2002 XJ8 Sport...... what I can tell the only real difference is the sport has different wheels on it. Does anyone know of anymore real differences ?

TIA

 

The front grille surround is blacked out as are the decklid (boot) trim above the license plate and the trim around the tail lamps.

A quick summary is that it looks like an XJR but does not have the blower.

 

I own one, and usually people aren't too interested in what I've got to say about it.
(now, a thread to educate the masses, just for me!)

The engine is a N/A 290hp 4.0 V8, and it does have the Penta wheels, unlike the '02 XJR
which has "Asteroid" ones instead.

The suspension spring rates match the XJR, and it has Bilstein Sport shocks from factory. The rear is equipped with a 1.3 inch rear anti-roll bar, and is the only N/A
X308 to be fitted with a rear anti-roll bar from factory. Unlike the XJR, though, it
is not equipped with CATS adaptive technology.

So, there is the suspension.

The interior has the same seats and colour shcemes as the XJR. However, there is
no 2nd cigarette lighter, and the options standard on the XJR are rarer here.

The XJ Sport has body-coloured trim, but a metallic grey slatted grille instead of mesh, and smaller exhaust tips. It is a Nurburgring tuned suspension set-up, though, and
this shows, it handles itself differently than any other XJ.

The differences under the skin included P-Zero tyres from factory, and the uprated suspension. Everything else is in appearance.

Specs: 1/4 mile, 14.8 @ 96 (based on my reading of road tests of N/A cars) and 0-60 in 6.5s; Skidpad: .88g

The cosmetic tweaks look good though. Mine is fitted with XJR-100 tips/mufflers,
though.

This is, to my knowledge, the rarest XJ X308 in the US. Only available in 2002-2003, only <20 are ever
for sale online at any given time. It wasn't a trim level, it was its own model. (i.e., XJ8 L, XJR, etc)

Interstingly, XJ Sport is the only X308 Moniker in the US maintained in the current line-up of Jaguar models.

 

Thanks guys....... I had thought the first time I saw one for sale (in pictures) that the guy painted the grille surround black to match the car. Now I see its exactly as it should be.

 

The grill inserts are metallic grey, the surround is body colour.

That isn't factory, the trunklid thing being black isn't either.
They would be silver, on a silver car, for example.

 

WoW It's good to read such articles I have my XJ8 Sport for more than half an year and this is the first time I realize that I have something different and maybe in some ways better than the other XJ8 (except the VDP).

The only thing I can add is that my car is with the 3.2 engine but still it's Sport edition.

Here is one photo to see how the grill looks on mine:

 

Well the car is black so the surround would be black as would the grills I believe. Beautiful Silver Sport you have too.

 

Right. The grill, to me, looks best as mesh on a black car. The XJR is way better in black than the sport IMO, I love the high-polish mesh over black.

Thanks for your nice comment on my XJ.

Cheers,

Ian

 

Ian what size tires are they, and does it tram line in any way?

 

The tyres are Falken FK452 245-40-ZR18.

They do not tramline. In fact, they don't even flat-spot
when they aren't up to temperature. The fronts have 5k
on them, the rears about 15-25k (can't tell, the previous
owner dictated what I have).

There is no evidence of tramlining (almost) at all... the car goes
exactly where I point it. (Then again, I never drive cars
that have excessive tram lining, so I don't have a good comparo)

Why do you ask? (just a bit curious)

Ian

 

Aren't they supposed to be 255-40-18?

The symmetric tread pattern on these car's is supposed to aid tram lining.

 

[QUOTE=ianclements;494064]


Was your front door repainted? The shine looks different from the rear door in this picture.


I think OEM is 255/40/18, so your would have a thinner side wall and thereby a smaller tire circumference from OEM. Assuming the XJ Sport and XJR have the same OEM tire size. Is your suspension a bit raised in the front?

I have 245/45/18 on mine which I used to approximate the circumfrence of the OEM 225/60/16 OEM VDP tires (I'm not 100% sure that's the OEM size since I dumped those 6 yrs ago.). I also hoped the thicker sidewall and slightly narrower width would help with the potholes and snow in Boston, and tramlining. Mine tramlines and I bent a rim. lol.

