Skip advert
Advertisement
Long term tests

Jaguar XFR

A teeny fault with the Adaptive Dynamics doesn't tarnish the huge fun we get from Jaguar's XFR

There’s an orange screen between the Jag’s two dials. Well, it’s not actually, it’s black and white, but it glows orange whenever the car needs to tell me something that Just Can’t Wait. Of late this has been that the first service is due (in around 1100 miles), but there’s been another, less ignorable message: a warning that there’s a fault with the Adaptive Dynamics system. This one is less frequent, but it’s accompanied by the car jamming itself in the sportier of its two modes. This is my preferred setting anyway, so it’s not a huge problem, but I’ll get it looked at when the car goes for its service.

Advertisement - Article continues below

The screen also turns tangerine when fuel gets low. This doesn’t happen quite as often as you might expect – I tend to get about 300 miles from a tankful, averaging 22-23mpg on the trawl to work and back, although this drops dramatically if the Brackley roundabouts are quiet and I’ve remembered to press and h-o-l-d the DSC button.

The XFR drifts as effortlessly as snow; big lazy arcs, the car seemingly held at an angle by two-ton momentum alone and yet so controllable, so precise, so catchable. And so hard to resist nailing it all the way through second and third along the next straight. The XFR may find itself bathing in the soft orange glow of a petrol station forecourt sooner as a result, but it’s so worth it.

Running Costs

Date acquiredJune 2009
Total mileage13,917
Costs this month£0
Mileage this month3289
MPG this month21.3
Skip advert
Advertisement
Skip advert
Advertisement

Most Popular

Ford Puma review – the best-seller that’s still no patch on the Fiesta
Ford Puma
In-depth reviews

Ford Puma review – the best-seller that’s still no patch on the Fiesta

The Ford Puma melds some of the Fiesta’s charm with big-selling crossover form factor, but we still miss a proper small Ford hatch
21 Aug 2026
Lotus Exige V6 (S3, 2011-2021) review – a mini supercar for Golf GTI money
Lotus Exige S V6
In-depth reviews

Lotus Exige V6 (S3, 2011-2021) review – a mini supercar for Golf GTI money

For the S3 generation the Lotus Exige got a lot brawnier, trading the four-cylinder engines it had hitherto utilised for a supercharged Toyota V6
21 Aug 2026
BMW i3 Touring spied – will this be the most desirable daily EV?
BMW i3 Touring
News

BMW i3 Touring spied – will this be the most desirable daily EV?

BMW will expand its i3 offering in all the usual ways it does with the 3-series. The upcoming Touring has been spied testing with a thin disguise
19 Aug 2026