2005 Jaguar XJS Supercharged V8 Review

So few reviews get these cars so right, and this author's plainly a Jag "water-carrier", but it's a great read and rubber-stamps my sentiments about these cars. I especially like this language:

"If you wish, you could buy a BMW, a marque now in the throws of junking all its elegant proportions acquired over years of evolution for a set of novelty headlights, something called “flare edge,” bizarre derrieres, and over-designed dash. Or you could buy a Mercedes and discover if it were not for the three-pointed dash on the bonnet or grille no one can distinguish it from a Japanese car. And that’s before you discover the pitiful build quality. Or you could buy a Lexus for anonymity and be dismissed for choosing the ersatz over the authentic."

And:

"Some folk tell us they only want a car to get them from A to B. Anything will do. This is what I call inverted conceit: “Nay, I am humbler than thee!” Of course, this philosophy does not stretch to the house they own. I have never heard anyone say, “All I need is a roof over my head,” and then buy a tent."

And:

"It’s a stately galleon of the sort that won the Battle of Trafalgar, only they were made of oak not aluminium."