1995 Jaguar XJR: Villainous Badassery!

 Here’s a thought: If you were a villain, what kind of car would you drive? You wouldn’t want to drive something like a bright coloured Lamborghini or Ferrari, as you’d stand out in a crowd you’d want to avoid… But you also wouldn’t drive a cheap little econobox either… That just isn’t classy. 

So what would be this middle ground? Now if you look at crime and action movies, or even real life, the top bad guys and crime syndicates always roll around in black, long, VIP sedans. American baddies mostly go with Mercedes-Maybach’s and other German sedans, while the Japanese go for Crowns, or Century’s. But probably the most notable type of villain comes from the James Bond series. Where Agent 007 always has some form of Aston Martin, the bad guy always has Aston’s main rival, Jaguar!

Now, many Jaguars have been used by the villains in this franchise like the:

• Jaguar XK8 in Die Another Day by Zao

• Jaguar XJ8 in Casino Royale by Le Chiffre and Mr. White

• Jaguar XJ12 Daimler Century in Quantum of Solace by Dominic Greene

• And most recently, a Jaguar CX-75 in Spectre by Mr. Hinx

But why use Jaguars as bad guy cars. For that we’ll have to go back to the 60’s. The United Kingdom was not very ‘United’, as it was a cesspit of crime and violence. On the surface were the era of Mods and Rockers who fought on the streets for territory and turf, but also in the underworld, where most if not all aspiring bank robbers and mobs used big black Jaguar 3.8 Mk II’s as getaway cars. And you can see why: 220bhp was a huge number for a british sedan, and could get from 0-100 in 8.5 seconds. That is all while carrying 5 adults, a huge boot for the money, could reach a top speed of 201km/h, meaning that the thieves would never get caught. 

The Mk II wasn’t all about performance though, as Sir William Lyons (better known as ‘Mr. Jaguar’, the co-founder of Jaguar Cars) used the 1950s advertising slogan: Grace . . . Space . . . Pace. The design was done by him as well, but actually put into blueprints by Bill Thornton and Cyril Crouch at Britain's Pressed Steel Company. From there, the other team member, Bob Knight dealt with the Noise, Vibration and Harshness (abbreviated as “NVH”). This gave the new sedan a unique and beautiful rounded design which has been slightly fine tuned each time a facelift was needed, until it came to the late 60’s with the emergence of the Jaguar XJ.

The first generation XJ came with 3 facelifts:

• The Series 1 came with either the low spec 2.8L XK6 I6 (140hp) or a 4.2 XK8 I6 (265hp); while in 1972, a higher-spec 5.3L Jaguar V12 (242hp) was added. The Series 1 had long flowing lines but more in tune with 70’s straighter designs and a much more angrier-looking front end. But by far the most important statistic of VIP sedans has to be: HOW LONG IS IT. Well the Series 1 had a SWB at 4,813mm and a LWB at 4,915mm. 10 variants of the S1 XJ were produced from 1968 - 1973 and totalled up to 98,227.

• The 1973 - 1979 Series 2 improved on the 1, by an additional 3.4L XK6 I6 with 220hp. In terms of design changes from the Series 1, a raised bumper by more restrictive safety standards, made the grill substantially smaller, but an additional inlet was added discreetly under the bumper for extra cooling. Size wise, the car remained the same length as the Series 1. 61,441 Series 2 XJ6’s were built, while 16,060 XJ12’s were built.

• Series 3: Built from 1979 - 1992, the Series 3 got a minor redesign by Italian design house Pininfarina, which revised the bumpers yet again, incorporated flush door handles, a grill with vertical vanes, a more tapered roofline, with thinner window frames allowing for more glass area. For the first time, a sunroof and cruise control became an option! For the Series 3, it had the same engine lineup as before, but this time with the omitted 2.8L XK6 I6. Length was increased for all models to 4,959mm, and USA and Canadian models went up to 5,067 because of the bigger bumpers. 

