Posted by Wayne Cunningham
On first getting into the 2009 Jaguar XF, the car seems like the ultimate in automotive tech. A red backlight on the engine start button pulses with a heartbeat cadence. Push it, and panels over the air vents open up while the shift dial rises from the console. That's right, a shift dial. Recognizing that most automatic transmissions are electronically controlled, the XF does away with a big legacy shifter, opting for a big dial that you turn to the different drive modes. The touch-screen interface uses a nicely designed set of menus, reminiscent of the LCARS computer interface from Star Trek.
But there are a few signs that Jaguar isn't quite ready for this tech future. The touch-screen interface is slow, taking a few moments between the time you touch a button and the resultant action. The information architecture is also poor, with too many actions required to access the iPod integration screen, for example. It's too bad Jaguar isn't still a Ford property, as the XF could really benefit from Ford Sync. Driving tech is better, though, as the XF can be had with a blind spot warning system and adaptive cruise control, not to mention the excellent audio produced by the Bowers and Wilkins stereo system.
Read the review.
Originally posted at The Car Tech blog
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