The Generation Game: Jaguar XJ

[Liquid]

The Generation Game: Jaguar XJ

The XJ coupe.
The XJ6.
The XJ12.
The XJR.

The Jag.

1968-1992 Jaguar XJ (Series 1 / Series 2 / Series 3)

Bodystyles: 2-door coupe, 4-door saloon
Engines: 2.8 - 4.2L I6; 5.3L V12
Drivetrain: FR
Weight: ~1,880kg / 4,136lbs

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1986-1994 Jaguar XJ (XJ40)

Bodystyle: 4-door saloon
Engines: 2.9 - 4.0L I6; 6.0L V12
Drivetrain: FR
Weight: ~1,808kg / 3,977lbs

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1994-1997 Jaguar XJ (X300)

Bodystyle: 4-door saloon
Engines: 3.2 - 4.0L I6; 4.0L supercharged I6; 6.0L V12
Drivetrain: FR
Weight: ~1,841kg / 4,050lbs

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1997-2003 Jaguar XJ (X308)

Bodystyle: 4-door saloon
Engines: 3.2 - 4.0L I6; 4.0L supercharged I6
Drivetrain: FR
Weight: ~1,742kg / 3,832lbs

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2003-2009 Jaguar XJ (X350)

Bodystyle: 4-door saloon
Engines: 2.7L - 3.0L V6; 3.5 - 4.2L V8; 4.2L supercharged V8
Drivetrain: FR
Weight: ~1,645kg / 3,619lbs

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2010-2019 Jaguar XJ (X351)

Bodystyle: 4-door saloon
Engines: 3.0L twin-turbocharged V6; 3.0 - 5.0L supercharged V8; 5.0L V8
Drivetrain: FR, 4WD
Weight: ~1,910kg / 4,202lbs

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For reference, this poll also includes all badge engineered Daimlers such as the Sovereign, Double-Six and Vanden Plas.

Previous Results Thread

 

[MatskiMonk]

X300 was probably the best of the retro style cars, and I'm not a particular fan of the old car (outside of John Steed's XJC)... so I guess X351... had those weird trim pieces on the rear pillars, but looked alright in dark colours.

 

[TheCracker]

I think the X300 and X308 were the best looking, but the X308 was when Jaguar introduced the 'everything is oval' interior (and some exterior) styling which was just excessively oval. Oval buttons, oval vents, oval dials, oval indicators etc etc.

 

[ScottPuss20]

Have to go X300 because I know someone who owns one. It's a proper JAAAAAG.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Why don't the headlamps fit?

 

[ScottPuss20]

Why don't the headlamps fit?

They look fine to me.

 

[Tornado]

Such an intensely beautiful car across every generation.



Except those two.

 

[wfooshee]

Well, as the owner of a 2007 X350, that's where I cast my vote. The air suspension for the X350s is way beyond its useful life, and CO$TLY to maintain and repair, and mine has been replaced with coil-over struts with steel springs, the way cars are supposed to be supported on their wheels. Because automotive air suspensions do do have a separately serviceable dryer component, I will never own another car with air suspension. In trying to troubleshoot mine, the dryer chamber, which is part of the compressor, was saturated to the point of being a water tank, and there is no facility whatsoever for removing water from the system. No drain on the pressure tank. All the valves get rusted. It would cost have cost more than I paid for the car to restore the air system to proper function. All it would have taken was for a dryer to be external to the compressor and have a scheduled replacement interval.

It's my travel car, but not my daily driver. Extremely comfortable on the highway, and quite capable, with 300 HP, but a bit thirsty with its required premium fuel.

Some fairly advanced engine management for early 2000s... DOHC 32-valve with variable valve timing and fly-by-wire throttle.

I have to say that I rather like the body lines of the XJ40, but those headlights and bumpers are hideous. Secondly, I absolutely despise the X351. It has none of the classic British elegance that Jags were known for up to that point; It's an expensive Toyota... (Are those @Tornado 's "those two?")

 

[Liquid]

It's a toss-up between the original and the X300 for me.

I appreciate that Jaguar tried to update the looks of the XJ40 for that time but the squareness hasn't aged spectacularly and it looks quite American to me.
The X308 is pretty much as good as the X300 but the story of the XJ comes down to engines. As time went on it became softer and more compromised. I get that times change but I much prefer the X300 having that look with those engines; straight-6 and V12 pulls on my nostalgia strings. A supercharger is a nice option but a V12 is a V12. The X350 looks fine and I'm impressed that they managed to make it so light but it's definitely the start of Jaguar's descent with its diesel option. And... the X351 is a bloated, ugly mess with horrible vertical brake lights.

The original has the quintessential Jaguar look, a timeless classic that will always turn heads. Someone in my hometown had a Daimler Double-Six growing up and I fawned over it ever time I went past but I think the X300 just edges it by taking the same ingredients with a nicely updated appearance.

 

[Famine]

Why don't the headlamps fit?

They're a generic, off-the-shelf, Chinesium LED full replacement unit - which I've seen fitted to everything from a Caterham to a Defender. You can get them in a few sizes but they're not like-for-like and don't have the same bezel.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

If anyone selects XJ40 I think a clinical examination is required.

X308 for me, easily. Effortlessly classic and modern at the same time - somehow they don't feel explicitly retro like an S197 Mustang or those 11th gen Thunderbirds...perhaps because they are merely a continuation of the previous cars. They just look very pretty. I've had a decent amount of passenger seat time in these and they are genuinely wonderful to be in - the leather is so so good. Never been in an X308R, but they must be fantastic.