 

Burmaz, Actually, 245 is the width, so, they are factory aspect ratio (40mm height), but 1 series narrower in width (10mm narrower, other than that, it's factory)

Take a look at the paintwork here (i moved over a foot or so for this shot)



The door has had paintwork, I believe, I ruined that fender and had it blended. The paint looks perfect, now that you point it out, though, it looks obvious. (this pic is the
only case where that has been true). I had it done by the local Audi specialist body shop in Orlando. The rear door has definitely never been painted.

The flash was reflecting off my friends car in that one, hence the weird white cutoff at the bottom. The long exposure and lack of tripod required that I prop it up on something, so the car was good.

I haven't got the factory tyres, Sean, they would have been P-Zeros, and I wouldn't know anything about them. Mine are to a different spec, because the previous owner discovered he could save some cash by buying tyres 10mm narrower, and Falken not Pirelli. These actually aren't bad, I just wish they were wider.

No, the suspension is perfectly set to factory spec.

here is another shot, you can see the suspension could look different depending on angle.

 

Oh ok now the paint looks better in the other picture.

245/40/18 would actually have a thinner sidewall than 255/40/18 since '40' is an aspect percentage dependent on the width. I I have heard that 245s on the 18" Jag rims give better handling than oem 255, and 255 is a bit wide for the width of the rim.

I was thinking your car was a bit raised since my tires fill the wheel wells a bit more since they are thicker.

In terms of rarity, its the XJR-100 as the most rare, then I think its the VDP supercharged and Super V8. I believe there were fewer than 500 of them sold a year. I hardly see any XJ8L jags but i dont think those would be considered rare.

Surprisingly, the XJ Sport's original MSRP was only a few thousand more than the base XJ8 which is probabaly why Alpine audio, heated seats, wood steering wheel weren't standard. I guess its to keep it from competiting against the XJR too much.

 

You should be aware that the other guys are in the US, which didn't really get the full range of options. It's funny, though - your car has the chrome grille and window surrounds, which a Sport shouldn't. In fact, it looks just like mine which is a German market XJExecutive. Yours is presumably a UK car seeing as the steering wheel is on the wrong side.

Does it have the other Sport bits (suspension, seats, badge)? Confusingly, sports suspension and seats could be ordered on a regular non-Sport. Mine has only the suspension.

 

Yes it does - suspension and seats for sure, but I don't know about the badge?! I'm confident that my XJ is Sport because of the VIN - I've checked and two separate databases confirm that it's Sport edition.

 

That's cool! It's weird that they made your car an XJ Sport without it looking like one...

I've tried VIN decoders, but my VIN seems to break them because the format is wrong. They changed the format around that time.

The closest to making sense is if I decode it as an X300, which declares mine an Executive, even though it has the sports suspension.

My VIN is SAJJJALG4CR85XXXX (last four digits redacted).

 

[QUOTE=Ipc838;494064]I own one, and usually people aren't too interested in what I've got to say about it.
(now, a thread to educate the masses, just for me!)

The engine is a N/A 290hp 4.0 V8, and it does have the Penta wheels, unlike the '02 XJR
which has "Asteroid" ones instead.

The suspension spring rates match the XJR, and it has Bilstein Sport shocks from factory. The rear is equipped with a 1.3 inch rear anti-roll bar, and is the only N/A
X308 to be fitted with a rear anti-roll bar from factory. Unlike the XJR, though, it
is not equipped with CATS adaptive technology.

So, there is the suspension.

The interior has the same seats and colour shcemes as the XJR. However, there is
no 2nd cigarette lighter, and the options standard on the XJR are rarer here.

The XJ Sport has body-coloured trim, but a metallic grey slatted grille instead of mesh, and smaller exhaust tips. It is a Nurburgring tuned suspension set-up, though, and
this shows, it handles itself differently than any other XJ.

The differences under the skin included P-Zero tyres from factory, and the uprated suspension. Everything else is in appearance.

Specs: 1/4 mile, 14.8 @ 96 (based on my reading of road tests of N/A cars) and 0-60 in 6.5s; Skidpad: .88g

The cosmetic tweaks look good though. Mine is fitted with XJR-100 tips/mufflers,
though.

This is, to my knowledge, the rarest XJ X308 in the US. Only available in 2002-2003, only <20 are ever
for sale online at any given time. It wasn't a trim level, it was its own model. (i.e., XJ8 L, XJR, etc)

Interstingly, XJ Sport is the only X308 Moniker in the US maintained in the current line-up of Jaguar models.
Attachment 165131

Attachment 165132[/QUOTi just bought a 2002 xj8 sport with 107k miles on it for 2800