Looking at buying a XJ6 x300 1996 with contrasting veneer panels to steering wheel. Is this usual practise or not?
Doors and dash are a Grey colour and wheel is a golden brown hue. Need to know before buying if it detracts from history of vehicle.

 

Welcome to the forum GOLDJAG,

I've moved your question from XK8/XKR to X300 forum. This is the place to post questions about the model you are considering.

Jaguar are noted for 'book matched' veneers where the left hand side mirrors the right hand side. However, I have yet to see any Jaguar where the OE wood gear knob or wood steering wheel matches the rest of the veneer.

Please follow this link New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the New Member Area - Intro a MUST forum and post some information about yourself and your vehicle for all members to see. In return you'll get a proper welcome and some useful advice about posting to the forum.

Graham

 

Hi, this indeed is a commonly noted observation.

Here is a thread where I asked the same question some years ago ("search" is your friend )

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...el-xjr-138839/


The dashboard fascia, door, console, door windows control veneers, etc are either a grayish black birds eye maple in the case of XJR models, or a golden brown burl walnut for all other models.

But the wood steering wheel is a typically a redder mahogany color, although I don't know if the wheel is actually mahogany. So regardless if one has a walnut or maple trimmed interior, the wooden steering wheel is not a color match.

This actually bugs me enough to have considered two options:

1) Find a way to color match the wheel to something in the car, which in my mind would be most easy to do by getting a matching shift knob.
2) Change out the wheel to an all leather wheel.

I decided on option 2 because I personally don't like how the wooden wheel looks or feels (hard and slippery), although I haven't yet changed the wheel due to other priorities.

But succinctly, is it not uncommon, if surprising, that the wooden wheel does not exactly match the rest of the interior wooden trim. Hope that answers your question.

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