Saturday, August 7, 2010

Jaguar XFR











The enhanced exterior styling of the Jaguar XFR moves those sporting credentials on even further, to deliver the ultimate expression of Jaguar's new saloon car design language - carrying a number of visual design cues that are intrinsic to Jaguar's 'R' car philosophy. Its unique front-end design has a larger lower grille with new black-finished mesh, plus chrome outboard air intakes. The upper mesh grille retains XF's bright finish, while the bonnet carries distinctive louvres, like those on the XKR sports car.

The Jaguar XFR also features bold new sill extensions, while the rear bumper adds a unique body-coloured lower valance panel incorporating the 'R' signature of four large, bright-finished tail pipes. The new bootlid spoiler has a significant aerodynamic effect. Developed in conjunction with the new front bumper design, it further improves the Jaguar XFR's front/rear lift balance, and therefore its high-speed stability. A new exterior mirror design also offers aerodynamic improvements, plus improved functionality with its LED side repeaters.

The Jaguar XFR's sporting character is clearly apparent in the 20-inch Nevis alloy wheels. It is the only car in its class to offer this size of wheel as standard specification. Those twin-seven-spoke wheels bear the wording 'Jaguar Supercharged' embossed around their centres, and are wrapped tightly around silver-grey brake callipers, which carry the evocative 'R' logo. The R badge also appears on the right-hand side of the boot lid drop panel, to complete the XFR's external visual identity.


The new Jaguar XFR is offered with a select palette of just eight exterior colours: Ultimate Black, Indigo, Liquid Silver, Lunar Grey, Porcelain, Botanical Green, Kyanite Blue and Salsa. All except Salsa and Porcelain are metallic colours and, within the XF range, Salsa and Kyanite Blue are unique to Jaguar XFR. For each colour - as across the entire XF range - Jaguar suggests a 'Designer's Choice' of the leather trim colours that best complement each body colour and the Warm Charcoal upper facia that is standard on every Jaguar XFR.

The interior design theme is modern and individual. The cabin environment is uniquely Jaguar and in the XFR more details hint at the car's performance. A full soft grain leather interior is standard, with four colour choices - Warm Charcoal, Warm Charcoal/Red Zone, Warm Charcoal/London Tan, and Ivory. A new Dark Oak veneer is the standard finish for the Jaguar XFR's wood-trimmed areas. New 18x14-way adjustable sports seats have electrically adjustable squab bolsters for significantly improved support at higher cornering speeds. Each Jaguar XFR seat has the 'R' logo embossed on its squab and the front seats have leather seat-back map pockets.

The fascia introduces a unique, dark mesh aluminium finish, and another discreet 'R' badge on the passenger side of the instrument panel. The speedometer and tachometer have the unique sporting signature of red dial pointers, and carry the 'Supercharged' motif. And at start-up, the 'R' logo appears on the Touch-screen as part of the XFR 'driver handshake' sequence.

The most advanced Jaguar V8 engines ever

The supercharged 5.0-litre V8 that powers the new XFR is Jaguar's new flagship engine, but it is only half of the petrol engine story - a naturally-aspirated version of the all-new engine brings additional advanced technologies and performance to other models in the XF range.

Light, robust and very strong

The all-new 5.0-litre V8 petrol engines are built around a stiff, all-new, aluminium block with cast-in iron liners and cross-bolted main bearing caps to reduce noise, vibration and harshness. For the first time at Jaguar the blocks are high-pressure die-cast, providing a superior finish and greater dimensional accuracy. The engines use aluminium heads, with four valves per cylinder and strong, spheroidal-graphite cast-iron crankshafts and forged steel connecting rods. The cylinder heads for the first time are specified with a secondary (recycled) aluminium alloy, reducing the environmental impact of manufacturing the new engine.

The new 5.0-litre V8 engines are more compact than their predecessors. Overall engine length has been reduced by 24mm by relocation of the oil pump within the engine architecture. This length reduction improves engine bay packaging in support of enhanced safety cell performance while ensuring overall engine weight is virtually unchanged.

Direct injection - power with economy

One of the key features of the new petrol engines is an industry-first, centrally-mounted, multi-hole, spray-guided fuel injection system, delivering fuel at a pressure of up to 150bar directly to the cylinder. This substantially contributes to improved low-speed, dynamic response. The positioning of the injectors ensures fuel is precisely delivered to the centre of the combustion chamber, maximising air-fuel mixing, and improving combustion control. Fuel is delivered via twin, high-pressure fuel pumps that are driven via an auxiliary shaft in the all-new engine block.

The charge-cooling effects of the direct-injection fuel system have allowed the compression ratio of the naturally aspirated engine to be raised to 11.5:1, further improving the engine economy. The supercharged engine also benefits from an increase from 9.1:1 on the previous 4.2-litre version to 9.5:1.

During the engine warm-up phase, the combustion system employs multiple injection mode strategies to deliver 50 percent more heat for fast catalyst warm-up and substantially reduced emissions.

Torque-actuated Variable Camshaft Timing improves efficiency

A new type of variable camshaft timing system (VCT) introduces another new technology. The four VCT units are activated by the positive and negative torques generated by opening and closing the intake and exhaust valves, instead of by oil pressure. This has allowed the engine oil pump to be reduced in size, saving energy and reducing fuel consumption.

