Jaguar XJR Supercharged
Is there a better luxury saloon on the road? Los Angeles reckons this car lords it over lesser machines
Jaguar XJR
It is hard to find fault with it. In such circumstances car journalists are apt to talk about poor rear seat or limited boot space, or the complicated satellite navigation system.
Well, I can't say any of those things. I can only state a preference; the colour combination I was given, Jaguar Racing Green exterior with an interior in, "champagne" and "mocha," is not a colour combination I'd choose for a car of this quality, even if those hues are a traditional mixture. The green has a terrific intensity, but the interior is a dowdy hue. The "champagne" attracts dirt easily and doesn't show off the interior to perfection.
This is the twilight of its life in its present form, a new breed of Jaguar around the corner. Next to fly-by-wire technology, and a hybrid engine, it's difficult to image how they can improve the next that constitutes a great leap forward. It is lightweight - aluminium to a fault - very fast, packed with all the right gizmos and safety features, effortless to drive, ultra-comfortable, and at the zenith of JD Power reliability.
Design is all
What else could a discerning driver want? Well, according to my colleagues it is too like the last iteration. What is wanted is a modern design. Let me tell you this, a buzzard in flight is often mistaken for an eagle, but an eagle is never, ever mistaken for anything but an eagle. And so it is with the recognisable shape of a Jaguar.
If you wish, you could buy a BMW, a marque now in the throws of junking all its elegant proportions acquired over years of evolution for a set of novelty headlights, something called "flare edge," bizarre derrières, and over-designed dash. Or you could buy a Mercedes and discover if it were not for the three-pointed dash on the bonnet or grille no one can distinguish it from a Japanese car. And that's before you discover the pitiful build quality. Or you could buy a Lexus for anonymity and be dismissed for choosing the ersatz over the authentic.
Spending the XJR's £62,000 price tag and expecting to be invisible, on the other hand, is a waste of time. Hardly had I driven it down the road than it attracted waves and nods of affirmation from pedestrians and drivers alike. Those who know their automotive acronyms spotted the significant R on the trunk lid.
Some folk tell us they only want a car to get them from A to B. Anything will do. This is what I call inverted conceit: "Nay, I am humbler than thee!" Of course, this philosophy does not stretch to the house they own. I have never heard anyone say, "All I need is a roof over my head," and then buy a tent. Like living in a house with character, old or modern, it's important to drive a car of character and heritage, particularly if you do a lot of driving. The Jaguar XJR has that extra something. I once heard it described as "aloof." There is nothing detached or cold about the XJR. It's a stately galleon of the sort that won the Battle of Trafalgar, only they were made of oak not aluminium.
Driving it
And being bang-up-to-date, this car can glide in city traffic, or fly on motorway journeys. Zero to 60 in 5 seconds. I have to mention the satellite navigation system, one of the most logical, easiest to use I have ever encountered. Anyone complaining that touching the screen to access functions leaves grease marks ought to wash their hands. Compare it to the ludicrously complicated BMW iDrive system? You have to take your eyes off the road, look down to twiddle a knob then check the screen on the dash, all to find the right function. If this is advanced German technology they can keep it.
The Jaguar's sound system is terrific too, but it should be, this is a luxury car. Press Sport Mode and there's a little understeer on corners. I chuckled with delight every time the steering wheel moved up to allow me exit from the car, and back again when I entered. It may as well have been a butler bringing me a tray of sherry on returning home after a hard day at the stock exchange for it felt the same caring courtesy.
The future for XJ
The future of this magnificent beast, the future of Jaguar in its entirety, lies in the hands of its chief of design, Ian Callum, and his talented team. I would love to spend a day in their design workshop. I'm sure it will be a revelation and an education. In tidying detail on this model, McCallum has recognised it as handsome, but not beautiful.
Achieving eye-catching harmony in the next shape is his biggest challenge. He has to find ways of using the traditional Jaguar elements of wood and leather in new ways while still retaining the Jaguar-ness of the finished work, including ways of keeping the shape of the rear window, the twin headlights, and the muscularity of the car intact.
It's not an easy job. In fact, I'm the first to admit designing cars is an almost impossible task. Look how many mediocre and disastrous cars there are littering our streets. Every two-bit jumped up car stylist in a black polo-necked sweater proclaims themselves an artist, their latest creation a work of art, whereas it is merely a fashionable object.
Timeless grace
But the XJR is timeless. It is true to the company founder's ethos: grace, space and genuine pace.
