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

Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 50 review – the best hot Golf in years, and the fastest hot hatch we’ve tested
Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 50
Reviews

Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 50 review – the best hot Golf in years, and the fastest hot hatch we’ve tested

With the Edition 50, Volkswagen has produced the most hardcore road-going Golf since the Clubsport S. It’s the best Mk8 yet, and the fastest hot hatch…
24 Jul 2026
This Lotus-inspired sports car has 429bhp and real driver focus: meet the SC01
Small Sports Car Company SC01
News

This Lotus-inspired sports car has 429bhp and real driver focus: meet the SC01

The Small Sports Car Company SC01 has pipped Caterham and Tesla to the post as an electric sports designed to deliver genuine driver thrills
29 Jul 2026
How a Ferrari F50 tested my willpower like nothing else ever has
Ferrari F50
Opinion

How a Ferrari F50 tested my willpower like nothing else ever has

Gathering classic supercars together is a challenge, but so worth it, says Meaden
28 Jul 2026