Jaguar XJ Supersport (X351) | The Brave Pill
It doesn't get more super than a supercharged Supersport
The arrival of the P530 version of the new Range Rover earlier this week marks the debut of the new BMW N63 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 set to take higher-end JLR models through to the end of combustion. This created an introspective huddle next to the watercooler to consider the merits of the long-lived engine the German donk is effectively replacing, that being the supercharged V8 that has featured in most of the more interesting Jaguars and Land Rovers of the last 20 years.
You can probably fill in the gaps on the rest of the decision-making process: the sometimes heated argument over what was the best exemplar of this brawny, characterful powerplant. The office consensus was that the early Jaguar F-Type R took this particularly biscuit, being a car only slightly less exciting than a firefight in a piranha tank. But a trawl of the classifieds failed to turn up any sufficiently Pill-like candidates. Which is why you are looking at Plan B, a well depreciated example of a handsome 2012 Jaguar XJ Superport LWB, one being offered for just under 20 percent of its original list price.
The Covid timewarp brings the disconcerting revelation that it is more than three years since the X351 Jaguar XJ was axed. The official plan at the time was that it would be replaced soon afterwards by a fully electric version of the XJ, a car that Jaguar had designed and engineered at huge cost. We know how that one ended: in ignominious failure. Which means that, aside from the vague possibility of a future EV, the X351 marks the end of one of the most famous dynasties in the history of the British car industry.
While all X351 XJs were good, only a couple of variants achieved true greatness. The basic design is well on its way to listed status. Jaguar's long serving head of pencils, Ian Callum, had been frustrated by the retro styling of the X350 XJ he inherited when he took on the roll. The X350 was a hugely advanced car built around an aluminium structure, yet tried to look as close as possible to the 1968 original. The X351 was Callum's response, a car that sat on the same alloy architecture but which got radical, forward-looking design.
It was also successful, a detail frequently overlooked in the narrative of Jaguar's decline and fall. At its peak the X351 was selling over 20,000 cars a year - much more than its predecessor had managed - thanks in part to its popularity in China. Yet much of that success was despite what were, we can now admit, some frankly dull engines: a diesel V6 in Europe and the greater indignity of a four-cylinder 2.0-litre petrol for some capacity adverse export markets. Fortunately Brits were still able to choose the V8 in 5.0-litre form, this offered in both naturally aspirated and supercharged guises.
In the three previous XJ generations superchargers brought R branding, but Jaguar turned strangely reticent about applying this to the spiffy new X351. The exact reasons seem to have been lost in the mists of time, or certainly below the point at which they can be easily extracted from t'internet, but the range-topping XJ was called the Supersport, with buyers able to choose between regular and long wheelbase versions. Power came from the same 503hp engine that was available on the lowlier Portfolio trim, but the Supersport got an electronically controlled limited slip differential nabbed from the XKR to sharpen its responses. The XJ's aluminium structure also saved enough weight to allow the regular wheelbase Supersport to be 1kg lighter than the smaller XFR.
It looked sleek and elegant, but the Supersport was a proper monster when roused. I remember driving a press car to one of the more visually interesting parts of north Wales for a photoshoot. It was early in the morning, the roads were quiet and on a straightish bit of A5 I was travelling at what felt like a semi-legal cruising pace. Then I glanced down at the digital speedo to see the needle adjacent to a number which, if recorded by radar gun, would see me breaking rocks in quarry. I wasn't even trying; it was that sort of car.
The Supersport was a short-lived variant, Jaguar opting to change back to its former naming nomenclature in 2013 with the arrival of a brawnier 542hp XJR. But the more discreet Supersport is an absolute sleeper; the sole clue on the car is the small badge on the front wing inlets. This is a car that can launch from 0-60mph in under five seconds which most onlookers will presume is a Gerald-spec V6 diesel (an impression you could choose to reinforce with an aftermarket leaper or some stick-on badging.)
While Supersport prices haven't finished falling yet, they already look like spectacular value for something so potent. Our Pill is a LWB example up for £17,950 - it would have been £90,455 when new before any options ticked. The stretched Supersport served as the basis for the Sentinel armoured version which has been used to ferry Prime Ministers around for more than a decade, so there is the small risk somebody might think you are ferrying Boris Johnson between work related wine and cheese tastings. Regardless, the body stretch gives spectacular rear legroom and this one has the rear seat screens and detachable media controller.
Yes, it's wearing what more wussy types will regard as a tooth-sucking 94,000 miles, but it is also being offered with a full service history and the promise of six months' warranty from the selling dealer. The MOT history is an interesting one, recording both a non-alarming fail last October for worn rear discs and two split driveshaft boots, but also confirmation of some annual totals by previous keepers, these doubtless coming with significant spend in both fuel and consumables.
The X351 is reckoned to be reliable by Jaguar standards, which might sound like faint praise but isn't meant to be. The engine is tough and takes big mileages if treated to attentive care, although early water pumps rarely make it to a ripe old age. Some owners report niggling electrical faults with the XJ's multitude of systems, but others do not. As Jaguar's medium term future is going to be a series of size-graduated EV crossovers it's not unduly optimistic to foresee a future where a well-chosen X351 is regarded as the exemplar of the qualities that made the brand's saloons so good.
It's certainly hard to think of a better encapsulation of that line about the combination of grace, pace and space. This Supersport has them all in abundance.
Yes it’s modern and sleek.
But to my eyes the Jaguar XJ is a 3-box saloon.
And this just isn’t.
Oh and on this example the dark rear glass is a 100% walkaway for me...
Hopefully this current obsession of turning anything and everything into a commercial vehicle from the B pillar back will end soon... it's bloody awful.
Starts to make last weeks £12k e38 740i seem like a mildly sensible long term proposition.
Never had much of a problem with the exterior, except that it suffered from something that annoys me with a lot of cars - the rising waistline with no compensation for the rear wheel makes that wheel smaller than the front. It needs some coke-bottling around the back wheel to give it more visual mass, but otherwise all good.
Anything out of the mainstream has become way too complex and flaky and needy for me to contemplate sinking a stack of my own cash into it.
A weak battery shows up with all kinds of random faults long before there's any hint of it not being able to start the car. Traction control, cruise control, washer levels and so on. First thing to check.
Personally, for that reason, I keep buying Japanese. Lexus. Always reliable. Multiple LS's have been my choice for the better part of the last 20 years, and I have never regretted it once.
However for many people cars are about more than numbers or scores on a dependability index.
To quote JayEmm on his Range Rover owning friends:
“…what do you drive?”
‘Range Rover.
“Did it break down?”
‘Yes.’
“What did you have before?”
‘Range Rover.’
“Did that break down?”
‘Yes.’
“What are you buying next?”
‘Range Rover’
“!!!???”
https://youtu.be/D9xvX6FOjCo
13:38
A weak battery shows up with all kinds of random faults long before there's any hint of it not being able to start the car. Traction control, cruise control, washer levels and so on. First thing to check.
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