XJ220 2 Months on! - Write Up
Discussion
Well as promised I’ve done a “little” write up on my time so far with my newly acquired XJ220!
It had always been a car I’d really liked and one that 20 years on still looks fairy modern which not many cars from that era can be called.
The beginning
After asking on here and getting several recommendations, I gave Don Law a call who after answering my 6 Million questions suggested I come down and visit his place to get a real feel for the car. Now I was kind of hoping that my trip down there would reassure me that buying one was a stupid Idea, that it would be a nightmare to get parts for etc and maybe wasn’t quite as nice in real life as I remembered (I’d only ever seen one or 2 in the flesh years and years ago!) So booked my flights and headed down one Saturday morning. As far as I understand Don Law is more or less the only person nowadays who looks after these cars and he seemed like a nice guy who once again answered my 15 Million questions and his son took me for a short ride in the car. As soon as I saw the car drive round the corner I just knew I had to have one. For me there are lots of far more capable, faster, cheaper cars out there but I’ve always believed the whole point in supercars is how they make you feel!
So after flying home I decided to think about it (which lasted 6 or 7 minutes) and after that the search began! I wasn’t particularly fussed on colour, although I said ideally I didn’t want a silver one (something I changed my mind on) but it had to be RHD. The trouble is there were only about 80 RHD cars made and finding one was tricky. I found a nice looking black car for sale at a well known garage (not going to name it, but easy to find if you look in the classifieds) and gave the dealer a ring. I liked the look of the car as I hadn’t ever seen a black one and thought it was something quite different. Unfortunately I found the dealer really unhelpful and rather unenthusiastic. He firstly didn’t respond to my email which I thought was fair enough maybe he didn’t get it or was busy but when I called he promised to call me back later with the chassis number and never did. Waited 3 days so I called back, he was busy and was told he’d call me back. I had to call 3 more times before getting a bit short with them. He called me back, didn’t offer an apology and simply gave me the chassis number and left it at that. I did some research on the car and found out it need a decent amount of work, so I walked away. Completely unhelpful guy and I certainly wouldn’t ever use them again!
Anyway, after a little longer managed to find a car that suited what I wanted. I had the brakes upgraded, it already had a sports exhaust and other than that it’s completely standard. Had the work carried out as well as a major service and the car was delivered a week later.
It’s probably the only car I’ve ever bought where I actually just spent 5-10 minutes walking round the car looking at every detail of it before taking it for a drive. Having driven my fair share of supercars I can hand on my heart say that this was probably the most intimidated I had ever been. Once I got it out of my drive and on to an open road it was another story! When you floor it in first there is a delay and then suddenly you just hear a sharp intake of breath as the turbos start to spool and a second later the car lunges forward like absolutely nothing I’ve ever been in! I Wheels spin in first and in second but after that there is no turbo lag whatsoever. It’s funny I don’t understand why it got such bad press when it was new because everything they seemed to criticize the car for, I feel, isn’t really a problem. There is turbo lag yes, but I actually feel it adds to the character of the car and within a day or so I’d learnt to just drive the car accordingly. Yes the car is very wide but the only time I have found that a problem is when in town. Also an Enzo, Range Rover, Murcielago and a Diablo are all wider. The only criticism I can agree with is the noise which on a standard exhaust is pants. That is simply rectified with a sports exhaust! Oh and em the removal of the cats
The car I find is easy enough to drive, yes it’s intimidating but for me that really adds to the car. I was saying to a friend the other day, I think the biggest thing for me is that this car has highlight, not how difficult it is to drive but actually how easy new supercars are to drive. What’s amazing for me about the car is actually how comfortable it is to drive. I genuinely could imagine driving across Europe in it all day long. It’s on par with say a DB9.
It also gets a lot of attention and surprisingly enough it’s, so far, all been very positive. I’ve had everything from kids to old guys come up and ask about the car. I popped in past a to show a friend of mine the car the day it arrived and 2 of her neighbours came out and started asking me a thousand questions about the car. Something That’s never happened in any of the other cars I’ve had.
