You can read my brief design critique elsewhere in this forum.

On Tuesday, August 11th, I was fortunate to be among a small group of about 20 people who met Ian Callum and got to preview the new XJ in the metal, prior to its American introduction at Pebble Beach this coming weekend.

I was not a fan of it when I saw the sneaker photos and the photos from Europe, and my previous critique reflects the areas of my concern.

Seeing the car in person was an honor and a treat.

However, it was not a Jaguar I was looking at. Callum's presentation talked about the design development, and all in all I can say it was very well thought-out and did a great job of justifying the various decisions large and small that led to this sea change in big Jag styling.

But it was not a Jaguar I was looking at. My first surprise came when the dust cover was removed from prototype #10: This car was painted in a dark wine color that was only a shade removed from my own '99 VDP's Amaranth Mica. This is a color that you either love or hate; in '99 there was a lot of negative reaction to the color; these days people have so far been 100% positive about it.

The choice of a dark color (a "dark, rich" color is how it was described) shows off a shape that looks derivative and HUGE in lighter shades, and disguises the design cheat of the black-painted C pillar. In person, the similarity of the DLO (window area and shape), upon which Callum states the entire design depends for its basic character and proportions, is cribbed from the Audi A8L, so closely that it looks the same.

My other points (headlight and taillight shapes, body silhouette, front and rear detailing and graphics, and fussiness of interior detailing), were all verified and strengthened in 3D when the car was standing in front of me.

Here are some photos, although most of you have already seen enough.

We should hold a funeral for the Death of Jag DNA. This car is a Lexus with Audi greenhouse.

I took an informal poll after the car was loaded onto its transport, among car design students, all between the ages of 20 and 25. In general, they were unexcited. Most thought that Jag missed the mark and that, in certain areas the design was derivative and some details were cheated. Least popular details were the headlight and taillight shapes, the aforementioned "C" pillar, and the front grille, which everyone thought looked like a cheap appliqué. The interior was thought to be way too fussy, and the "virtual instrument" cluster in the driver's binnacle received not one positive vote.

The shifting setup--that huge pop-up chrome knob (it did NOT come from a '70s McIntosh tuner!)--was the butt of numerous jokes.

Dang, I wanted to like it more, but I gotta go with my guts backed by experience here. I was happy to drive home in my VDP, looking up at Toyota Prius drivers. Looks like classic Jags are officially dead.



















By the way, this LWB version is LOOOOONG.

 

Well, the round air vents were a feature that Ian commented upon, and his point is well-taken: round ("eyeball") vents carry an impression of quality that irregularly-shaped or venetian blind vents don't have.

I've owned just shy of 70 cars since I started driving in '68, and the eyeball vent was commonly used for decades. The nice rectangular vents in my X308 are OK, and round ones would have been tough to integrate into the Ford-dictated dash styling.

My Silver Shadow had round vents, my A/C-equipped '55 and '57 Chevys had 'em, my Miatas have 'em. I like 'em.

However, my "Captain Nemo" comments regarding the interior still stand. Too much fussy, fussy detailing. Callum remarked that he felt that people tended toward being "magpies"--liking a good bit of sparkle splashed here and there. I like a bit, but not this much--it's too much basketball star "bling" with no reason, though it does give the impression of a high-end jewelry store window after a nearby bomb blast.

The headliner on this dual-moonroof car was top of the line trim: leather and perf leather, BTW. Lower-trim-level cars get Alcantara.

Also incidentally, the driver's sunroof opens to the top like a Porsche Targa, storing on top of the rear sunroof/moonroof. This freed up 45mm of sandwich space from the headliner, which allowed 25mm to come from the car's total height--which it needed, as it's still too tall IMO--and 20mm to be added to interior headroom without giving anything up to the package.