VCT units work independently on all four camshafts with 62 degrees of authority on the inlet cams and 50 degrees of authority on the exhaust cams. Timing is optimised by the engine control unit for torque, power and economy at every point in the engine's speed range.

The response rate of the new VCT units is up to three times faster than before, with actuation rates in excess of 150 degrees per second. This delivers a more immediate engine response to the driver's demand.

The naturally aspirated engine is also equipped with camshaft profile switching (CPS) on the inlet camshaft. Depending on the engine's running conditions and the demands of the driver, the CPS will switch between a profile that is ideal for low-speed driving, and another which gives increased valve lift for high performance.

Variable Inlet Manifold optimises torque through the rev range

A new variable inlet manifold (VIM) can vary the length of its eight inlet tracts to optimise power and torque throughout the rev range on the naturally aspirated engine. Vacuum-operated actuators open valves to select a longer, 680mm inlet tract at low revs, increasing the rate of both the airflow and the engine torque. As the revs climb beyond 4700rpm, the actuators select a shorter, 350mm path allowing a greater volume of air into the engine to optimise engine power. The actuator position is optimised by the engine control unit for improved torque throughout the engine speed range.

Improved efficiency through new technology

Minimising internal friction is key to improving fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, and as such was a key aim when it came to the design of the engines. As a result, the new Jaguar AJ-V8 Gen III engines achieve another best in class, setting a new industry benchmark for cranktrain efficiency.

All engine bearings were the subject of an extensive optimisation programme, reducing friction without compromising reliability. Diamond-Like Carbon Coating (DLC) has been used to reduce friction on the fuel pump tappets and a solid film lubricant has been used to coat the piston skirts.

Jaguar has developed a unique, intelligent oil-pump pressure relief valve (PRV) which senses oil pressure deep in the engine's oil galleries to control the oil pump delivery. As a result, oil pump frictional losses are reduced during the warm-up period. New engine oil has a lower viscosity, contributing to an extension in service intervals from 10,000 miles to 15,000 miles or 12 months. Both V8 engines are now fitted with an electronic oil level sensor feature for added peace of mind.

Unique, Jaguar sound quality

Sound quality is a key characteristic of all Jaguars and is one particular aspect that customers relish. With that in mind, Jaguar engineers have deliberately accentuated the acoustic feedback into the cabin in order to further increase driving pleasure.

The Jaguar XFR has received special attention to deliver the required V8 intake sound character commonly absent on supercharged engines. Intake manifold pressure pulsations are fed into an acoustic filter at the rear of the engine that is tuned to "tenor C", with the output from the filter ducted into the cabin. The filter is controlled by the engine management system which allows the acoustics to enter the cabin only under certain conditions, such as when the engine is accelerating hard, thus maintaining the desired sound quality at all times.

New supercharger optimises power

A sixth-generation, twin vortex system (TVS) supercharger is fitted to the Jaguar XFR's 510PS engine. It is a compact Roots-type unit, feeding air through twin intercoolers, which in turn are water-cooled by their own discreet cooling circuit. The high helix rotor design improves the supercharger thermodynamic efficiency by 16 percent. It also improves noise quality to the point where the unit is now virtually inaudible (making supercharger whine a thing of the past). The intercoolers reduce the temperature of the pressurised intake-air and so optimise power and efficiency.

The new air intake has been radically redesigned compared to the previous V8. The intake air path is a direct feed to the supercharger inlet from the centrally mounted front throttle body. Air is delivered through twin air boxes, which reduce flow loss and further increase efficiency.

Mechanically, the new supercharger and its intercoolers are efficiently packaged in the 'V' of the engine to deliver a low overall engine height in support of pedestrian safety requirements.

Advanced six-speed transmissions

The all-new 5.0-litre AJ-V8 Gen III and the 3.0-litre diesel AJ-V6 D Gen III engines transmit power through an enhanced version of Jaguar's acclaimed ZF 6HP28 electronically controlled, six-speed transmission. Additional clutch plates and an uprated torque converter have been added for the supercharged V8 to facilitate the extra power.

The transmission has a fully-adaptive shift system which delivers extremely smooth gear changes and optimises performance and economy at all times. The Jaguar Sequential Shift™ suffers no torque interrupt resulting in a smoother more powerful shift feel and an almost instantaneous shift from the time the driver touches the shift paddle to the completion of the shift event. It also continually adapts to suit driving style, which can vary from sporting to more economical. The 'mechatronic' control module incorporated inside the transmission includes the software for the semi-automatic Jaguar Sequential Shift™ function, selected when the driver operates either of the two steering-wheel paddles.

The high levels of torque produced by the new engines make it possible for the torque converter lock-up feature of the transmission to be used even at low speeds, without slip. This approach provides competitive fuel consumption, contributing to the official combined fuel economy of 22.5mpg (12.5l/100km) in the Jaguar XFR and 25.4mpg (11.1l/100km) in the naturally aspirated V8-powered XF. The advanced design of the transmission includes a torsional damper to absorb firing impulses from the engine, further smoothing the driveline. The transmission is designed to be maintenance-free and the fluid is 'filled-for-life.'

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