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| Bruce Everiss. Jaguar XJR |
I bought this because it was the best car in the world. And it still is. Let me explain.
When Jaguar first launched the XJ6 in 1968 they had an engineering problem. They wanted it to remain in production for very many years in many versions but at the time safety legislation was changing very quickly. So their answer was to over-engineer the design to cater for the maximum possible legislative hurdles over the maximum possible lifetime. And the results were spectacular, whenever the government published real world figures for the safety of different models of cars in accidents the XJ always came top.
The vastly superior design engineering didn't just extend to safety. The car set new standards for both road-holding and for comfort, being happy to be driven in a spirited manner whilst at the same time being supremely comfortable. All this with a British gentleman's club interior. No wonder it won countless awards and was universally recognised as the world's finest saloon car for so many years.
But there was a big problem. They weren't very well made. The old Browns Lane factory in Coventry had seen no investment for decades and much of the production machinery dated from when it was an aircraft factory in World War 2. But then things got a whole lot worse. As the XJ was launched the Jaguar company became part of the BMC, a volume car manufacturer and so quality went right down the pan as accountants tried to shave pennies everywhere. Then it got a lot worse still when it was all nationalised which meant that nobody who worked at Jaguar had to deliver to get their pay packets. So they didn't.
Eventually Jaguar was separated from the rest of the mess and privatised, but there was still no money for investment. Till in 1990 Ford paid well over the odds to buy the company. When they got inside the factory they couldn't believe the pile of old crock they had bought, so they decided to throw money at the problem. In an extended summer factory closedown they ripped out 50 year old production machinery and replaced it with the state of the art. They bought and installed the very best that money could buy. An engineering friend of mine who was involved said that they moved production tolerances by one decimal point.
Then Ford, in an attempt to be better than both Mercedes and Lexus, threw billions at re-engineering the cars. Till in 1994 they introduced a massively revised XJ6, which is known as the X300. One move was to put much special high strength steel into the structure to make the car even safer! This was a fantastic car combining all the great proven XJ abilities with the highest build quality. Many people think that this was the best XJ, especially for its interior. At this time Jaguar started appearing near the top of the J D Power surveys, both here and in the USA, of customer satisfaction with their cars.
But Jaguar were still investing and the X300 was just a stopgap. In 1998 it was heavily revised again as the X308. Here Jaguar introduced a brand new 4 litre V8 engine. Part of the design process was that this engine had to be lighter, more economic, more powerful and more refined than the competing 4 litre V8 engines from BMW, Lexus, and Mercedes. This engine was a fair bit shorter than the straight six it replaced, so Jaguar re-engineered the body shell again, putting in a second front bulkhead, which makes the car stronger and more refined. And yet more high strength steel. The X308 must be structurally one of the toughest cars ever made. The ones I have seen that have been involved in huge collisions have come out of it exceptionally well.
The standard X308 is an amazing car, but Jaguar went more amazing still by adding a supercharger to the engine to make the XJR, with 370bhp. To this they added what they called CATS suspension with instant computer control of the valves in the shock absorbers. This meant that the car adapted to conditions and to how it was being driven. So Jaguar's legendary combination of ride comfort and fantastic roadholding was further enhanced. The legendary steel fist in the velvet glove.This was honed and fine tuned by test drivers on the very same Warwickshire roads that I use every day. I still regularly see prototypes out of their latest models.
Of course achieving such excellence was costing Ford billions and eventually they ran out of money and had to sell Jaguar off. It has been living off the results of the Ford spend ever since.
My XJR still amazes me. The beautiful leather, walnut and Wilton interior, the staggering performance and the ability to totally demolish distance. In the photo above you can see my car on the ferry from Dover, going to Europe. In Europe it has cruised at double the maximum British speed limit for very long stretches at a time. The horizon just arriving like a zoom lens only for yet another horizon to appear. And the car is totally relaxed and comfortable doing this. It is no strain on either vehicle or driver.
After the X308, Jaguar went downhill. With it's successor, the X350, they went to aluminium construction and air suspension as well as making the car too big and bloated. This made the car a lot weaker in a big crash because aluminium tears without absorbing much energy and the air bags in the suspension just could not give the same ride quality as steel springs.
Which makes the X308 a pinnacle. And it explains why they are going up in value. They are just on the cusp of going from being a daily driver to being a collectors car. Which means that mine is for sale. I have bought a Jaguar S type diesel for my daily commute and so the X308R doesn't have a purpose in life. I am not two Jags Prescott. The problem here is that I don't have much enthusiasm in trying to sell it, so the adverts get put off. But the good news is that when I get round to writing them the number after the £ sign will be bigger than it is now. This is a great future classic.