XJR is as comfortable as it is fast
Can handle racetrack or ferry the Royal Family
SEATTLE, WASH. The best thing about the new 2014 edition of Jaguar’s iconic XJR is that it is no longer Jaguar’s sportiest performance sedan.
Yes, that actually is good news. Carrying that mantle has long been the domain of the R version of Jaguar’s range-topping XJ, but now that laurel rests firmly on the noggin of the all-new XFR-S, that extra hyphen and “S” denoting an even sportier version of Jaguar’s iconic R brand.
Thus, anyone seeking the ultimate in Jaguar performance, albeit with four doors, no longer looks to the range-topping XJ series but the more modestly priced and outwardly smaller XF.
Thus unburdened from facing direct scrutiny from the M5s and E63s of the ultra-performance set, the new XJR can go quietly — well, not so quietly considering the oh-so-rorty exhaust of its supercharged V8 — about the business of being a hugely motored but moderately suspensioned grand luxe tourer.
Inside the XJR L (the XJR performance upgrades will be offered in both regular wheelbase ($119,900) and extended-length L ($122,900) versions) precious little is different from a well outfitted XJ or XJ Supersport. The same glove-soft leather abounds, the Meridian sound system boasts the same 12 speakers (an 18-speaker system is optional) and, if you’re inside the L version, there’s room in the back for a bowling lane without cramping the style of those in front.
Where the changes lie is under the skin or, more accurately, under the hood. In looking for the R’s signature feature, Jaguar simply liberated the 550-horsepower version of its supercharged 5.0-litre V8, formerly the sole purview of the XKRS, and plunked it in the big sedan. Up 40 horsepower from the 510hp Supersport, thanks to electronic management changes and a freeflowing exhaust, the new XJR presses on, as Brit motorscribes like to say, to 100 kilometres an hour in just 4.6 seconds. In so doing, it bellows, barks and, even when those first 100 kilometres an hour have passed, still accelerates like it’s being chased by the Hounds of Hades. Given its head long enough, Jaguar claims it will bellow all the way to 280 km/h, this last still not its ultimate potential, as it is electronically limited.
Surprisingly, that 4.6-second acceleration time is exactly identical to the company’s own XFR-S (not to mention competitive with Mercedes’s S63 and Audi’s S8). Yes, the one with the extra “S” that I claimed denoted a sportier demeanour.
That seeming anomaly is explained by the fact that, while both cars share the same 550-hp supercharged AJ-V8 and the XJ is the larger of the two cars, the range-topper is crafted from aluminum while the mid-sized XF’s body is all heavy metal. The XJR L, in fact, weighs 90 kilograms less than the smaller XFR-S. Hence, the cars accelerate at roughly the same pace, despite the XFR-S’s smaller dimensions.
The similarities end there. Excused from the performance flagship status, the XJR is free to be as comfortable as it is fast. The suspension, then, is Grand Touring firm rather Grand Sport jarring. Ride out into the Washington countryside on a sunny afternoon and, if you don’t mat the loud handle, you’d never know that this XJ is anything other than a completely placating, featherbed cushy, paragon of Jaguar luxury.
Nonetheless, the big XJR L does an admirable job of pretending it’s a sports car. Oh, thanks to a wheelbase — 3,157 millimetres — only slightly shorter than the Queen Mary, turn-in isn’t as sharp as a Ferrari or even the heavier (but shorter) XFR-S. But anything this large has no right to be on a racetrack in the first place, let alone one that is all hairpins and endless, decreasing-radius sweepers.
That one can have at least a modicum of fun on a racetrack in a car that also serves to ferry the Royal Family should speak volumes.
That’s why I think the new XJR is the best car — OK, the best car not wearing an F-Type badge — in Jaguar’s lineup. There’s 550 rootin’ tootin’ but oh-so-well-behaved horsepower on tap, roadholding that will embarrass many a sporting sedan and, most especially, comfort that coddles royalty. It is this versatility — more performance with virtually no penalty — that is the new XJR’s most impressive quality.
XJRs have always been fast. They’ve often been comfortable. But they’ve never combined the two qualities so seamlessly.