AIMS: Facelifted Jaguar XF from $78,900

BRITISH Luxury brand Jaguar announced at the Melbourne motor show today that the new 2.2-litre turbo diesel entry-level variant of its facelifted XF range will be priced from $78,900 plus on-road costs when it goes on sale in Australia in October, undercutting BMW's base 520d by $4400.

It will also lower the cost of entry to the XF range by almost $15,000 compared with the outgoing 3.0-litre petrol V6 base variant, partially thanks to the fact it attracts a lower Luxury Car Tax slug owing to its thrifty fuel consumption.

The car, which Jaguar says the oil-burning four-pot XF is the brand’s most fuel-efficient yet, will be no slouch with a respectable 8.5-second 0-100km/h time and a 225km/h top speed.

Debuting fuel-saving idle-stop and an eight-speed automatic transmission for the brand, the XF 2.2D's claimed combined-cycle fuel consumption figure is 5.4 litres per 100 kilometres, with 149 grams per kilometre of CO2 emissions.

The new engine produces 140kW of power at 3500rpm and 450Nm of torque from 2000rpm. For comparison, the more expensive BMW 520d has 5kW less power and 70Nm less torque yet manages to hit 100km/h from rest 0.4 seconds sooner.

The Bavarian car's slightly smaller 2.0-litre engine also uses a claimed 0.2L/100km less fuel and emits three fewer grams of CO2 per kilometre compared with the Jaguar.

As if to underline the comparison, Jaguar recently held an economy run in which a XF 2.2D sedan was driven the 1313km from Jaguar's Castle Bromwich factory in Birmingham to BMW's home town of Munich in Germany, on a single tank of fuel.

The updated XF more closely resembles the C-XF concept that debuted at the 2007 Detroit show, thanks to improvements in headlight technology that have enabled the narrow, scowling headlights of the show car to finally become production reality.

All MY2012 XFs receive redesigned seats, new colour combinations and extra personalisation options plus an upgrade to on-board audio, with three new systems topped by a 17-speaker, 1200-Watt premium option.

All have two USB ports (one of which is iPod specific) and Bluetooth. They also have the option of adding a hard-drive navigation and capacity to store 10 CDs worth of music in a virtual CD-changer.

The updated instrument cluster uses a full-colour, high-resolution TFT screen, while the seven-inch central touch screen has been made easier to use with XJ-esque graphics, direct function access buttons and gains a polarising filter to improve contrast.

Australian sales of the model are down 12.5 per cent to the end of May this year but that will change once the refreshed line-up for Jaguar's volume leader arrives – especially with its new lower entry price-point.

Jaguar is managing the runout of the existing XF sedan and XK sportscar ahead of October's facelifts with limited editions.

19 Australia-only XF Diesel special editions are available at $126,098 plus on-roads, featuring 20-inch 'Shadow Volanis' alloys, electrically-adjustable sports leather seats, piano black veneer trim, dynamic suspension pack, LED daytime running lights and MP3 integration.

In addition, just five $278,000 Australia-only limited edition XKR coupes have been made (four of which are already sold) – priced $23,085 higher than the standard supercharged 5.0-litre V8-powered car.

Like previous special edition XKRs, its speed limiter has been raised from 250km/h to 280km/h. It comes in 'Ultimate Black metallic,' 20-inch 'Takoba' alloys with red Jaguar face caps, electrically-adjustable soft-grain leather seats with ivory stitching, piano black veneer trim, 'speed pack' bodykit, 'black pack' darkened exterior chrome, red XKR side decals, black mesh bonnet vents and sports pedals.

As GoAuto has reported, the price cut at the lower end of the XF line-up will be slightly offset by a $3085 price increase to the high-performance XFR flagship. The facelifted XK sportscar range will also get price cuts of up to $15,914 when it arrives in October.