It appears that if you want a new 2013 XF or XJ with Jaguars new AWD sustem they will only be available in the USA with a supercharged 3.0L V6 engine. I believe ROW will have the option of a Turbo I 4 also. Rear wheels drive versions will still be available with any of the current V8 engines but I wonder for how long. The 3.0 engine is becoming the engine of choice for many of car manufacturers around the world due to the new 2011-2025 CAFE standards. Better hold to your V8 XF/SC or R.

 

I guess the reason that lots of car manufactures making 3.0 engine is to avoid heavy emission tax. In China and Singapore is about 67% tax for imported car under or equal to 3.0, 100% for 4-5, 166% to larger than 5 I guess. But in US, we almost have no tax for big engine. So it is very likely there is less and less V8 around.

 

No, they won't be extinct.

All Jaguar is doing, pulling customer away from all the 4matic and quatro buyers. The way i look at it, they didn't want to destroy the already perfect car, that's why the all wheel drive models are only available with the v6 engine. To them it's not worth redoing their whole line up to have a all wheel drive vehicles.

 

You're correct that the only way to get AWD will be with the 3.0 V6 S/C. They actually are running the extra driveshaft thru the oil pan (!), and this could only be done as part of the new engineering that went along with the new engine. Retrofitting the V8 wouldn't have been possible in the needed timeframe.

The USA will actually get the 2.0 I4-T as the base engine. It's the same one as in the Range Rover Evoque. We keep the 5.0S/C (we're the only ones who get it), and of course the 5.0S/C XFR stays. The 5.0 V8 NA (the old base engine) goes away in the XF.

And you're absolutely correct that CAFE standards have a lot to do with the downsizing. It's pretty hard to reach 27.5mpg average if your best engine only gets 23 hwy.

Most of the other luxury manufacturers are a couple of years ahead of Jag at embracing forced induction for the sake of fuel economy and low end torque. I think it will work out just fine. I've driven a BMW 528i, and while it won't set your hair on fire, it's perfectly adequate as a daily driver with its 2.0T (240hp) and 30+ mpg.

 

Given that Jaguar doesn't have any small cars, I've been wondering how they're going to meet the CAFE requirements.

Well, plunking a 4 banger in a 4000 pound car will certainly help. That plus the fact that if you want AWD, you have to buy the V6 means most Jaguars will be V6's, some will be 4 cylinders and some will be V8s. If the V6 meets the CAFE requirement, then each V8 should be offset by a 4 cylinder, and they'll squeek right in. But a 4 cylinder in a Jaguar? Uggh!

 

Jaguar will continue to offer the non supercharged 5.0 V8 in North America as this is the only market which will buy it. No company would invest in a new engine for only a few years of production.

The V8 is very fuel efficient.

 

I'm very happy with my 5.0 non-supercharged engine. I don't like turbos or supercharged engines, but I like having the 385 hp. Fewer manufacturers are offering normally aspirated engines in the US -- I don't think BMW has any.

And I agree with you about the gas mileage. If you drive it smoothly, you do get very good gas mileage. I had a 4.0 Jaguar S-type with 280 hp and my mileage is much better with the XF.

 

I have to agree too. The XF NA V8 is awsome! I can smoke 99% percent of the cars on the street and don't have to worry about the turbo or Super charger. I assure you all that this V8 will remain with Jaguar for all the premium top of the line cars. Rest of the folk will get an inline 4 or V6 with turbo or supercharger....makes me sick.

 

It's a generational thing. Kids growing up today and getting into cars may admire "old" V8 tech like the Jag V8 in years to come, but they will have no problem buying a small, blown, powerful and efficient I4 or V6 engine for their performance cars. Why don't we see engines with more than 12 cylinders any more? Because it is unnecessary. Same goes for the V12/10/8 in future... progress. We don't have to like it, but we can't, and shouldn't, stop it. I am guessing that a lot of you who are made "sick" by these smaller engines have never actually tried them, but I may be wrong. That said, I don't think the efficiency gains in real world driving (rather than tests) is nearly as big as it could or should be.

 

I think the last auto engine with more than 12 cylinders dates from the Cadillac 16 of the 30's. I don't think we are of that generation.

Still, point taken. Only supercars will have V8 engines before long. Mclaren released their new supercar with a turbo V6 and it runs easily with Ferrari's 458, which in turn is more than a match for an Enzo of barely a decade ago.

Sad irony then that SAAB saw this coming and developed the forerunner of all these supercharged engines in preference to the V8 they were also working on. Had they waited 40 years maybe they wouldn't be broke!

 

Bugatti Veyron has 16 cylinders, but nothing else from the modern era springs to mind, I agree.

 

I've driven 4 cylinder cars only when they were offered to me as loaner cars by the Jaguar dealer (I avoid 4 cylinder cars when renting on trips) and I've always found the vibration and harshness to be very noticeable compared not just to my V8 XF, but also when compared to various 6 cylinder cars that I've driven.

Every article that I've read about the new BMW 528i and 328i's which now have 4 cylinder 2.0 litre engines in the US (contrary to what the marketing name might suggest) has pointed out that the engine has noticeably more vibration and harshness than any BMW 6 cylinder.

 

4 cyl is balanced primary but not secondarily. Firing order of 4 cyl causes a rocking moment. However, you should know that even a bent crank V8 also has this same rocking moment due to firing order. It is less noticable only because two banks have the imbalance and they cancel out a bit.

Flat crank V8 such as Ferrari use have the same firing order imbalance as two fours on a common crank, as that's what they are.

Only a flat 8, an inline 6 or a V12 have perfect first and second order balance.

A flat four is very close to perfect but has an interesting firing order shake, old beetles shw this in their wobbling exhausts. Subarus have the intriguing exhaust note for the same reason.

 

Having just purchased a new 2012 BMW 528i and just moved from the XF, I can categorically state that vibration and harshness are not an issue. BMW went to a lot of trouble to reduce vibration and harshness by using counterbalancing shafts. The engine is as smooth as silk. What it does not have is the pleasant noise of a straight 6 or V8. It is made worse by being direct injected so it tends to sound like a diesel at idle. In fact because max torque comes in at a very low 1250 rpm, it behaves a little like a diesel but has the throttle response of a petrol engine. However I buy cars with engines that are powerful (and the engine in the 528i is plenty powerful) and responsive. Contrary to all our prejudices the 4 works fine in the 3800 lb 5 series and suspect it will work well enough in the XF (though I was not that impressed with the same engine in the Range Rove Evoque). I have had to work hard to forget that it is a 4 cylinder and just drive the car. I have now done just over 4000 miles and I am amazed at just how good it is and I save a lot of money on fuel (better than 30% savings over the same journey with same or better average speeds and times). It is certainly not an XF S/C or XFR but it is fun, economical and superb to drive and is easily comparable to my 2010 XF Premium.

 

My way of thinking is that all large displacement petrol/gasoline engines are generally on the way out.

In the normal drive to work, shops, day out world, there is no need for them.

OK they are fun, but that's about it.

We already have a hefty tax based on displacement not power, and a premium on petrol.

Certainly here, very few people would consider buying a new large petrol engined car as a DD.

The new generation diesel engines easily out perform even big petrol V8's from just a few years ago.

So IMHO, yes V8 petrol engines are doomed and have been for a very long time.