Jaguar XE SV Project 8 | Spotted
Hardly the obvious supersaloon at £100,000 - all the more reason to love it
Some cars can seem courageous a few years after they were made, manufacturers seizing on a window of opportunity to make something zany before it’s too late. On the other hand, cars can look overly cautious even with the benefit of hindsight. And some cars can seem totally mad from the very point of conception, then only look braver and braver with the passage of time. The Jaguar XE SV Project 8 must rank in the latter category.
Having appeared to give up on the supersaloon segment with the XF giving up its V8, Jaguar decided to follow up the F-Type-derived SV Project 7 with the XE-based Project 8. The logic was simpler to understand with the 7, as it had roundels and a funny rear deck to look a bit like a D-Type; a roadster design and 575hp had its obvious appeal, too. But there had never been anything like the Project 8, before or since. The world had assumed that, should a special XE arrive, it would be a conventional supersaloon to rival the likes of the BMW M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63, i.e. something to pick up where the XFR left off and show the Germans how to really do a supersaloon. What arrived was a limited-run Nurburgring record breaker, with an overhaul akin to an RS Porsche or a Black Series AMG. Only it was an XE.
Pages and pages could be dedicated to the Project 8 overhaul, from the massively wider tracks to the front end nudged 14mm forward to accommodate the desired Michelin tyre, ceramic brakes to all-wheel drive, adjustable coil springs to flat underbody. A transformation almost sells it short, before even considering a 600hp supercharged V8 in place of a 335hp V6, the most powerful normal XE at the time. That revered 5.0-litre V8 is part of the reason the end Project 8 was as extreme as it was; it simply wouldn’t fit in a right-hand drive configuration, which would limit popularity in the UK for a humbler M3 rival. So 300 left-hand drive cars it was, with 200mph potential and a 7:18 Nurburgring time to its name. Nobody could accuse Jaguar of any half measures.
Was it the right move? The fact that P8s are still for sale at their extraordinary £150k new price would suggest so; on the other hand, they never exactly flew out of showrooms, necessitating the introduction of a 15-unit Touring model for those who found the initial look a bit too much. That Alfa’s very similar Giulia GTA sold out a greater production run far more quickly must have been galling. We can surely all agree that the world - and Jaguar’s recent history - is more interesting for the Project 8 having existed, regardless of whether you want one or not.
This one is especially noteworthy. A former Jaguar-owned car and for sale at JLR Classic, it’s notched up 30,000 miles since 2019, far more than any other out there. This means it’s for sale at far less than any other out there, at £97,950. It isn’t exactly bargain Jag V8 barge territory, of course, but then the XE was always a far more serious car than that. With four seats (i.e., without the two-seat Track Pack) and with the rear spoiler stored away somewhere, albeit with the orange paint and leaper graphic, it’s about as family-friendly as a Project 8 is going to get. And it’s now at the price of similar 600hp V8s, cars like the BMW M5, AMG E63 and Maserati Ghibli Trofeo. They’ll have fewer miles for this money, but are far less special cars.
Certainly, nothing this extreme will come from Jaguar again, and probably not from anywhere - imagine trying to sign off just a few combustion-engined saloon cars, reengineer them for a completely different drivetrain, and then into 200mph circuit slayers. What’s outrageous now didn’t seem much less so back in 2017 - which makes the Project 8 a very special car indeed.
SPECIFICATION | JAGUAR XE SV PROJECT 8
Engine: 5,000cc, supercharged V8
Transmission: 8-speed automatic, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 600@6,500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 516@3,500rpm
MPG: 25.7
CO2: 254g/km
First registered: 2019
Recorded mileage: 30,807
Price new: £149,995
Yours for: £97,950
If I had the available funds I would have one along with the Project 7.
Not sure that they get the attention they deserve. If it was something German we’d all know about them.
This was Jaguar at their finest. A car that that can lap all day at a ferocious pace, then get you back home in time for tea & crumpets.
Alfa lately have been doing great things, and the GTAm just looks gorgeous. I wouldn't stop to think twice here. Alfa for sure.
Both are "glorious failures" in my opinion
Glorious because of what they are, how they drive etc etc
Failures because they both lost the company a load of money and more importantly did not raise the view of the Brand at the time boosting sales of lesser versions and as such "stupid vanity projects" when the engineering resources could have, and should have been applied to making the basic "bread and butter" vehicles better and most importantly more reliable (true for both era's - only era where Jaguar got a decide grip on quality was in the Ford ownership period where for a short while they were close to Lexus levels before they got distracted with too rapid expansion with S and X Type)
Despite liking Jags having worked there for nearly 20 years, this car does nothing for me as it is only a Jag in name and not really a proper mainstream car. If Jag has done a mainstream XE-R with a (say) 500 BHP V8 and then this was the GT3 on top of that then the relevence and connection would have "worked" and then I likely would view it differently, As it is, it is an anamoly to which I can find no feelings.
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Because JLR cost-cutting = fook-all quality control / reliability, I’d really, really want to do my homework – eg, is this a version of the S/C V8 that has terminal cam-chain probs?
Or perhaps P8s are a hand-assembled, skunkworks exception?
The P8 on ’Arry’s Garidge seems to be reliable, and always present and correct, but let’s not forget he works for JLR SVO:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/harry-metcalfe-ab16571...
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-britishcars/ha...
I always enjoy Harry's features on his.
Lets be honest however this thread will be filled with the usual posts of shame it is not RHD (simple they could not get the steering to clear the exhaust on RHD) and how unreliable JLR products are.
Because JLR cost-cutting = fook-all quality control / reliability, I’d really, really want to do my homework – eg, is this a version of the S/C V8 that has terminal cam-chain probs?
Or perhaps P8s are a hand-assembled, skunkworks exception?
The P8 on ’Arry’s Garidge seems to be reliable, and always present and correct, but let’s not forget he works for JLR SVO:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/harry-metcalfe-ab16571...
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-britishcars/ha...
I'm just questioning the mentality of the people who thought it was a good idea in the first place.
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