Dan Neil does not think we need a V8... Jaguar?s All-Too-Powerful XJL - WSJ
but at $89k, I WANT a V8.

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WSJ Rumble Seat
Jaguar XJL Offers Much More Than You Need

By DAN NEIL
Dec 13, 2014

THIS MORNING, while discussing the Harley-Davidson Servi-Car—a three-wheeler favored by gauntlet-wearing meter maids in your favorite noir movie—my friend Danny rolled up his sleeve. There, to illustrate his point, was a very fine, very old tattoo, a technical drawing of an 80-inch Harley Flathead engine. Well, that settles that.

There was a time when Jaguar, like the Servi-Car, was almost reduced to cult status and rockabilly tattoos.

Tell you the truth, I sort of miss those doomy days of flickering headlamps and vanishing brake fluid. The brand felt more intimate then. If you were keeping a late 1970s XJS V12—the flying-buttress coupe—on the road into the 1990s, you were probably a very special sort of person, obviously a dungeon master, a Jedi, a human circuit tester. There was a brotherhood to long-term Jaguar ownership then, men in coveralls who would meet at their local garages and take turns berating each other.

I’m having trouble wrapping my head around the new Jaguar. It’s so, um, successful. And these new cars? They start every single time. No leaks, above or below, and hardly any mildew.

As a person emotionally invested in Jaguar, the marque—seven Le Mans wins, the E-Type, etc.—I was worried when the Indian conglomerate Tata acquired Jaguar Land Rover from Ford in 2008. I was prepared for any eventuality except Jaguar’s being stellar.

As in the case of our test car, a 2015 Jaguar XJL Portfolio AWD.

This is the long wheelbase (LWB) version (124.3 inches between the wheels, compared with 119.4) of the company’s large sedan—though “executive luxury saloon” sounds classier—of which they sell about 15,500 world-wide annually and just about 4,000 in the U.S. this year.

This car is no sweet young thing; actually, four years into its life cycle, XJ sales are winding down against a slew of superb competitors, from the Mercedes-Benz S-Class on the high side to the Hyundi Equus on the low.

And yet the XJ LWB can still churn a gut with envy.

These are lovely cars. Suave, temperate, refined at the wheel and chair, with plenty of acoustic glass ahead and above (the panoramic roof panels) to keep the keep the world out.

What sells this car is the glassine, fastback silhouette, with the roofline breathlessly reclining just at the rear deck amid a scandal of blacked-out roof pillars. As they say in Queens: That’s your long-term owner satisfaction right there.

Yes, the raster of the XJ’s TFT instrument display—the computer-graphic renderings of speedo and tach—is looking a little quaint. The wainscoting on the doors and some of the veneer panels seem a bit clunky. The center stack needs a fresh coat.

Still, the XJ’s leather-stitched dash, cut down in a demi-luna shape at the windshield’s edge, the Riva line, is holding up remarkable well. And like I said, no mildew.

The XJ received a fresh-over for the model year 2014, including revised appointments in the rear cabin of the long-wheelbase edition, with the option of airline-style reclining seats with heat and massage, powered sunshades and winged headrests. The absence of a towel warmer is unforgivable.

Depending on where in the world they live, XJ buyers choose from a buffet of engine options, including a turbocharged 2.0-liter gas four and a 3.0-liter turbodiesel. Here in the States, the engine options are the supercharged 3.0-liter V6 (340 hp) and two 5.0-liter V8s in escalating degrees of balmy overkill, topping out at 550 hp (XJR).

Our test car’s configuration was intended to mend a hole in Jaguar’s U.S. fishnet: full-size sedan, V6, long wheelbase, with all-wheel drive (competitive set includes the Audi A8L 3.0 T, about $78,000; and the Lexus LS 460 L AWD, $82,305). But the V6 AWD has turned out to be the franchise, representing about 40% of XJ sales.

Yeah, that sounds about right. After a two-week test drive, I waved goodbye to the big cat more convinced than ever that the models equipped with the V6 ($81,200 buys the long-wheelbase version), abetted by the supersmart eight-speed automatic, are the only sensible choice.

