Jaguar XF Sportbrake: Official

The Jaguar XF Sportbrake finally arrives

After months of teasing and spy shots the 2012 Jaguar XF Sportbrake is finally revealed ahead of its debut at the Geneva Motor Show next week.

Jaguar has managed to get almost as much pre-launch publicity from the new Jaguar XF Sportbrake as they did from the year-long launch of the XJ. From ‘official’ spy shots to XF Sportbrake Christmas cards via their @sportbrake Twitter account, they certainly covered all the PR bases.

But we finally get the official photos of the Jaguar XF Sportbrake ahead of its public debut at next week’s Geneva Motor Show, and much is as we expected; even the slight disappointment that there’s no V8s on offer – so no Jaguar XFR Sportbrake. Maybe in time.

As the shape suggested, the XF Sportbrake isn’t going to rival the Mercedes E Class Estate for load lugging, but it does come with a load capacity – 1675 litres seats down – that puts it pretty much on a par with the 5 Series and A6 estates.

The load area can be folded flat, folded 60:40 or you can load long items through the ski hatch, with a pair of rails in the boot to which you can attach nets and dividers to keep your cargo in place.

As we discovered with the XF Sportbrake ‘leak’ a day or two ago, Jaguar has employed the same trick at the back of the Sportbrake as they do on the XJ and have given the D-Pillars a gloss black finish to mimic the glass area, giving the illusion that the rear screen wraps round.

Engines look like they are going to be just the diesels, but that at least means we’ll get the XF Sportbrake S with the 271bhp lump as well as the more sedate regular 3.0 litre diesel with 237bhp. But the big seller will probably be the XF Sportbrake 2.2D with the same engine as the XF 2.2D we reviewed recently. For companies and economy minded private buyers it’s a good choice, but the pick, for now, will be the Diesel S.

We’re expecting the Jaguar XF Sportbrake to hit showrooms by the autumn and cost at least £2k more than the equivalent XF saloon.

(19 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK