Car Throttle News Bites: 29th February 2012

Today is a rare day.  You can wish you friend who was born today a happy 51st birthday, assuming he came to be in 1804.  Indeed, it's February 29th, and we won't have another one of these until 2016, so we might as well celebrate with something special.  How about... a Jag Wagon?  Works for me!

Mmm.  Look at that wagon ass.  Of course if someone was going to pop out a ridiculously attractive wagon, it'd be Jaguar.  After all, they made the moribund X-Type into a fairly attractive estate, even if it was a bit crap underneath.  I'll admit that my first thought on seeing the XF was not "hmm, needs more wagon" - but I'm always willing to revise my thoughts.  Wagons for the win.

The XF Wagon... I'm sorry, Jaguar wants us to call it the SportBrake, but I refuse - The XF wagon rides on the same 2.9m wheelbase as the sedan, but overall length is up 5mm - so dimensions are basically the same, except for an additional 48mm rear headroom.  Cargo capacity is 550l with rear seats up, and 1,675l with them down - roughly comparable with the 5-series and A6, but less than the E-class - none of which are this sexy, I'm just saying.  The wagon is around 150lbs heavier than the sedan, but retains the same torsional rigidity figures.  The only other significant change is a switch to self-leveling rear air suspension (the sedan rides on coil springs in the back) as this is designed to be a real load-lugger.  It will be available at launch with 2.2L I4 or 3.0 V6 turbodiesels, but Jaguar did confirm they're sorting out an XF-R wagon - with the 510bhp supercharged V8.  Oh, I can't even imagine.  Want.

Citroen is making a special edition of their DS3 Racing to celebrate their World Rally Championship victories.  They've creatively named it the DS3 Racing Sebastien Loeb... never mind, that's not creative.  Anyway, it will be limited to 200 units, coated in textured matte black paint, with contrasting red "lipstick" on the front grille, mirror caps, roof, dash and gearshift surround.  Inside there's a numbered identification placque, satnav, and leather seats.  The Sebastien Loeb edition uses the same 204bhp turbocharged 1.6L as the regular model.  One for the anorak-wearing WRC fan?

Perhaps we can call this one... the badass bitch basket?  VW will be introducing the first convertible GTI in their history at Geneva, and it's basically what you'd expect - a GTI, with all the nice practical things about a GTI taken out.  Based on the new Golf Cabrio, the GTI Cabrio transfers all the go-faster goodies that make the GTI awesome, including the 2.0T engine (210bhp/258lb-ft), the choice of 6 speeds in either manual or DSG form, and the XDS electronic differential.  Unlike the Eos, the Golf GTI Cabrio has a fabric top, which the company says can deploy in 9.5 seconds - right quick for a convertible.  That's only about 2 seconds slower than the GTI will get to sixty: 7.3 seconds, or about 1 second off the pace of the hatch.  Hey, convertibles are heavy.  What you don't get: a nice, useful area in the back for carrying things.

See, look: the Japanese can too make pretty cars.  This gorgeous little thing is the Infiniti Emerg-e concept that will be shown at Geneva.  It's probably some hybrid-diesel-electric-fuel-cell-future-think nonsense, and probably won't be built, and is as relevant as gas prices from three years ago, but who cares?  Man that's pretty.  Dig the  huge scoop over the rear fenders.

Here are the first official images of Kia's as-yet-to-be-named flagship sedan, being called the KH or K9 for now.  They're definitely coming down to the wire with picking a name, considering this should be going on sale before summer - maybe that's just how they roll in Seoul.  The K9 (I kinda like that, actually) is Kia's long-overdue version of the Genesis Sedan, and it's...

Alright, it's not just me is it?  Doesn't this look like someone put a new 7-series or 5-series GT in a blender with a Lexus LS460, then poured it back out over some wheels?  Not to say Kia's new baby is unattractive - it's actually better looking than the 7-series to my eyes, with less affectations there for no reason than the BMW, and more character than the Lexus, but man that's derivative with a capital D.  It's even got a touch of Quattroporte in the profile of the side glass and the bizarre fender vents.  This seems to have lost a good chunk of character since they showed it as a concept.  I am disappoint.  Perhaps a 5.0L Tau V8 under the hood will make things better.

Mini's bringing two things to Geneva.  One of them is a commercial use version of the Clubman, with no back seats for deliveries.  The other's a bit sillier: a JCW (John Cooper Works) variant of the Countryman Crossover.  When I test drove the Countryman S back in July, one of my observations was that it needed more power, something that's not really an issue with normal Coopers - the added weight blunts the Countryman's performance.  Well, problem solved: the JCW Countryman gets the same upgraded engine as the rest of the JCW Minis, a 1.6L DI-Turbo I4 boosted to 215bhp and 221lb-ft torque.  (US models are rated at 211bhp, by the way.)  Mini says the crossover will do the 0-60 run in 7.0 seconds flat in JCW trim, which is about a half-second faster than the normal model.  Other changes include 10mm lower, stiffer suspension, a louder exhaust and a somewhat ricey looking JCW body kit, which I could do without.  For sure.  Considering how heavily a Countryman can ring up the register (an S manual All4 rings in at $27,750 starting) and that the JCW package is usually around $6,000(!) for other Minis, a base price of $33-34k wouldn't be out of line.  That's an expensive Mini, and that's before you add all the options.  Yikes.

Could this be what Lotus is bringing to Geneva as a surprise?  This Evora GTE, captured by a reader on the French auto site Caradisiac (nice name!) could be the F1-inspired special edition that the newly re-imagined "lifestyle" brand was planning to drop next month.  Based on the limited-edition Evora GTE (which packs an upgraded 444-bhp version of the Evora S's supercharged Toyota V6, and an automated manual), this one adds layers of exotica.  Check those center-locking alloys, the Johnny Player Special paint job, red mirrors and front lip, and Kimi's race number.  This is one sexy car.  Also rumored for Geneva is a convertible version of the Evora; stay tuned.

And finally, some good and bad news about the Volvo V40.  The good news: the Chinese Swedish automaker released details and better pictures of the curvacious 5-door.  The V40 will be available with a wide range of engines, all turbocharged.  There are three gas motors: two 1.6L I4's in T3 (150bhp) and T4 (180bhp) trim, as well as the growly 2.5L T5, the same 20-valve turbo 5-cylinder used in the last Focus ST, with 247 horsepower.  There are also three diesels: the 1.6L 4-cylinder D2 (115bhp) and the 2.0L 5-cylinder D3 (150bhp) and D4 (177bhp.)  All models will come with start-stop tech and regenerative braking standard, as well.

Volvo is planning to sell 90,000 units of the V40 annually, with 90% of them headed for Europe.  Oh, and 0% of them headed for America.  Volvo says there's not enough interest in a 5-door model in the US to justify the cost of federalizing and marketing the model, which is a load of crap.  There's just not a market for the C30, Volvo.  Don't take it so personally!