The greatest weekender ?
In focus - Jaguar XJ – fat cat for fat cats ? Or sublime feline for speed freaks ?
Sportscars are great things to look at and for a fast blast across that great race circuit called Derbyshire – they are pure joy and as my boss used to say, ‘you have to have the tools for the job’ and a sportscar is the perfect weapon for killing time on the hair-pins of the high peak.
However - what if you wanted to visit a race circuit that’s further away – like the one they call Scotland ?
The trip to Scotland may sound exciting at first, but the bad back, numb bum and busted eardrums could spoil the enjoyment for all but the most hardened racers.
Two alternatives spring to mind – a Grand Tourer or Luxury Sporting Saloon.
You could make a case for both on this trip but this feature looks at one of our favourite Luxury Sports Saloons - Jaguar XJ.
So did William Lyons invent the luxury sports saloon ?
Perhaps, because before Jaguar there were luxury cars, sports and GT cars.
Lyons gave us colossal engines, low centre of gravity, supremely comfortable interiors, ride comfort, along with with the most beautiful designed bodies that set Jaguar apart from its competition and the XJ was a real game changer.
They had a rough patch in the mid 70’s during the Leyland years, but survived it and went on to produce some stunning XJ models.
Petrolheads are currently running the 2007 X356 Sovereign model which is sublime. It has a 2.7 litre twin turbo diesel which is smooth quiet and economical. If I was paying for the fuel and needed to get there reliably, I would take the X356 every time.
The heart however, would take the ultra impressive and ground-breaking XJ12 from the early 1970’s, the XJ12 was the weapon of choice in the 1970’s and a very appropriate classic weekender today.
Its stand-out feature is the magic carper ride, Jags have always done this better than the competition, never mind your Citroen hydraulics, the Jag does it with springs and probably does it better.
The good news is that they are not expensive to buy, whichever one you decide to buy.
So go get one before they take off.