Jaguar's new XF Sportbrake

Jaguar has taken the wraps off the XF Sportbrake estate at this year's Geneva Motor Show. The more practical estate version of the stylish XF will go on sale in September this year and is expected to cost around £2,500 more than the equivalent saloon.

The car has been rumoured for some time, with a Santa sneak-peek teaser last Christmas. As you'd expect, the underpinnings are from the XF saloon, and Jaguar seems confident that the Sportbrake will match the handling of the XF saloon, which has won much praise. The Sportbrake is 5mm longer and 70kg heavier than the saloon. With the seats up, there's 550 litres of space, which increases to 1,675 with the seats foled. Owners will also be able to specify a power-assisted tailgate.

The Sportbrake also benefits from new body panels, all the way from the door pillars backwards. The rear pillars also see the addition of a gloss black finish, a design trick adopted from the larger XJ. The re-styling of the rear means that there's 48mm of extra headroom for rear passengers.

Additional practical features of the XF Sportbrake include remote fold levers are mounted within the boot area to lower the rear seats, removing the need to stretch into the boot, tailgate-mounted LEDs that throw a pool of light onto the ground when the boot and a panel set into the boot floor that splits into three sections to allow smaller loads to be neatly wedged.

The availability of 2.2-litre and 3.0-litre V6 diesel engines, changes to the suspension and the introduction self-levelling air suspension devices mean that the XF Sportbrake should be able to tow decent loads