2010 Jaguar XJ

For a long time, worrying about Jaguar was the only sensible thing to do. While it was never exactly clear if the marque had (ever) achieved profitability, we enthusiasts were only too happy to give them the benefit of the doubt. After all, the English automaker serially gifted us with watershed designs. Sublime mechanical creatures like the E- and D-Type sports cars, as well as the curvacious Mark II and original XJ. How could we not be totally and utterly smitten? Yet somehow, the once proud automaker eventually found itself adrift in mediocrity, turning out maligned and slow-selling products with an unpleasant odor of unreliability as the money began to run dry. When the then Ford-owned brand launched headlong into its "democratization of luxury" strategy that resulted in the lamentable 2001 X-Type and serious talk of an SUV, well, we couldn't help but grow gravely concerned.