Jaguar has crowned its performance saloon line-up with a new R version of its flagship XJ. The Jaguar XJR is the firm’s star of the New York motor show next week.
Power for the XJR comes from Jaguar’s famed supercharged 5.0-litre V8 engine. In the XJR, it produces 542bhp, the same power output as the recently unveiled XFR-S.
Jaguar hasn’t confirmed any performance figures for its new rear-wheel drive saloon, but a 0-62mph time close to 5.0sec would be expected. Jaguar has promised “supercar performance” for the new model.
A single image released by Jaguar of the car ahead of New York reveals an aggressive new look for the XJ in its transformation into the XJR super-saloon.
Darkened mesh is used for the front grille and air intakes, a front lip spoiler is added, and chrome trim contrasts against the gun metal grey paint finish. Large five-spoke alloys wrapped in low-profile tyres are further additions to the most potent XJ ever.
Jaguar hasn’t gone into detail on the “bespoke chassis and aerodynamic developments” the XJR has compared to the Jaguar standard XJ. Full details will be confirmed at the New York motor show.
“The XJR is the most focused, agile and responsive Jaguar XJ ever made,” according to the Gaydon-based firm, mixing “supercar performance and assertive looks with the highest levels of luxury”.
Jaguar boss Adrian Hallmark said: “The new XJR epitomises the three pillars of technology, performance and contemporary design which the Jaguar brand stands for in the twenty-first century, while delivering new levels of dynamic ability in a luxury saloon.”
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Underpowered, unreliable,
Underpowered, unreliable, unsafe and hugely overpriced. It makes me wonder how crap a JLR product needs to be to not be hailed as "class-leading" in Autocar.
GermanPower
See the troll is back..
XJR
It's a car that the company needs in order to compete with the offerings from its rivals. No getting away from that. The XJ does have the appeal of not being among the ubiquitous Germans. It can carve its own individual niche.
But it needs updates in terms of build, interior design, ergonomics etc. It also could do with a tad more refinement and smoothness, critical for a luxury car, though that might not be such a huge issue for this sporting XJR model.
Why?
I fail to see the point in this car (or in those similar models of the competition). As a luxury car, one of the XJ's reported weak points is a ride quality already biassed towards handling at the expense of comfort; I cannot imagine that this version will redress the issue. If you need a super-fast saloon then the XFR (-S) already caters for this, and is plenty big enough for most people. They should concentrate their efforts on endowing their principal luxury barge with proper ride comfort, not on improving lap times at the bloody Nurburgring.
Herald wrote:As a luxury
the ride quality issue - and I think it's fair to say it really was an issue, given ride is something of which Jaguar are normally the gold standard - was supposedly addressed for the the 2013MY.
From what I've read (and I confess, I've not been in a 2013 car) the low speed ride is more supple but still not near the detached comfiness of an S-Class, though this is of course going to be down to wheel choice. The S320 CDIs and S500s you see tooling around on the road and for sale on Auto Trader tend to have 17s or 18s, whereas the XJ isn't even offered with 17s; most come shod with 19s and 20s.
This situation only reinforces what I said above: 19s on UK roads will pretty much smash the ride into irritating little pieces, yet they're pretty much standard fit. Must impress the neighbours, mustn't we.
As for 20s, god damn. Don't buy a limo if you don't want a limo?
As much as I like this car, not sure it's needed
I tend to agree in that I really do like the XJ, especially in Supersport guise, but therin lies the rub. I believe the SS is a great car with more than enough performance for any situation so I really don't think they needed to up the power in that monstrous V8. Then again, it was bound to happen sooner or later and I can fully understand JLR's reasoning in wanting to keep tabs with its major competitors. It's just a case of giving as many options to perspective buyers as possible. You want a super fast luxury express that can play at sports car if and when you need, then the XJR can been seen as a very serious rival to BMW/Mercedes/Audi/Porsche/Maserati. It would be at the top of my list that's for sure