Fast forward a week or two and unfortunately the bubble burst! The car immobilised itself so had to go back down south to get a new alarm fitted which took a month! That was very annoying especially seeing as we are unlikely to have many more nice days to use the car, before it’s locked away for winter!
Anyway when the car was down there I asked them to remove the cats off the car and WOW what a difference! It now sounds properly loud and once you start “making progress” it sounds like a roaring cat. Utter bliss 
I’ll be looking forward to next summer when hopefully I can use the car a little bit more. Hopefully I haven’t bored you all too much as it’s ended up not being that “little” a write up but oh well!
It had always been a car I’d really liked and one that 20 years on still looks fairy modern which not many cars from that era can be called.
The beginning
After asking on here and getting several recommendations, I gave Don Law a call who after answering my 6 Million questions suggested I come down and visit his place to get a real feel for the car. Now I was kind of hoping that my trip down there would reassure me that buying one was a stupid Idea, that it would be a nightmare to get parts for etc and maybe wasn’t quite as nice in real life as I remembered (I’d only ever seen one or 2 in the flesh years and years ago!) So booked my flights and headed down one Saturday morning. As far as I understand Don Law is more or less the only person nowadays who looks after these cars and he seemed like a nice guy who once again answered my 15 Million questions and his son took me for a short ride in the car. As soon as I saw the car drive round the corner I just knew I had to have one. For me there are lots of far more capable, faster, cheaper cars out there but I’ve always believed the whole point in supercars is how they make you feel!
So after flying home I decided to think about it (which lasted 6 or 7 minutes) and after that the search began! I wasn’t particularly fussed on colour, although I said ideally I didn’t want a silver one (something I changed my mind on) but it had to be RHD. The trouble is there were only about 80 RHD cars made and finding one was tricky. I found a nice looking black car for sale at a well known garage (not going to name it, but easy to find if you look in the classifieds) and gave the dealer a ring. I liked the look of the car as I hadn’t ever seen a black one and thought it was something quite different. Unfortunately I found the dealer really unhelpful and rather unenthusiastic. He firstly didn’t respond to my email which I thought was fair enough maybe he didn’t get it or was busy but when I called he promised to call me back later with the chassis number and never did. Waited 3 days so I called back, he was busy and was told he’d call me back. I had to call 3 more times before getting a bit short with them. He called me back, didn’t offer an apology and simply gave me the chassis number and left it at that. I did some research on the car and found out it need a decent amount of work, so I walked away. Completely unhelpful guy and I certainly wouldn’t ever use them again!
Anyway, after a little longer managed to find a car that suited what I wanted. I had the brakes upgraded, it already had a sports exhaust and other than that it’s completely standard. Had the work carried out as well as a major service and the car was delivered a week later.
It’s probably the only car I’ve ever bought where I actually just spent 5-10 minutes walking round the car looking at every detail of it before taking it for a drive. Having driven my fair share of supercars I can hand on my heart say that this was probably the most intimidated I had ever been. Once I got it out of my drive and on to an open road it was another story! When you floor it in first there is a delay and then suddenly you just hear a sharp intake of breath as the turbos start to spool and a second later the car lunges forward like absolutely nothing I’ve ever been in! I Wheels spin in first and in second but after that there is no turbo lag whatsoever. It’s funny I don’t understand why it got such bad press when it was new because everything they seemed to criticize the car for, I feel, isn’t really a problem. There is turbo lag yes, but I actually feel it adds to the character of the car and within a day or so I’d learnt to just drive the car accordingly. Yes the car is very wide but the only time I have found that a problem is when in town. Also an Enzo, Range Rover, Murcielago and a Diablo are all wider. The only criticism I can agree with is the noise which on a standard exhaust is pants. That is simply rectified with a sports exhaust! Oh and em the removal of the cats
The car I find is easy enough to drive, yes it’s intimidating but for me that really adds to the car. I was saying to a friend the other day, I think the biggest thing for me is that this car has highlight, not how difficult it is to drive but actually how easy new supercars are to drive. What’s amazing for me about the car is actually how comfortable it is to drive. I genuinely could imagine driving across Europe in it all day long. It’s on par with say a DB9.
