Motoring
In a class of its own
Alan Judd
Aman I know lives within walking dis- tance of a station that connects him swiftly to his office, but he chooses to drive to a more distant station. The reason is that when he gets off the train at the end of the day, tense and tired, he gets into something that cossets and calms him and floats him home, so that he enters the house serene and headache-free. What he gets into is his Jaguar. Having spent a week with the new XJ8 saloon, I see what he means.
Most Jaguars are beautiful but this one is exceptionally so. It is superficially similar to its XJ predecessor, voted the most beauti- ful car in the world at the 1995 Milan Inter- national Competition, but it incorporates a number of discreet styling modifications that lift it into a class of its own. Tradition- ally, Jaguars have been well designed and engineered, very competitive in price with their rivals but cheaply made, therefore less reliable than the competition and horribly subject to devaluation, so not really cheap- er at all. Remember those stylish XJ6s of the 1970s with 1950s electrics and up-to- the-minute rust? Or the XJ12, a car with one of the all-time great engines but demeaned by switches, handles and bits from the BL parts-box? In those days you could pick up an E Type for £300.
John Eagan liberated Jaguar from BL, turned it round and improved reliability and image to the point where Ford were persuaded to cough up handsomely. In Ford's capacious and capable hands, Jaguar is now getting the investment it has long deserved. No longer are they built on the old Standard production-line that was second-hand when Sir William Lyons bought it in the 1950s.
This new model took 28 months to devel- op, using the new V8 engines launched last year in the XK8 sports car. The two base models have it in 3.2 litre form, the rest in 4 litre. On-the-road prices range from £34,475 for the XJ Sport to £62,775 for the most luxurious Daimler; £50,675 buys you the supercharged XJR, claimed to be the fastest four-door saloon in the world (0-60 in 5.3 seconds). I'm told that these super- cars are discreetly available on long-term `celebrity loans'. The Editor must have snaffled mine.
I toyed, therefore, with the XJ8 3.2, one of the cheapies at £35,675. Compared with its Mercedes, BMW and Lexus competitors, this car is not only good value for money, it is in important ways better. To start with, its looks put it in a class of its own and the seduction they begin continues with its feel, which is a sensual wrap-around quite unlike any other car. You sit in Jaguars, whereas you sit on Mercedes — something I actually prefer but many don't — and the view along the bonnet makes you feel part of the car rather than something additional to it. The drive is incomparable: precise, power- ful, tactile, delicate.
More even than BMW, this feels like the real driver's car. The quality is a world away from its Seventies and Eighties ancestors, and I understand that the latest J.D. Power survey in America places Jaguar equal fifth in reliability with the BMW 5 series. With this model, and the example of Lexus to aim at, they should do even better.
There are quibbles. Sleekness has a price and anyone getting on for six feet who tries to sit in the back will find his chin on his chest, though the reclining rear seat of the longer wheelbase Daimler may restore his head to where it should be. As in most lux- ury cars, the walnut veneer has a gloss fin- ish that makes it a little too like coffee-bar plastic; polish would be better. The indica- tor stalk is slightly short but the clock is a traditional delight. There was no cruise control on the model I had and for £35K you really should expect that. Cheaper Volvos, Jeeps and Isuzus have it, not to mention the competition. Also, an adjustable steering-wheel ought to be stan- dard on all models. The cockpit count of dials, switches, knobs, handles, buttons, etc. (excluding the radio) was around 76.
For most drivers this car is pretty well perfect. It's not for children or dogs — they can follow in the Land-Rover — but it is for adults who like sports car performance with best saloon luxury. On a 688-mile round trip it returned 24.2 mpg at an aver- age of 43 mph. On the Al it returned 25.9 mpg at an average of 54 mph, a great improvement on the five elderly Jaguars I've owned. If your company car budget stretches to these prices, try one, and when you come to get rid of it, ring The Specta- tor. If my 'celebrity loan' is still in the post, I could be a contender.
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