Jaguar is among the last of England’s legendary automakers still producing cars. And one of the most exciting cars from Jaguar in the past few years has been the XF four-door coupe. With its sporty fastback design and luxurious interior, it fit perfectly into the market for upscale European sports cars. Now for 2010, Jaguar has brought out the XFR – with the company’s best 510-horsepower engine in the car.

The XFR features the same supercharged 5-liter V8 engine as the hot 2-door XKR, mated with the same excellent 6-speed automatic transmission. The transmission features paddle shifters on the steering wheel and a “Sport” mode that shifts for speed – and does it better than most people can manage. The car is rear wheel drive, which is great for sporty driving, and that’s what you can expect from the XFR.

The XFR will hit 60 miles per hour in just 4.7 seconds, and top speed is electronically governed to 155 miles per hour.

As you would expect, the XFR has several key visual aspects that make it different from the XF coupe. The car sits lower, with a more aggressive look, courtesy of a new front end design with larger openings and a tasteful spoiler at the back of the car.

The suspension on the XFR is appropriately called “CATS” – which stands for Computer Active Technology Suspension. CATS works with the car’s automatic stability and traction control to keep things in hand with all that horsepower.

Driving the XF is a true “King of the Road” experience. The XF is roomy, comfortable, and has every feature you could want: backup camera, heated and cooled leather seats, GPS navigation, nice stereo, blind spot monitor in the side mirrors, sunroof, real wood trim, and Bluetooth for your phone.

Fuel economy is 15 miles per gallon in the city, and 21 on the highway, which is not at all bad for a car of this size and power.

The base price of the 2010 Jaguar XFR is $79,150, so it’s well into aspirational market territory. But if you’re shopping European luxury and performance supercars, that’s a very good price for everything the XFR provides.  by Jeffrey Zurschmeide