New York motor show 2011: new Jaguar XF

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At the New York show Jaguar has pulled the bandages off the XF after its mid-life nip’n’tuck. A significant number of major parts have been changed. Bonnet, wings, headlamps, grille and front bumper are all new. But it was already a looker, so this is no extreme makeover. The changes are subtle.

Mind you, there will be a lot more XFs on the road from now on, because the new 2.2 diesel will be a hot-selling rival to BMW’s seen-everywhere 520d.

See more pics of the new Jaguar XF

The headlamps are slimmer now, with LEDs curling around the border of the module. The grille is bigger and more upright, and the bonnet has more of a power bulge. Are you sensing an XJ there here? Correct.

The maximum-attack supercharged XFR now has three chrome-ringed lower grilles, and the sides get deeper sills. Out back, the tailpipes poke out of a mildly menacing diffuser.

Inside, there are new seats on all models and the switches are easier to read and more finger-friendly. Worthwhile detail stuff.

The main mechanical news is that competitively smooth and quick four-cylinder diesel, tested here.

The New York show was a comparatively quiet event, much of this month's novelty having been given to the Shanghai show two days earlier. This gave Jag the chance to sweep up the lion's share of the headlines at the end of the week.

To press home the advantage, it also served up a facelift to the XK, which also runs to new lamps and wings. The headlamps lose their angular corners, and the front wing vents are horizontal not vertical. ‘We always wanted to give it horizontal vents,’ a Jag designer told us, ‘But when the XK was new we were in Ford with Aston Martin, so we weren't allowed to do the same as them. Now we can do what we like.’