It also gets a lot of attention and surprisingly enough it’s, so far, all been very positive. I’ve had everything from kids to old guys come up and ask about the car. I popped in past a to show a friend of mine the car the day it arrived and 2 of her neighbours came out and started asking me a thousand questions about the car. Something That’s never happened in any of the other cars I’ve had.
Fast forward a week or two and unfortunately the bubble burst! The car immobilised itself so had to go back down south to get a new alarm fitted which took a month! That was very annoying especially seeing as we are unlikely to have many more nice days to use the car, before it’s locked away for winter!
Anyway when the car was down there I asked them to remove the cats off the car and WOW what a difference! It now sounds properly loud and once you start “making progress” it sounds like a roaring cat
. Utter bliss I’ll be looking forward to next summer when hopefully I can use the car a little bit more. Hopefully I haven’t bored you all too much as it’s ended up not being that “little” a write up but oh well!
Edited by lambo_xx on Friday 18th November 02:48
Nice write up of a great car!
If it's of any use, Works Service at Browns Lane will undertake any servicing and repairs. You'd need to speak to Paul or Naz. There was always at least one in the workshop everytime I visited.
According to Paul, Works Service plus a place in Stoke on Trent were the only remaining people with the knowledge to deal with these cars.
Enjoy your new car
If it's of any use, Works Service at Browns Lane will undertake any servicing and repairs. You'd need to speak to Paul or Naz. There was always at least one in the workshop everytime I visited.
According to Paul, Works Service plus a place in Stoke on Trent were the only remaining people with the knowledge to deal with these cars.
Enjoy your new car
lambo_xx said:
but I’ve always believed the whole point in supercars is how they make you feel!
Spot on!Don't you dare stop "boring" us with write ups. It's great to read about one of the all time great super cars. And lots of pics in everyday surroundings would be nice to.
Another thing I find with driving older super cars, people do come and talk to you about them and the younger ones, whilst they might not know quite what it is, they know they are in the presence of something rather special
Awesome cars , saw my first in the flesh at silverstone classic this year , they are so long and the engine looks enormous . Nice write up Lambo xx , be nice to know the running costs on such a beast when you have the time to evaluate , not that it's important , just curious in case I'm pursuaded in the future when funds allow
XJ220 is still the quickest car I've ever been in.
Two things that I particularly noticed.
1) You can't see any corner of the car when you're sitting in it which makes it difficult to "place".
2) The interior is surprisingly cramped given the size of the car.
And a third, as you mention, is the noise - like a toolbox full of spanners being thrown into a cement mixer! Glad you've got that sorted.
Great car, well done!
Two things that I particularly noticed.
1) You can't see any corner of the car when you're sitting in it which makes it difficult to "place".
2) The interior is surprisingly cramped given the size of the car.
And a third, as you mention, is the noise - like a toolbox full of spanners being thrown into a cement mixer! Glad you've got that sorted.
Great car, well done!
Lovely car. I’ve only ever seen one in my life. It was touring the Jaguar dealerships when they were first launched and I went down and had a look. I remember it having an intoxicating presence and sense of occasion about it – it were as though, once close to the car, you had stepped into an aura surrounding it, such that, while it may have been sitting still and silent, you could sense the 217mph as though it were actually travelling at that speed. The styling has always stuck me as a triumphant blend of old-fashioned curves and modern aerodynamics which is why I think it’s relatively well received by those who find Ferraris and Lamborghinis objectionable – there’s something quintessentially British about its polite elegance.
