On first sight, there’s not an awful lot to distinguish the XFR’s interior from that of the regular XF – not that there’s anything especially wrong with that. The steering wheel is a little thicker, the seats offer more lateral support and there are a few more buttons surrounding the circular transmission console, but the overall feel is almost identical to that of a well specified XF.
That means you get the same set of clear, well laid out instruments, the same party-trick air vents that rotate open automatically when you fire up, and the same slightly cluttered centre console arrangement, featuring the same touch-screen sat-nav/command system in the centre of the dash.
Considering how big it is, space in the rear of the XFR is perhaps just a tiny bit disappointing. It’s not in any way cramped, but neither is there as much room as there is in the much older BMW 5-series, especially when it comes to head room. That’s surprising, given how much newer the XF is as a design, even if it does compensate in part with a genuinely enormous boot that can swallow 500 litres of luggage.
With market conditions being the way there are right now, it’s hard to tell how well the XFR will hold its value in years to come. Traditionally, big, fast Jaguar saloons have tended to drop quite quickly, but the XFR is such a great achievement that it may well reverse that trend overall. Either way, it is not likely to be a cheap car to run day to day, even if the real-world fuel economy is reasonably impressive, being in the mid-20s.
