JAGUAR XK8

TO JAGUAR AFICIONADOS and sports car enthusiasts in general, the XJ-S was too different in character and approach to be considered a true successor to the fabled E-type. Yet hopes of an ‘F-type’ were finally realised at the 1996 Geneva Motor Show when Jaguar unveiled the XK8 coupé.

Known internally as the X100, the XK8 was a success even before the first press test drives. Its styling was universally admired, and not just by the critics; even people with with no real interest in cars would accost XK8 owners in the street to tell them how much they liked the shape.

The good news continued when the first press reviews started to be published: the XK8’s driving dynamics lived up to the styling. The XK8 was powered by an allnew 290bhp 4.2-litre V8 engine mated to a five-speed automatic gearbox, a combination that ensured the elegant coupé was refined and swift, delivering against Jaguar’s claim to build cars with ‘grace, pace and space’.

A convertible arrived shortly after the coupé and was equally well received, if not more so. Two years later, in 1998, Jaguar launched the 370bhp supercharged XKR, which mixed easily accessed muscle with a spine-tingling soundtrack: here was a high-performance Jaguar with the talent to worry any rival in its class. A revised version of the 4.2 V8 (the AJ-34) in 2003 saw the power of the normally aspirated model rise to 300bhp and that of the supercharged car peak at 390bhp.

The X100 XK8 was replaced by an all-new model (X150) in 2006, by which stage it had sold 91,406 units. Jaguar took its time in creating any sort of successor to the ever-popular E-type, but the wait was worth it.