By now it will be obvious I am enormously impressed by this feline time capsule. UK roads are too narrow and crowded for XJR to show off to best advantage, but in Europe it will shine, and it's perfect for American freeways and the wide boulevards of its cities. It is refined, agile, a great cruiser.
Please don't bother to wrap it. I'll take it as it is.
Copyright © Los Angeles
Followed one of these XK"R"'s along a twisty tight country road a while back, and it was certainly hustled along quickly enough for me to want to give one some stick along the same road!
I've never driven one but out on the road they seem pretty capable on roads that most people seem to think are rough and lumpy and not smooth in motoring magaines.
Not sure why the one driven here would be more at home on wider roads, as the driver of the one I followed seemed to be revelling in getting his or her boot down as often as possible!
Dave
I have had the pleasure of driving a friend's 2004 XKR when it was new, and they really are fantastic cars. I described it as 'like the acceleration was happening around you, not to you'. I can only assume that the XJR continues this cossetting feeling...as every luxury-based vehicle should.
One thing the article does not seem to mention tho - if you want to piss the majority of £60k away VERY quickly, buy a new one. If you want to save £20-30k, buy one thats a year old. My friend bought his new and learnt that to his cost.
p#
>> Edited by PhantomPH on Friday 19th August 12:27
los angeles said:
J_S_G said:
It's an XKR, no an XJR, no an XK...
Different monicur in the States where I drove it. (UK: E-Type, USA: XKE) Different spec too, from UK, different rear lights ... et cetera.[i/]
So what are you reviewing?, the pictures keep changing
The XK (GT) or XJ (large saloon)
Who waves at a car? I certainly don't wave when I see something nice go down the road, not unless I know the driver, which is never. It's like the myth that brats fly paper aeroplanes around in their classrooms.
los angeles said:
J_S_G said:
It's an XKR, no an XJR, no an XK...
Different monicur in the States where I drove it. (UK: E-Type, USA: XKE) Different spec too, from UK, different rear lights ... et cetera.
Either way, both the terms XKR and XJR were used in the copy. The title said XJR, and the pics were of an XJR... all very confusing!
I'm guessing from the amends we're talking about an XJR now.
And I still love my XKR (especially all the extra carbon fibre bodykit that'd have a pimply max-power devotee cream himself over)
2001, Y reg, XKR, 12,000 Miles!, face lift model, Two owners from new, Full Jag service history, recently serviced, dark blue with cream leather, always garaged, only used as a weekend toy, usual full spec. Pictures to follow £28,500 ONO
And McCallum - who he? David McCallum? Was he the man from U.N.C.L.E.? Who asked his opinion about the Jag's muscularity?
I know a number of people who wave at cars quite regularly - especially if they have extravagant body kits fitted, or spinners or certain types of 'annoying scooter' style improved exhausts. Surely that's not how Californians feel about Jags is it?
LongQ said:
I know a number of people who wave at cars quite regularly - especially if they have extravagant body kits fitted, or spinners or certain types of 'annoying scooter' style improved exhausts. Surely that's not how Californians feel about Jags is it?
Get a lot of positive nods/waves/etc. for the XKR. Did find some chewing gum stuck to the Paramount badge on the front of it last night, though.
FestivAli said:
'Hardly had I driven it down the road than it attracted waves and nods of affirmation from pedestrians and drivers alike.'
Who waves at a car? I certainly don't wave when I see something nice go down the road, not unless I know the driver, which is never. It's like the myth that brats fly paper aeroplanes around in their classrooms.
I get wee boys and old duffers waving at me in the mojo
MoJo
Personally always found Jags to old man gin rinsed but think current saloon one hell of a car and admire the way they have focussed/transformed on quality a shame as other people have commented that this still does not reflect on first year resale values.
The A8 also moves the wheel out of the way in the same helpful fashion by the way - a nice touch, but not one unique to the Browns Lane Slipper.
If I had the money I'd go for another Audi rather than a Jag - 'er indoors doesn't approve of Jags.
A quick comment on the aluminium construction- while Aluminium is indeed lighter than steel, it has a significantly lower strength (and an equal specific strength, same strength per weight) as steel meaning that you have to use about the same mass of Aluminium to get the same strength. This is why the cars still weigh in at 1800kg plus, and is the reason that BMW retain steel construction for the major structural elements of their chassis. Aluminium is also easier to work than steel. So while its a clever marketing ploy, I don't think the hype is entirely true. But by all means educate me if I'm wrong on this!
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