I love to read about supercars from the perspective of real owners using them in real life. Far more interesting than listening to yet another of JC’s irrelevant rants about why the a new supercar that only 0.00001% of people can afford is rubbish because it’s 0.01 sec slower around a track that 99.9% of people who do actually buy one will never drive on!
lambo_xx said:
For me there are lots of far more capable, faster, cheaper cars out there but I’ve always believed the whole point in supercars is how they make you feel!
Exactly. burriana said:
Don't you dare stop "boring" us with write ups. It's great to read about one of the all time great super cars.
^ this ^I love to read about supercars from the perspective of real owners using them in real life. Far more interesting than listening to yet another of JC’s irrelevant rants about why the a new supercar that only 0.00001% of people can afford is rubbish because it’s 0.01 sec slower around a track that 99.9% of people who do actually buy one will never drive on!
I took a good look over a dark blue one at the dealers I am guessing you had issues with when I picked up my RS500 from them. I think they have so many timewasters they sometimes dont always spot genuine buyers like yourself, I managed to cut through that and had a good purchase experience.
The 220 was stunning, and seems smaller in real life than in photos, they are a real bargain in my eyes compared to the cost of the other supercars, and even now still look futuristic in the flesh. They seem to be now falling into the 20 year plus nostalgia boom and I think in years to come buyers will kick themselves for not purchasing one when they were at the current price range.
The 220 was stunning, and seems smaller in real life than in photos, they are a real bargain in my eyes compared to the cost of the other supercars, and even now still look futuristic in the flesh. They seem to be now falling into the 20 year plus nostalgia boom and I think in years to come buyers will kick themselves for not purchasing one when they were at the current price range.
Edited by PAUL. S on Friday 18th November 10:41
When I was in my very early teens I was obsessed with the XJ220. I lived just up the road from Merrits Jaguar in Amersham and they had one of the first RHD silver cars in the showroom for a week prior to delivery. I still have the photograph of me stood next to the car.
Fast forward to September this year and I saw one on the road for the very first time - Heading north on the M40. I felt old when I shouted XJ220 and my younger colleagues who were in the car said "what's one of those?"
Then last week I saw two one the move at the Top Gear Live show. Again the young lads sat around me had no idea what it was.
Phenomenal car and I love that you're using it rather than garaging it.
Great write up - I look forward to the next instalment.
Fast forward to September this year and I saw one on the road for the very first time - Heading north on the M40. I felt old when I shouted XJ220 and my younger colleagues who were in the car said "what's one of those?"
Then last week I saw two one the move at the Top Gear Live show. Again the young lads sat around me had no idea what it was.
Phenomenal car and I love that you're using it rather than garaging it.
Great write up - I look forward to the next instalment.
What a great read this is, I have a Le mans blue car and no problems, it's nearly done 5k now, cats off mine as well,
After asking on here and getting several recommendations, I gave Don Law a call who after answering my 6 Million questions suggested I come down and visit his place to get a real feel for the car. Now I was kind of hoping that my trip down there would reassure me that buying one was a stupid Idea, that it would be a nightmare to get parts for etc and maybe wasn’t quite as nice in real life as I remembered (I’d only ever seen one or 2 in the flesh years and years ago!) So booked my flights and headed down one Saturday morning. As far as I understand Don Law is more or less the only person nowadays who looks after these cars and he seemed like a nice guy who once again answered my 15 Million questions and his son took me for a short ride in the car. As soon as I saw the car drive round the corner I just knew I had to have one. For me there are lots of far more capable, faster, cheaper cars out there but I’ve always believed the whole point in supercars is how they make you feel!