 

[Wiegert]

I think it comes down to the X308 XJR. Or more specifically the 100. X300s are head-turners especially with their more colourful paint options and the interior styling is much nicer but that all-Anthracite exterior with aggressive trimmings is unbeatable.

The Series 2 is a very close third. They look slightly better as a 4-door saloon but the coupe was a welcome option.

 

[-Fred-]

The X300 XJR, easily. Those wheels...

 

[MatskiMonk]

They look fine to me.

This is not normal.... even for a British car.

 

[Joey D]

I'm partial to the X308 followed by the X351. A buddy of mine from high school had an uninterested stepdad who had an X308 Vanden Plas. Lots of good memories sneaking out in that car as 17-year-olds.

 

[Tornado]

Secondly, I absolutely despise the X351. It has none of the classic British elegance that Jags were known for up to that point; It's an expensive Toyota...

Lmao the X351 wishes it looked like a Lexus. It looks like some Hail Mary play Ford would have thrown to try and save Mercury if they had still owned Jaguar at the time.

 

[Liquid]

The X351 is a Mondeo that's drunk too much nerve tonic.

 

[TheCracker]

If anyone selects XJ40 I think a clinical examination is required.

As dumpy as the XJ40 appears in this XJ line-up, its not half as bad as some of its late 80's contemporaries. That mid to late 80's period was the height of squared-off styling. The XJ40 looks svelt and curvy compared to the Caddy Brougham and Lincoln Town Car or Volvo 740 of the same period.

It doesn't help that the example used for illustration was hardly prime XJ40 with those square headlights.

 

[MatskiMonk]

The X351 is a Mondeo that's drunk too much nerve tonic.

The irony being the actual Mondeo in the Jaguar line-up used the same retro-kitsch styling as the X300-X350

 

[05XR8]

Series 1. I love big and little headlights and the itsy bitsy taillights.

 

[Centroid]

Has to be the series 3. Absolutely love the Pininfarina tweaks, especially the rear light clusters. And it could be had with the V12.

Second place would be X351, in the right colour they look fabulous and moves the design on.

Third would be the X300. I do slightly prefer the styling of the X308 but the X300 has the V12 option.

 

[Liquid]

As things stand, we're looking at our first draw, even a possible three-way draw. Still a fair few days to go.

 

[Tornado]

The X300 is a perfect looking car. Impossibly low hoodline. Impossibly low greenhouse and rear deck. Cars in the 90s aren't supposed to have lines like that. Even the Greyhound Seville is less sleek and taut than an X300. The X308 takes that and throws enough Ford money that you can't see any visible stuff like indicators and switchgear that's probably parts bin grossness from some Rover from the early 1980s; plus they all had larger/wider and better looking wheels which fit styling perfectly while also updating the drivetrain and interior so they are actually like a modern car. The fact that they are both basically facelifts of a car that looked like a Japanese taxicab makes it all the more amazing that they look so right.


The X350 was almost a perfect update to that styling onto a car that basically leapfrogged everyone else in the segment in technology, except it's a bit too puffy in the front and they comprehensively screwed everything up behind the B-Pillar. A much better car for sure; but a line tweaked here, a proportion modified there and suddenly you get to the rear of the greenhouse and it's a messy stacking of tolerances like those that lead to a gun exploding in your hands. And then they put it through that horrendous facelift where they slapped the E39 M5 airdam on it. They clearly needed a new design direction at that point if that was their idea of how to update the styling, but... yikes what they came up with.

 

[05XR8]

The one thing I felt the XJs kept until the X351 was the ultra short front overhangs and the long rear that was all for the luggage.
Even in Coupe form it’s got excellent proportions. So dope.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I've occasionally seen a Broadspeed XJC on the road where I live...never got a proper photo of it though...

.. and I am fond of the car used in the New Avengers ...

 

[05XR8]

That’s another thing about the Series 1 and it’s probably one of the top reasons why I love classic BMWs. Remove the front bumper and it’s got so much flavour.

 

[ScottPuss20]

Saw these today

 

[Liquid]

Bump to drum up some last-day support; poll closes in 24 hours with a 7-7-7 three-way tie.

 

[Tornado]

View attachment 1462838
View attachment 1462840

This is amazing, by the way. The contemporary 7 series did it as well, but the only other modern-ish cars I can think of offhand that had such an extreme amount of "wheels pushed to the top of the side profile" is stuff like this:

All cars that either had basically a strip of plastic covering the wheel well when the hood was open or (on the C4) absolutely nothing. Only enough fender above the wheel as is actually required to house the wheel, with just a pinch of flaring on the very edges (like factory fender rolling) to maximize clearance without compromising the appearance. It's such a striking, defining aspect of the design of those three generations of XJ, it's not something you really see at all anymore (later Ferraris, Vipers and Corvettes didn't do it, and now all cars have those slab sides fender wells that I'd think would preclude it) and it's on a fairly regular sedan; and all without the help from raised outer fenders like the 1960s XJ (and it's derivatives) used to accomplish the same look. That extremely low beltline (and the increasingly larger wheels as it went from XJ40 → X300 → X308) does just as much work making the car look as impossibly low and shark-like as it is as its 911-matching overall height does; but the latter aspect does still help put the X300/X308 a cut above even the best looking E38 models. It's something the X350 actually did a reasonable job replicating, but its comparably more bulbous hood spoiled the effect of.

 

[MatskiMonk]

The XJ40 has basically all the qualities of the other pre 2010 cars, yet has zero votes. Y'all just suckers for the Mitsuoka-like take on traditional English luxury that a few ripples in the bonnet, and circular headlamps, brings.