Iconic Films
2 for 1 tickets to Singin' In The Rain, this coming Monday. Book now
Navigation - link to other main sections from here
Jaguar XJ 2.7 diesel
A great car trying to outrun an old image
The flight was long, the seat uncomfortable, the entertainment unwatchable.
As I sat in that strange hinterland between sleep and wakefulness, one small spark of happiness illuminated the gloom. In the end, after the agonies of baggage retrieval and the car-park bus, I would reach the car.
So often it has been my wife’s elderly A-class Mercedes waiting to take me the 170 miles home. But this time there was a new Jaguar XJ.
The difference between it and the shambling Merc? In the Mercedes I resent every rattling, creaking mile of the journey. In the Jag, as I opened the door it felt as though I had already arrived in my living room.
The new XJ is the first in its 37-year history to be powered by a diesel
engine — a 2.7 litre V6. The result is so quiet you have to concentrate to
hear the difference. Even then the slight growl is only detectable when the
engine is stone cold. Once under way nobody would ever know. That is to say,
nobody would know if it weren’t for the matter of fuel consumption. There
was enough in the tank to get me home even though it was showing only a
third full.
I remain as puzzled as ever that some manufacturers of large luxury cars think
there are priorities more important than ride and refinement. BMW has
engineered its 7-series to handle extraordinarily well but has created a car
that’s less than comfortable over long distances in the process. Audi’s A8
is a car I both like and admire, but to my mind it impresses because of its
functional excellence rather than luxury.
In the current market only the Lexus LS 430, Mercedes S-class and this Jaguar are so effortlessly smooth they seem to resurface every road you encounter.
In the Jaguar, not only is the engine barely audible at steady motorway cruise but even during hard acceleration the extra sound is no more than the multi-cylinder hum you’d hope for in a car such as this.
A still bigger surprise is that a relatively small 2.7 litre diesel engine can
push such a large car along with such alacrity. Jaguar’s brave and expensive
decision to make both the XJ’s structure and bodywork from aluminium has
created an extremely light car, so while its 204bhp may sound a little weedy
compared with, say, the 3 litre BMW 730d’s 228bhp, the Jaguar is nearly
250kg lighter than its German rival. That means in terms of power to weight
— the only really meaningful measure of a car’s performance potential — the
Jag is superior. It’ll hit 60mph in just 7.8sec and top 140mph, enough for
the most hurried of executives.
And, of course, 35mpg fuel consumption means that while petrol-powered luxury
cars will struggle to put much more than 350 miles between fills, the Jag
will do 550 miles on a tank. If you do 20,000 miles a year, that’s three
hours it’s saved you at the pumps — not to mention the thick end of £1,000.
The terrible pity of it all, of course, is that so many will continue to be put off this really pretty fabulous car by its looks. It’s not ugly and in many ways it might be better if it were — then at least it might be characterful. As it is, the XJ looks like the kind of car that someone who has holidayed every year in Clacton would buy as a second-hand retirement present for themselves “because I’ve always wanted a Jag”. Sadly it is symptomatic of the wider issues within Jaguar right now.
There’s not another car manufacturer whose fortunes over the next five years I’m going to watch more closely. Currently the company is having a terrible time, with slow sales and the weakness of the dollar costing its Ford parent the kind of money that even the world’s third largest car company can ill-afford. The strategy to establish Jaguar as a volume manufacturer to rival Mercedes and BMW has failed and it must now redefine itself one more time or face the unthinkable but inevitable consequences.
Encouragingly, if the various leaks, rumours and gossip are to be relied upon, current thinking suggests that the road to recovery lies in becoming smaller, not bigger, and that Jaguar will be reborn as an upmarket low-volume manufacturer of sporting and luxury cars, similar in size to Porsche. I understand that the disappointing X-type saloon will not be directly replaced but that the long-awaited F-type roadster will finally be given the green light in a mission to hit the Porsche Boxster where it hurts.
If this proves to be the case, I believe Jaguar will not only survive but
prosper. One drive in the XJ diesel confirms that Jaguar wants for nothing
on the engineering front, and if the XJ can be reskinned to look as modern
and advanced as it actually is, I think people will flock to it.
In the meantime expect the vast majority of all XJs that do find their way
onto the road to be diesel-powered from now on. It may not look like much,
but underneath it is one of the most effective, satisfying and soothing
executive cars you can buy.
VITAL STATISTICS
Model Jaguar XJ 2.7 TDVi Sovereign
Engine type Six cylinders, 2722cc
Power/Torque 204bhp at 4000rpm / 321 lb ft at 1900rpm
Transmission Six-speed automatic
Fuel/CO2 35mpg (combined), 214g/km
Acceleration 0-60mph: 7.8sec / Top speed:141mph
Price £49,995
Verdict Get beneath the old-man looks and it’s a winner
Rating 4/5
THE OPPOSITION
Model Audi A8 3.0 TDi Quattro SE
For Great looking inside and out, terrific image and quality
Against Ride quality, diesel motor not as refined as many
Model BMW 730d SE
For Remarkably good fun to drive, very spacious interior
Against Ride quality, dodgy look, iDrive operating system