Horsepower is an intoxicant, known to turn grown men into complete jackasses. Let me give you my current intervention speech: one churning out 470 hp (XJL Supercharged, $93,600) and the other putting out 550 hp, almost a half megawatt of power (XJR LWB, $119,000) and supplying an exhaust overrun sound like an errant cigarette in a fireworks factory.

Sure, the former dashes to 60 in 4.9 seconds, the latter in 4.4, on its way to its 174 top speed. But where, when? Answer: almost nowhere and just about never.

What I’m suggesting is the emergence of a broad-based sufficiency in smaller engine design, a threshold of painlessness.

Just in the past 18 to 24 months, I’ve seen one case after another (e.g., the Ford Mustang) in which the smaller engine available delivers so far above the line in terms of performance, refinement, reserves of power, and responsiveness that it renders the larger engine extraneous.

In the case of the XJL, the 3.0-liter claims a 0-60 mph time of 5.7 seconds.

I could name a dozen immortal sports cars that couldn’t do the deed any quicker, including a legend like a Ferrari 250 GT California. (The matter is murkier regarding the AWD, which adds an indefensible 299 pounds to the LWB car, totaling 4,151 pounds. That is likely due to the fact that AWD was introduced mid life-cycle to the XJ, thereby passing up the weight savings possible at the initial design draft, which would have avoided the retrofit. The AWD’s weight shades acceleration a bit.)

What the numbers don’t convey is the car’s lean, sporting composure and seeming delight at the spur. This engine—with a whiff of British torque, 332 lb-ft, about midclock, I reckon—is as frictionless as a replacement knee, and it just sings.

It almost makes me want to get a tattoo.

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2015 JAGUAR XJL PORTFOLIO AWD
Base price: $84,700
Price, as tested: $88,975
Powertrain: Supercharged direct-injection 3.0-liter DOHC V6 with variable cam phasing; right-speed automatic transmission; all-wheel drive
Horsepower/torque: 340 hp at 6,500 rpm/332 lb-ft at 3,500-5,000 rpm
Length/weight: 206.8 inches/4,151 pounds
Wheelbase: 124.3 inches
0-60 mph: 6.1 seconds
EPA fuel economy: 16/24/19 mpg, city/highway/combined
Luggage capacity: 15.2 cubic feet

 

I subscribe to the WSJ and read his XJ review when it came out and thought it was more entertainment than substance. I disagreed with his description of the wood veneer as being "clunky" - mine is gorgeous. No way would I want a 3.0L 6-cylinder even if it is supercharged, unless AWD was a must-have.

I was much more entertained reading the Wikipedia biography of Dan Neil and the ups and downs of his career as an automotive journalist. A noteworthy event was when he was fired over an article he wrote in 1996 about a Ford Expedition and how he managed to leave his footprints on the inside of the windshield. I won't tell you how that happened, and will leave it to your imagination. So if you're curious look him up on Wikipedia. It's a better read than his WSJ article.

Stuart

 

The supercharged V-6 might have made some sense six months ago before gasoline prices declined by 32%. Now it is seems like a needless compromise for a large luxury car, unless you live in a snowy area and need four-wheel drive, with its inherent downsides.

 

Jaguar (as well as virtually all other car manufacturers) introduced smaller displacement engines in response to Federal government CAFE mandates, and not the demands of Jaguar customers in the USA.

In my opinion, fuel economy is a low priority for most XJ buyers in North America. If you can afford to buy an XJ, the cost of gasoline comes with the territory.

 

I am going to possibly be in the market for a used 2011 XJ sometime next year. I don't think he's arguing that an NA V8 would be bad. Just that a 5.0L supercharged V8 making 500+ horsepower is overkill for a large luxury saloon with few sporting pretenses. I agree with him!

For a luxury sedan, I am probably going to put all season tires on a test drive of a 2012 XJL Supercharged, the tires weren't eveh able to put down that kind of power!

That being said I would never choose a V6 Jaguar, at least not with a 90 degree V6 that is basically the V8 with two cylinders chopped off!

I may however end up with a supercharged one, but only because I like the wheels much better!