The XJ-S is based on the XJ luxury saloon, so Jaguar allowed the coupe to borrow the suspension components (and disc brakes) as well. So the XJ-S features double wishbones and coil springs at the front and lower wishbones with twin coil springs at the rear, with anti-roll bars at both ends (which the saloon did not have). The net result of this is a car that’s simply cossets you no matter what the road conditions are. It’s almost like a magic carpet over smooth roads, and on some rough sections, manages to smother whatever lies beneath the wheels. Proper on-road British etiquette, shall we say?
The XJ-S had everything going for it, yet because of its long reign and a reluctance of the cash-strapped British Leyland management to revamp it periodically, competition from Germany, particularly Stuttgart, would hasten its end. Compared to the Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC, the XJ-S was old world and too traditional. Amongst GTs, the 450 SLC was safer, contemporary and had better technology going for it. Yet, the XJ-S remains the only Jaguar that’s been the longest time around – it went out of production in September 1996, after 21 long years. The very same factors – read quirky looks – that earned it brickbats in its initial days, turned out to be a highly individualistic feature of the car. No wonder it turns heads even today, including those of hard-nosed automotive journalists.
The XJ-S debuted in 1975, the year the visceral E-Type passed away. So people thought the XJ-S was a replacement for the E. But it was a grand tourer in its own right, too heavy and luxuriously appointed for a sports car.
While the development work of the XJ-S was going on, there was anxiety that all open-topped cars were going to be banned by over-zealous US legislation (which never happened, of course). So the XJ-S was engineered only to be a hard-top coupe. It would take 13 years before a proper XJ-S convertible would be launched.
In 1988, the same year when the convertible was launched (and went on to become quite successful too), Jaguar introduced a hot TWR-engineered 333 bhp XJR-S version.
The lines of the XJ-S were considered a compromise, and it was taunted as having been designed by a committee. Which was the bitter truth, by the way. Still, time has forgiven everything, and it also proves that committees also work.l Jaguar’s GT received a much deserved and comprehensive makeover only in 1991. But this came at a cost of US $84 million.The XJ-S was based on a suitably shortened XJ12 saloon platform. It has endured so well that the XK8, which debuted in 1996, is based on the XJ-S floorplan.
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