Ive never seen this X308 XJR introduction on Top Gear before .

Old Top Gear , (XJR8 TEST etc), 1/2, 1997. - YouTube

 

Nice find!

 

Thanks for sharing!

"If you want space, buy a field."

 

"Fastest saloon I've ever seen" - sounds good to me And comparing the XJ with Ferrari 355 is not bad at all

 

Good find, thanks for posting

 

nice video, it's always good to see some old top gear.

 

Great job! I love the reviews of X308 bodystyle cars! I found the
drag race between them all on YouTube, but I never could find the
original, whole video.

This looks great!

Ian

 

Good old days At that time stock XJR was really fast car. Now I feel that even after several modifications I want more power... I just received a package from Arden - additional ECU box. Not cheap, but most probably more fun....

 

Clarkson did a video listing his top 100 cars. The X308 XJR made #17 on the list, and from his comments in that video it sounded like he used to own one personally.

 

I like this video for many, many reasons but the reason I like it the most is because of the article that follows the XJR. Seeing the Vauxhaull Cavalier following on from the XJR shows what a beautiful evolution of the XJ the X308 was. This video is from 1997 and the things Clarkson mentions about the XJR really does demonstrate what a forward thinking designer and development team Jaguar had. All Vauxhalls are modelled on bowls filled with dog sick, but men like Geoff Lawson and Malcolm Sayer modelled their designs on things people actually liked.

 

He did have one, I have the article which he wrote about giving it back after it's lease was expired and how he missed it so. With the money he has, I still can't understand why he didn't buy it!

 

Clarkson on: the Jag XJR V8 - BBC Top Gear

Here's his article about how he hated owning a car which required so
much work to wash! (It happened to be an XJR!)

I knew what you were saying about that old one though. Also, Clarkson, in the
early 90's, drove an XJ40! Quentin Wilson said so on old Top Gear.

he loves his Jags.

He says, "The Jaguar XJR is faster, in the real world, than a Ferrari F355", to paraphrase.

By the way, I got to see an identical car to mine on the new Top Gear
format! Enjoy this one! I hope you've seen this one.

Top Gear Season 2, Episode 4

Ian

 

That was the episode where they done many thousands of pounds worth of damage to that vintage C Type, because they let that idiot black stig drive it like it was some sort of rice racer.

If Sean B watches that again, I'll be able to hear him swearing at his screen from here!! :P

 

The light blue XJR X300 in the beginning of the video , thats Clarksons own car .. It was for sale on the Ebay UK a few months ago..

 

I saw that ...he had no respect for that Museum piece classic .

 

I was one of the 'backroom boys' at Whitley when that video was released.
The V8 R project almost got canned but we worked hard to keep it alive (which is more than could have been done for the X type 'R' project that got killed later).

This was an exciting time to work at Whitley and the X308 'R' was more succesful that we had envisaged.
On initial launch there was no equvalent BMW M5 rival- and rumours are that the X308 R pushed BMW to actually launch the E39 M5 concept into production

 

I'm sure these have been posted before, but now that the E39 M5 was mentioned...

Top Gear - Executive Car Park - YouTube

TOP GEAR _ BMW M5 vs. Jaguar XJR. - YouTube

 

And here's another bit from Jeremy Clarkson... #17

Jeremy Clarkson Top 100 (Cars Part 5/8 - YouTube