty, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of TireKicker. So how did that happen?

Dick Van Dyke Wants To Sell You His Jaguar

It's a bit smoke and water damaged....fire-damaged, too...as you'll see in the video.  Dick makes the offer at the end of the video.

The actor, 87, is fine.

Jaguar XK Convertible Review

And so it goes. Jaguar changes ownership again...this time moving to Tata of India.

So, can they build a proper Jag?

That's a question best answered over years of ownership, but my week in the 2010 XK Convertible suggests they won't miss a beat.

What's new? Well, power is up...now at a standard 385 horsepower as the XKR reaches 510.

And the rotary dial gear selector from the XF sedan has made its way into the XK. Does anyone really like this? A knob larger than BMW's iDrive that controls only one thing...the gear? And I'm on the record as not liking iDrive...or any intrusion of a "mouse" into the console. A lever would do just as well...in fact, better. As bad as Jag's old automatic J-gate shifter was, there was some sense of having locked in a gear. And that's not there with the rotary.

And then there's price. Base for the XK Convertible is now $88,150. Ours had only one option...HD Radio (digital broadcasting technology that makes AM sound as good as FM and FM as good as CD, while allowing up to 3 additional channels to each FM signal). It costs $300, and there are several issues. Perhaps the biggest: There are so few cars with HD available, and even home units cost $300, that there's nearly no one listening...and that means broadcasters are getting edgy. There's a real chance, unless manufacturers start making HD Radio standard equipment(and cutting themselves out of $300 per car) that broadcasters will abandon HD Radio as a failed experiment sooner or later. And you'll be $300 lighter with a radio that gets nothing but plain old analog AM and FM.

The other problem is one that I ran across in the last Jag convertible I tested. And that is that the standard 525 watt Bowers & Wilkins audio system just doesn't sound very good. Run it loud enough to compensate for the usual convertible noises and it can't get there. The whole thing sounds thin and bordering on distortion. Admittedly, the acoustics of convertibles, both in terms of extra noise and limited places to put speakers, are a challenge. But other manufacturers found their solutions long ago.

Anyway, with HD Radio and transportation charges, the bottom line was $89,300. EPA estimates, if anyone is counting, are 16 city/22 highway.

The XK is what it is and you're either a likely buyer or not. The good news is that a change in ownership so far appears to not be a factor in your decision.

Jeremy Clarkson at Top Gear pretty well nails how gorgeous and how much fun it is to drive in this piece, done before the power bump, the rotary shifter and the sale to Tata:

Jaguar XKR Convertible Review

I remember the thrill I felt as a tiny TireKicker when I saw the Jaguar XKE Convertible back in 1961. There was no question: I was in the presence of something special.

Even with the passage of 48 years (!), it's tough to top that design. The requirements of modern motoring make it virtually impossible to build anything that sleek and lithe (where would the computers fit?). Jaguar's attempts to evoke the old E-Type have largely fallen far short of the mark...until the current XK and XKR.

Again, practicalities keep the new car bigger in every dimension than the original E-Type, but there is a sense of something special...and a close-cousin resemblance to the current Aston Martins that's not a bad thing, either.

No question, it's a dream to drive...the XKR packing 420 horsepower mated to a six-speed automatic transmission and a computer active tech suspension with speed sensitive steering.

Downers? The Bowers & Wilkins premium audio system was just barely adequate for top-down listening at speed, and the control screen housing the audio, navigation, Bluetooth and climate settings was prone to freeze up. The only way out was to turn off the engine and re-start the car...sometimes more than once. By the end of the test, I was simply calling it "re-booting".

So, it's a mixed bag. High marks for looks and performance (with decent mileage...EPA estimates are 15 city/23 highway)...but a big question mark (as in "is it just the one I drove or is this a bigger problem?")over the reliability of the control screen. $93,400 (base price...$104,425 as tested) should buy you perfection...or at least peace of mind.

Jaguar XJ Super V8 Review

How do you make a Jaguar XJ, already one of the most luxurious sedans available, even more special? Well, Jaguar figured it out.

This is the Jaguar Super V8. Basically, they took an XJ, put in a more powerful supercharged and intercooled engine (400 horsepower), a six-speed automatic transmission and then made everything except Sirius Satellite radio (a $450 option) standard. That means adaptive cruise control, air suspension, a long-wheelbase alloy body, speed-sensitive steering, dynamic stability control, a 320 watt Alpine audio system, a four-zone climate control setup, Bluetooth, DVD, navigation, heated and cooled seats and inlaid walnut.

Wow.

The really amazing thing is, it does make a difference. It is a noticeable and maybe even justifiable jump over the "plain" XJ. It needs to be, because it adds about 20 large to the sticker...the tester I drove had a bottom line reading $95,200. But the XJ has been one of my faves since its redesign six years ago...and the Super V8 actually makes a strong case for spending the extra money.

EPA estimates (if you care): 15 city/22 highway.

Jaguar XF/Jaguar XF Supercharged Review

As a single finger touches the button on the console, the eye is drawn to motions in the cabin...the instrument cluster lights up...the air conditioning vents in the dashboard rotate into open position and a round knob glides upward from the console where it had previously been flush with the surface.

That's the first five seconds inside the new Jaguar XF. And it's meant to send the message that, nice as it was, the English gentleman's club era is over at Jaguar. No more cars meant to evoke the 50s and 60s (or reruns of Inspector Morse on PBS).

The exterior of the XF (which replaces the S-Type) sends the same message. Leaping cat hood ornament? Gone. Round headlights and driving lights surrounding an upright radiator? History. After being accused of going way too subtle in the redesigns of the XJ and XK, Jaguar's thrown away the rules on this one. There simply never has been a Jaguar that looks like this or that embraced current technology in the cabin the way the XF does.

My first impression was that Jaguar has built their version of a Lexus, but after a second tour in the XF (this time the 420-horsepower Supercharged model), I realize that's not accurate. It's a contemporary luxury sedan that reveals the Jaguar DNA in the driving experience.

Start with the XF in its standard form. 300 horsepower is more than adequate for excellent perofrmance...and economy is enhanced by a 6-speed automatic transmission...EPA estimates 16 city, 25 highway miles per gallon. Our tester had zero options. Zero. 19 inch wheels? Standard. Paddle-shifter? Standard. 320 watt Alpine audio system? Standard. DVD nav system? Standard. And a whole bunch more at a base price of $55,200. With transportation and handling charges, the bottom line was $55,975. And the experience was that of a much more expensive car.

And then there's the Supercharged...adding 120 horsepower to the mix, it's like driving a business jet. Takeoff speeds are attainable and it's only gravity and engineering that keep it from happening. Our tester also had the incredible Bowers & Wilkins Audio system. 14 speakers...with 440 watts of Dolby Pro Logic 7.1 channel surround sound. It's incredible, pure and simple. With Audi charging north of $6,000 for its Bang & Olufsen audio system, I braced myself for the bottom line on the Supercharged.

Are you ready?

$62,000...including the Bowers & Wilkins system.

Either way you go, you can't go wrong...but if $6,000 buys you the step up to the Supercharged, that's a major deal.

The XFR? 40 horsepower and $18,000 more than the Supercharged.

What can you say about that?

Ladies and Gentlemen, Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear: