2010 Jaguar XJ Review and Prices

Jaguar may have just been sold, but it's plowing ahead with a new flagship sedan. With brawny coupe-like styling, more power and a futuristic interior, this thoroughly modern XJ could be the crown jewel for Jaguar's new owner.

Jaguar keeps hemorrhaging red ink, so does Ford Motor Company, in part because Jaguar has been such a money pit since Ford bought the famed British automaker some 20 years ago. With Ford now desperate for cash, it's just finished the process of selling Jaguar as well as Land Rover after offloading a third British property, Aston Martin, in early 2007. Fortunately for Ford, several suitors lined up, including the new owner Tata Motors of India, part of the big Tata industrial combine. But that's another story.

Meantime, Jaguar sales keep sliding, especially in the U.S. The X-Type compact premium sedan has been a major flop here, which is why it's being dropped from the local lineup. Demand for the aged S-Type is down to a trickle, but that midrange sedan goes away in mid-2008 to make room for the new XF. The sporty XK coupes and convertibles are doing okay, but the flagship XJ sedans have been a hard sell even after their wholesale redesign just four years ago.

Critics contend the latest XJs aren't moving because they look so much like the previous-generation cars. But Jaguar realized some time ago that it was trapped by its own visual past and began searching for a new design tradition, a 21st-century take on "Jaguarness." The XF is the first fruit of that effort. The 2010 Jaguar XJ will be the second.

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.

2011 Jaguar XJ 5.0L SC First Drive

2011 Jaguar XJ 5.0L SC Picture

Specs & Performance

Vehicle
Year Make Model	2011 Jaguar XJ XJL Supercharged 4dr Sedan (5.0L 8cyl S/C 6A)
Vehicle Type	Five-passenger rear-wheel-drive four-door sedan
Estimated MSRP	$90,500
Assembly location	Birmingham, England, United Kingdom

Drivetrain
Configuration	Longitudinal, front-engine, rear-wheel drive
Engine type	Supercharged direct-injected gasoline V8
Displacement (cc/cu-in)	5,000cc (305 cu-in)
Block/head material	Aluminum/aluminum
Valvetrain	DOHC, four valves per cylinder, variable intake + exhaust-valve timing
Compression ratio (x:1)	9.5
Horsepower (hp @ rpm)	464 @ 6,000-6,500
Torque (lb-ft @ rpm)	424 @ 2,500-5,500
Fuel type	Premium unleaded (required)
Transmission type	Six-speed automatic with console shifter and steering-wheel-mounted paddles with sport/competition modes
Transmission ratios (x:1)	I=4.017; II=2.43; III=1.52; IV=1.14: V=0.87; VI=0.69
Final-drive ratio (x:1)	3.31
Differential(s)	Electronically controlled limited-slip

Chassis
Suspension, front	Independent double wishbones, coil springs, self-adjusting two-mode variable dampers, stabilizer bar
Suspension, rear	Independent multilink, coil springs, self-adjusting two-mode variable dampers, stabilizer bar
Steering type	Hydraulic-assist, speed-proportional variable-ratio rack-and-pinion steering
Tire make and model	Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT J
Tire type	Performance front and rear
Tire size, front	245/40ZR20
Tire size, rear	274/35ZR20
Wheel size, front	20-by-9 inches
Wheel size, rear	20-by-10 inches
Wheel material	Cast aluminum
Brakes, front	15.0-inch ventilated cast-iron discs with 2-piston fixed calipers
Brakes, rear	14.8-inch solid cast-iron discs with single-piston sliding calipers

Track Test Results
0-60 mph, mfr. claim (sec.)	4.9

Fuel Consumption
Fuel tank capacity (U.S. gal.)	21.7

Dimensions & Capacities
Curb weight, mfr. claim (lbs.)	4,323
Length (in.)	206.6
Width (in.)	74.6
Height (in.)	57.0
Wheelbase (in.)	124.3
Track, front (in.)	64.0
Track, rear (in.)	63.1
Turning circle (ft.)	41.7
Legroom, front (in.)	41.5
Legroom, rear (in.)	44.1
Headroom, front (in.)	39.4
Headroom, rear (in.)	37.4
Seating capacity	5
Trunk volume (cu-ft)	18.4
GVWR (lbs.)	5,270

Warranty
Bumper-to-bumper	5 years/50,000 miles
Powertrain	5 years/50,000 miles
Corrosion	6 years/Unlimited miles
Roadside assistance	5 years/50,000 miles
Free scheduled maintenance	5 years/50,000 miles

2010 Jaguar XFR

2010 Jaguar XFR

The XFR, too, induced the same sort of awe. Few cars I test turn women’s heads as much as men’s, but Jaguar’s designers have a knack for making beautiful baubles that almost no woman can ignore. I’d love to think it was the recent tan I’ve acquired of course but young, fashionable, well-heeled ladies both fair and dark sent lustful glances toward the car—and just toward the car. One woman in a supermarket parking lot walked right up to the XFR, addressing it, not me, with a huge grin on her face, and peppered away with rapid-fire questions. Sated with knowledge, she just walked away, looked back at the car as if to confirm a mental catalog of details, and belatedly remembered there had been a human being she’d been talking to and said, “oh, sorry, thanks….”

Fast as Bloody Hell

If only I could’ve given a ride to every ogler of the Jag the company might find itself a huge new client list. True, maybe all those ladies (and men too) wouldn’t ever tap into the 510 horsepower V-8 under the bulging hood of the XFR, but that also might not matter, because this four-door is quite civilized unless you don’t want it to be.

I certainly didn’t; with 40 more horsepower than the XF Supercharged (and $15k more tallied to the sticker price) and an engine that nails peak torque (461 pound-feet) at a a barely twisting 2,500 rpm, the stats box alone should tell you what this car can do. That torque curve feels nearly flat as well, and that huge grunt equals more than a fast run (4.7 seconds, claimed) to 60mph. From 70 mph, passing a logging truck and three SUVs on a two-lane rural highway, the XFR downshifted its six-speed gearbox to third, held it to the nearly 7,000 rpm redline, and proceeded to upshift into fourth and so on. Looking down finally at the speedo I was rocketing at twice the legal limit. This could get dangerously addictive.

Jaguar XF Police Car Launched

The police-spec Jaguar XF was first announced by Jaguar last May. The car is based on the XF Diesel S Jaguar, with a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter engine that makes 273 horsepower and has a 0-60-mph time of 5.9 seconds. Plus, of course, there's a light bar on the roof and a distinctive electronic setup.

The choice to buy seven Jaguar XFs as patrol vehicles for the Central Motorway Police Group in this West Midlands region of England should turn heads and keep speeders alert. The Jags join a fleet that the police group describes as including vehicles such as Range Rovers, Toyota Land Cruisers, Volvo T5s, Vauxhall Omegas and a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter command center vehicle.

Jaguar offers free maintenance on 2011 models

Coinciding with the launch of the Jaguar XJ, the automaker is offering free maintenance on all 2011 models in the U.S. and Canada.

For all those penny-pinching Jaguar buyers out there, the automaker has announced it's offering free standard maintenance on all 2011 models and extended warranties.

The new Jaguar Platinum Coverage has a five-year, 50,000-mile limited warranty, and complimentary maintenance while the warranty is valid.

Jaguar XJ: The Hottest Cat on the Road

Jaguar XJ

I clearly remember the moment nearly one year ago when I first laid eyes on Jaguar's new XJ sedan, and felt as though I'd been impaled on some gorgeous aluminum tusk. What a fantastic looking automobile. On any aesthetic scale you'd care to calibrate—modernity, chic, formal grace, raw carnality—this thing simply obliterates the competition, just grinds their bones. Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of Bavarians.

From that moment until this week, when I finally slid behind the wheel of the company's flagship sedan, I sort of held my breath. Recent Jaguars—the XK coupe and XF sedan—have been very decent cars but always felt as if they missed greatness by a few millimeters. The 2011 XJ couldn't possibly, as a machine, live up to all this sculptured sin.

It does. Actually, it's a monster. Hugely civilized, desperately fast, drenched in high-tech amenities and executed with the kind of spirit and joie de vivre than makes the competitive German products look positively Amish, the new Jag is now the presumptive favorite in the full-size premium sedan category. Put another way: If you buy anything else you need a dog and a white cane.

Of course, Jaguar—a relatively small firm and a veritable fountain of red ink, now owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata—does not have the engineering resources of Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz. BMW probably has 100 engineers working on coin holders and glove-box dampers. The Jag doesn't offer the tomorrow tech of the Lexus LS600h hybrid. The XJ's lusty 5.0-liter V8s—naturally aspirated (385 horsepower) or supercharged (470 hp or 510 hp)—are not quite as highly evolved as BMW's twin-turbo powerplants, nor does the car offer as many forward gears as the eight-speed 7-series (the Jag has only six gears). I suppose in a five-way geek-off comparing the cars' navigation and multimedia consoles, the Jag's might not be quite as intuitive and refined.