RE: PH Heroes: Jaguar XJ220

RE: PH Heroes: Jaguar XJ220

Author
Discussion

RB Will

9,662 posts

239 months

Friday 9th March 2012
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Always been my Hypercar of choice.
Here is old Top Gear review. Blimey Tiff looks young.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h2Ed-rnPOY&fea...

Waitey

869 posts

221 months

Friday 9th March 2012
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I remember seeing this at Malton.

Looks well used!


gck303

203 posts

233 months

Friday 9th March 2012
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I don't get it. Why is every XJ220 basically unused?

Why is it that they are in the main kept as ornaments and never driven?

Here is one for sale with only delivery miles that has never been registered. That's bonkers!

http://www.oakfields.com/html/showroom01Detail.asp...


Contigo

3,113 posts

208 months

Friday 9th March 2012
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Because at the time people were buying cars like this and the Mclaren F1 for investment/collection purposes. Many unfortunately were not stored properly and left to rot.

http://jalopnik.com/5510502/jaguar-xj220-leaving-a...


gck303

203 posts

233 months

Friday 9th March 2012
quotequote all
Contigo said:
Because at the time people were buying cars like this and the Mclaren F1 for investment/collection purposes. Many unfortunately were not stored properly and left to rot.

http://jalopnik.com/5510502/jaguar-xj220-leaving-a...
Those pictures are all over the internet! That is the dust from a sand storm and can take an hour or so to appear.




Nathe

54 posts

191 months

Friday 9th March 2012
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I used to walk past Don Law's garage in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent every day on my way home from college.

Quite often you'd see one or two XJ220's parked up on the street of terraced houses (looking a touch out of place in such surroundings!). I think they used to have a white Martini liveried one which looked especially nice smile

SteveO220

226 posts

150 months

Friday 9th March 2012
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gck303 said:
I don't get it. Why is every XJ220 basically unused?

Why is it that they are in the main kept as ornaments and never driven?

Here is one for sale with only delivery miles that has never been registered. That's bonkers!

http://www.oakfields.com/html/showroom01Detail.asp...
A lot were unused due to the very high price, rarity and the fact that the original owners were sometimes not the kind of people to enjoy driving such a hairy-chested car. As a result, it slipped into relative obscurity.
Real enthusiasts are buying them now and driving them, so I think they are starting to gain an appreciation more as a driver's car, especially as some of the myths start to get dispelled.


SteveO220

226 posts

150 months

Friday 9th March 2012
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I also know quite a few owners now and one thing I note is that I cannot think of one who has any intention of ever parting with their car. If you've waited 20 years to own something, especially something that had such an impact on you as a young man or woman, you're not likely to part with it any time soon.
So the cars coming up for sale are the ones dropping out of 'collections' as such people grow old - with supply definitely reducing as a result.

andyman_2006

718 posts

189 months

Friday 9th March 2012
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Waitey said:
I remember seeing this at Malton.

Looks well used!

yes thats the one i saw same event.

nice colour, not a fan of the wheels, and def well used.

cool reg too!

Mastodon2

13,818 posts

164 months

Friday 9th March 2012
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Ozzie Osmond said:
Misty-eyed sentiment over the XJ220 is IMO misplaced. It looks OK in pictures but if you stand next to one you realise it's absolutely huge - far to big for what it was trying to be. And for a sports car, particularly a sports car of that size, its turbo 6-pot fell a long way short of credibility.

Interesting car in many ways. Failed for good reasons.
What kind of car was it trying to be then? It certainly was never designed as a posers car, that is for sure. It's not meant to be a city runabout either - on the roads and tracks this car was designed to devour with ease, it's size doesn't hold it back. As for the engine that falls "a long way short of credibility", how much more credibility do you need at 219mph? There was a huge thread not that long ago with a lot of discussion about why the V12 engine they said the car would have was simply not right for the car, but the performance of the car - which again, is what the car was designed for, is not in question at all.


sisu

2,576 posts

172 months

Saturday 10th March 2012
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The XJ220 still looks a bit BBW sort of car, especially when you see one up close. You also have to put this into context with the XJR-15 that they brought out a couple of years before this which was a mid mounted 6.0 V12. Agian this is still a fuller figured LeMans sort of thing. But with the right sort of soundtrack.
The 90's weren't a great time for cars really.

jeremy_spoke_in

25 posts

201 months

Saturday 10th March 2012
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Seriously cool car. It may not be a v12 but its the same v6 from a Group B Metro 6R4 but with 2 turbos.

Type Metro 6R4 into youtube, possibly the best sound ever.

SteveO220

226 posts

150 months

Saturday 10th March 2012
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andyman_2006 said:
WOW a stunning sight, and love that early morning, cold start up....awesome!

Only ever seen one in the flesh, at a pistonheads sunday service, the other year at specialist cars malton.

XJR15 even rarer than the 220...monster car! love them.
There is an owner's club with about 20 XJ220s and 5 XJR15s. We will probably do some runs this year - I'll let you know, in case you are in the neighbourhood.

James1972

98 posts

144 months

Saturday 17th March 2012
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Am I sad that I just had to search out what the rear lights were off ? - Managed to remember Mazda 626 for the XJR but Rover 200 for the 220 was lost in the mists of time. Lottery win I'm off to see Don Law with a bag of cash - metallic blue seams to suit them methinks

LewisR

678 posts

214 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
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lambo_xx said:
Nice article there! I always loved the XJ220 and this year my dream came true and I finally bought one biggrin!

It’d a strange car and like everything it has its negatives but in my opinion the pros completely out way them. It’s hard and intimidating to drive and that is the way these older cars are, which for me I find adds to the experience.

The major criticisms people had about this car I find are often either fairly exaggerated or just not really true. The size for example, yes it’s huge but an Enzo , Ferrari 599 and a Lamborghini Diablo are all wider and nobody mentions that when driving them. The standard exhaust doesn’t sound great, but fit a sports exhaust and it’s seriously seriously loud!

I truly love mine, I understand why some people don’t like them but the one thing I can never get over is that the car is 20 years old and only now are “everyday” supercars managing to catch up, Gallardo’s, 458s etc.





Edited by lambo_xx on Thursday 8th March 20:11
Fan-bloody-tastic. I think that they look stunning and I love those wheels.

If I could, I would.

I wonder how well the 550bhp XKRS engine would fair in this?

BarbaricAvatar

1,416 posts

147 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
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If it had been better 'packaged' then i doubt it would've been so beautiful.
Love the standard XJ220, not a fan of the TWR versions.

daveco

4,122 posts

206 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
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sisu said:
The XJ220 still looks a bit BBW sort of car, especially when you see one up close. You also have to put this into context with the XJR-15 that they brought out a couple of years before this which was a mid mounted 6.0 V12. Agian this is still a fuller figured LeMans sort of thing. But with the right sort of soundtrack.
The 90's weren't a great time for cars really
McLaren F1
Ferrari F50
Ferrari 355
Lamborghini Diablo
Jaguar XJ220
Porsche 993
Honda NSX
Skyline R33 GT-R

There was a lot of normal saloon rubbish on the roads but I'm going to have to disagree with you old bean.

F1GTRUeno

6,333 posts

217 months

Wednesday 4th July 2012
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sisu said:
The 90's weren't a great time for cars really.
You are kidding.

The 90's were the best era for cars, especially supercars and racing cars.

  • slightly biased being a 90's child