So after flying home I decided to think about it (which lasted 6 or 7 minutes) and after that the search began! I wasn’t particularly fussed on colour, although I said ideally I didn’t want a silver one (something I changed my mind on) but it had to be RHD. The trouble is there were only about 80 RHD cars made and finding one was tricky. I found a nice looking black car for sale at a well known garage (not going to name it, but easy to find if you look in the classifieds) and gave the dealer a ring. I liked the look of the car as I hadn’t ever seen a black one and thought it was something quite different. Unfortunately I found the dealer really unhelpful and rather unenthusiastic. He firstly didn’t respond to my email which I thought was fair enough maybe he didn’t get it or was busy but when I called he promised to call me back later with the chassis number and never did. Waited 3 days so I called back, he was busy and was told he’d call me back. I had to call 3 more times before getting a bit short with them. He called me back, didn’t offer an apology and simply gave me the chassis number and left it at that. I did some research on the car and found out it need a decent amount of work, so I walked away. Completely unhelpful guy and I certainly wouldn’t ever use them again!
Anyway, after a little longer managed to find a car that suited what I wanted. I had the brakes upgraded, it already had a sports exhaust and other than that it’s completely standard. Had the work carried out as well as a major service and the car was delivered a week later.
It’s probably the only car I’ve ever bought where I actually just spent 5-10 minutes walking round the car looking at every detail of it before taking it for a drive. Having driven my fair share of supercars I can hand on my heart say that this was probably the most intimidated I had ever been. Once I got it out of my drive and on to an open road it was another story! When you floor it in first there is a delay and then suddenly you just hear a sharp intake of breath as the turbos start to spool and a second later the car lunges forward like absolutely nothing I’ve ever been in! I Wheels spin in first and in second but after that there is no turbo lag whatsoever. It’s funny I don’t understand why it got such bad press when it was new because everything they seemed to criticize the car for, I feel, isn’t really a problem. There is turbo lag yes, but I actually feel it adds to the character of the car and within a day or so I’d learnt to just drive the car accordingly. Yes the car is very wide but the only time I have found that a problem is when in town. Also an Enzo, Range Rover, Murcielago and a Diablo are all wider. The only criticism I can agree with is the noise which on a standard exhaust is pants. That is simply rectified with a sports exhaust! Oh and em the removal of the cats
The car I find is easy enough to drive, yes it’s intimidating but for me that really adds to the car. I was saying to a friend the other day, I think the biggest thing for me is that this car has highlight, not how difficult it is to drive but actually how easy new supercars are to drive. What’s amazing for me about the car is actually how comfortable it is to drive. I genuinely could imagine driving across Europe in it all day long. It’s on par with say a DB9.
It also gets a lot of attention and surprisingly enough it’s, so far, all been very positive. I’ve had everything from kids to old guys come up and ask about the car. I popped in past a to show a friend of mine the car the day it arrived and 2 of her neighbours came out and started asking me a thousand questions about the car. Something That’s never happened in any of the other cars I’ve had.
Fast forward a week or two and unfortunately the bubble burst! The car immobilised itself so had to go back down south to get a new alarm fitted which took a month! That was very annoying especially seeing as we are unlikely to have many more nice days to use the car, before it’s locked away for winter!
Anyway when the car was down there I asked them to remove the cats off the car and WOW what a difference! It now sounds properly loud and once you start “making progress†it sounds like a roaring cat
. Utter bliss I’ll be looking forward to next summer when hopefully I can use the car a little bit more. Hopefully I haven’t bored you all too much as it’s ended up not being that “little†a write up but oh well!
Edited by lambo_xx on Friday 18th November 02:48
[/quote]
lambo_xx said:
When you floor it in first there is a delay and then suddenly you just hear a sharp intake of breath as the turbos start to spool and a second later the car lunges forward like absolutely nothing I’ve ever been in! I Wheels spin in first and in second but after that there is no turbo lag whatsoever. It’s funny I don’t understand why it got such bad press when it was new because everything they seemed to criticize the car for, I feel, isn’t really a problem. There is turbo lag yes, but I actually feel it adds to the character of the car and within a day or so I’d learnt to just drive the car accordingly.
One of my favourite car reviews: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBrH-l92qR0. I love the bit where he does the turbo-lag demonstration.Gassing Station | Jaguar | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff