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Those of you who have always wanted Jaguar’s top-dog XFR-S but needed the space for frequent trips to IKEA can now rejoice. Muscling into the once sole dominion of the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Estate and Audi RS6 Avant is the new Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake.

The XFR-S Sportbrake is Jaguar’s first high-performance estate and features all the trimmings of the XFR-S sedan, including a deeper front bumper with larger air intakes, extended side sills, a more aggressive carbon fibre rear diffuser and 20-inch Varuna forged alloy wheels. The only thing missing is the sedan’s massive carbon fibre rear wing.

But the real addition is of course under the bonnet – the 5.0 litre supercharged Gen III AJ-V8 engine produces the same 550 PS and 680 Nm as on the sedan. Power is sent via the “Quickshift” eight-speed automatic gearbox to the rear wheels and an active electronic locking differential. The Pirelli tyres are bespoke to the Sportbrake for better grip.

The Sportbrake rockets from 0-100 km/h in 4.8 seconds (only 0.4 seconds slower than the sedan) and has to be restrained electronically at 300 km/h. This performance deserves a proper soundtrack to go with it, so the exhaust system has been modified to provide an “enhanced” engine note as well as some crackling on the overrun.

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To account for the Sportbrake’s larger mass at the rear, Jaguar’s engineers tuned the active rear suspension with revised springs and dampers, new anti-roll bars and a modified rear axle. They also saw fit to tune the rear brakes, working in conjunction with the car’s ABS system. Otherwise the Sportbrake features the same chassis tweaks as on the sedan.

Step inside and you will find much the same interior as on the sedan, but you now get a cavernous rear boot to go with it. Folding down the 60:40 split rear seats creates a cargo volume of 1,675 litres. Standard on the Sportbrake is a Meridian 380W 12-speaker sound system, with an 825W 18-speaker system available as an option.

The Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake will make its world premiere at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show as part of the 2015 model year XF range, which also includes a new R-Sport variant in the mould of BMW’s M Sport and Audi’s S line.