The second generation XJ moved away from the Series identification, and instead went with the:

• XJ40 (1986 - 1994), which was the first variant of the second generation XJ. Design was significantly updated, as internationally, every brand was getting more and more boxy, so did Jaguar. The old rounded shape was opted for a more boxy, rectangular look. Aside from the revised look, the XJ40 also had a range of new engines to play with: Gone were the XK6, and it was replaced by the AJ6 I6’s. The smallest displacement I6 was the 2.9L (201hp), and then went up to the 3.2L (220hp), 3.6L (221hp) and the 4.0L (245hp). The V12 engine was bored out to 6.0L’s and produced 318hp to 333hp! How long can one get? The standard SWB models went up to 4,989mm and the LWB, now called ‘Majestic’ (rightly so) was increased to an even longer 5,116mm!

And now for the bulk of this article, the 1994 - 1997 Jaguar XJ X300, specifically Dennis Hu’s 1995 Jaguar XJR!

When I was offered the chance to drive this for a few days, I jumped at the opportunity! Writing is my passion, and without content to write about, I wouldn’t be content… haha! Plus, for the fact that I love my big, black, VIP cars, (as I own the only 1990 Mitsubishi Diamante 30R-SE 4WD in the whole country. Review coming for that one soon!). 

Although known to most people as the XJ40, Jaguar actually uses the XJ40 to name the 1986 - 1994 generation, whereas the internal code “X300” was used for the 1994 - 1997 XJ, and “X308” for the one after, and so on. Now, the X300 had only a very slight redesign from the XJ40. However, the XJR variant of the X300 (which was codenamed X306 or was nicknamed XJR6 to differentiate it from the later V8-powered XJR of the X308 generation), had a slight redesign to make it look more sleeker, classier and sportier, which goes back to Mr. Jaguar’s slogan for the 3.8 Mark II, “Grace . . . Space . . . Pace.” The grille and the mesh inserts were now body-coloured, rather than chrome to give off that stealthier, meaner look, as well as make it more “evil”-looking! The boot-lid plinth was also body coloured, and the rain gutters and window surrounds were matte black. And very-alike the British, the ‘Jaguar’ and ‘XJR’ badges were done up in British Racing Green!

For the wheel designs of VIP-style cars, there are 2 main styles that make it work. Either multi-spoke wheels, or big dish wheels. The XJR went with the latter, with huge, 17”, 5-spoke alloy “Sport” wheels that are quite reminiscent of the wheels off the XJ220 supercar. 

The engine was also revamped from the standard 4.0L AJ6 with an added Eaton M112 Supercharger, making the XJR the first ever supercharged Jaguar, and the second ever forced-induction car after the aforementioned XJ220. There is no replacement for displacement, as a lot of people do say. The engine had an output of 326 hp @ 5,000 rpm and 512 Nm of torque @ 3,050 rpm, which gave it an easy 6.6 seconds from standstill to 100 km/h (5.9 seconds if it had the 5-speed manual transmission,) and a top speed electronically limited to 250 km/h. In comparison, Audi’s best saloon only managed 6.8 seconds, and BMW’s M5 did 6.2 seconds, while Mercedes-Benz’s E420 could only do 7.1 seconds to 100 km/h! This huge amount of torque and horsepower was put only to the rear axle, making this quite the skid machine. (Judging by how many times Dennis has put this car into the skid pan!) 

The 4.0 I6 already had quite the metallic tangy sound, but with the added supercharger, there was a subtle high-pitched whine. The sound of the car was quite musical, as it starter sound was very V12 British-like, with the “chuft chuft chuft” sound rising in pitch until the massive engine roared into life! (If you don’t know what that sounds like, listen to a DBS Superleggera start up. It’s very very similar!) Idling was a treat too, not too obnoxiously loud, but also not non-existent. True badassery in a classy way. Next came the driving: If one was to accelerate with the gearstick positioned in “D”, the car would smoothly rise in pitch, while seamlessly changing gears to suit one’s driving style. However, shifting it into the left-side of the “J”-shaped shift boot would allow you to change gears between 2, 3 and 4. And, if you were to switch a little flip under the Shift boot from “N” (for normal) to “S” (for sport), and then accelerate slowly, the GM 4L80-E gearbox would drop the gears to 1st gear and you would be able to hear the metallic tang of the engine run with a high-pitched whine of the supercharger. The switch only changes the gear ratios, and not any valves in the exhaust pipes. As Dennis puts it, “she’s always on party mode!”

The drive wasn’t rough though, as it was still a big ol’ boat of a car, with 2,870mm as the wheelbase, 5,024mm length-wise. 2,074mm width-wise, 1,303mm height-wise, and 1,875mm weight-wise. The interior was comfortable and plush, with leather all around. All the buttons were driver-centered, so no need to reach for amenities, like the cruise control, clock, radio, and the headlight switches. The buttons were placed on a rack behind the steering wheel, which is actually more 80’s styled than 90’s. But then again, VIP cars tend to age a bit more slower than your standard cars, as the major demographic and target audience is usually the older range of ages, and it would feel more nostalgic and familiar. Only downside on the interior was that, even though the body was long, the low-slung, aggressive body shape of the car meant that the rear seat lacked in space, and the rear boot was ridiculously small compared to smaller cars of the same era (namely my 1990 Mitsubishi Diamante.) That relaxing interior was coupled with the newer, firmer suspension. But that’s “firmer” in the VIP-style car world, which is still very soft compared to your standard econoboxes. It had unequal-length wishbones with anti-dive coil springs up front, and in the rear, it had double wishbones, the driveshaft as upper-links, and anti-squat coil springs. It made the handling quite pleasant, and mated to the high horsepower and torque, it was quite fun to drive!

Driving around town that day was quite the experience. I had many people stop and stare, and it was quite empowering. I could see why Dennis wanted an XJR for his first car. And to see the notoriety of the Jag, I purposely drove it into the casino and other higher-social hierarchy places. People seemed to like the car, but also fear it at the same time. They were in awe, which brings this article to the second topic: 

Do People Actually Judge You When You’re In a Jaguar?

Yes. Yes they do. I went onto multiple Jaguar forums, and here are some of the experienced shared on there:

• I get out and see two 20-something's look at me, and then one says to the other, "probably a drug dealer or something..."

• I'm driving around in the same jag, get out of the car and a lady next to me in the grocery store parking lot says, "nice car, but we don't want any trouble."

• Some friends today said that people who drive Jaguars are RICH and are known for being "in the mob."

Even I certainly felt like I was about to do something sinister whenever I got out of the car! It’s truly an experience to have felt first-hand. Only 6,547 of these were built (and 2,741 built in 1995), so if you want one, you better get them before they either get taken up by other enthusiasts, impounded by the cops after failed bank robbery attempts, or left in collector’s garages for eternity.  I feel like Dennis has poisoned me with the Jaguar bug… And now I want one!

Colour Time! 

17 Exterior colours:

Reds: Signal Red (from 1997), Flamenco Red, Morocco Red (from 1997), Cabernet (from 1996)

Browns: Rose Bronze

Greens: Jade Green (from 1997), Sherwood Green, Aquamarine (exclusive XJR)

Blues: Kingfisher Blue, Turquoise (exclusive to XJR), Antigua Blue (exclusive XJR)

Whites: Glacier White (only to 1996), Spindrift White 

Silvers: Topaz, Silver Frost, Steel 

Blacks: Anthracite (only to 1996) (This one!)

4 Interior colours in Fabric:

Oatmeal, Coffee, Nimbus Grey, Regatta Blue

6 Interior colours in Monotone Leather:

Parchment, Cream, Nimbus Grey, Oatmeal, Coffee, Warm Charcoal

3 Interior colours in Monotone Sport-styled Leather:

Cream Sport, Nimbus Grey Sport, Oatmeal Sport

3 Interior colours in Two-tone Sport-styled Leather:

Black Marble Sport/Warm Charcoal

Grey Marble Sport/Oatmeal

Grey Marble Sport/Nimbus Grey

All XJR’s came with Grey Maple veneers.