It’s interesting how we form bonds. We pick colleges, sports teams and even lifetime mates using subtle and often mysterious criteria. It’s the same with cars. I remember my first Jaguar. It was 1961 and I was in kindergarten. My car pool consisted of Laurel, Danny, Keith and me. Keith’s dad had a Jaguar sedan (likely an MKII) he’d inherited from his father-in-law. Every fourth week the four of us would be ensconced in leather and surrounded by wood as the Jaguar magically transported us from home to school and back.
Fast forward to the year 1998. I had been a longtime admirer of the Series III XJ6 but had been hesitant to pick one up because I didn’t think I was ready for the commitment of maintaining a Jaguar. I traveled a lot for work and one week found myself in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. At the hotel there was an advertisement for a classic car dealer. Why not stop by? The nondescript mid-sized metal building was packed with an incredible collection of Porsches, Triumphs, Ferraris and Jaguars. There was a nice XJ6 but also an XJS coupe. I notice the coupe had a small backseat that could possibly accommodate my boys, Josh and Peter, ages seven and four at the time. Hmmn, interesting.
And so the search was on. Still concerned about reliability I did some research. Ford had purchased Jaguar late in 1989. At that time quality was so bad at Jaguar’s Browns Lane factory that Ford’s Bill Hayden, who assumed the CEO position at Jaguar, stated the only factory he had seen with worse quality was in the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, by 1992 the quality ratings for Jaguars had soared even though mechanically the cars remained largely the same.
I looked at one twelve-cylinder Jag. Peering under the hood was overwhelming and just plain scary. I decided to focus on the six-cylinder. Eventually I found a local dealer advertising a 1993 XJS coupe with 25,000 miles. When I spotted the green coupe I once more got that feeling that it was up to me to see that this beautiful beast would be well cared for. The five-year-old car was $18,000 and I also purchased a 24 month/24,000 warranty bringing the total cost up to $20,000.
Admit it, the British have better slang than we do, especially the toff (upper class). They would describe the XJS as being “BRG and biscuit” meaning that the car’s exterior was painted British Racing Green and the interior was tan leather – roughly the shade of a British biscuit (cookie or cracker). Technically though, the car was Brooklands green – named after the legendary banked Brooklands racing circuit.
Jaguar produced the XJ-S/XJS (the hyphen was dropped in 1992) for twenty-one years from 1976 until 1996. It was the successor to the legendary E-Type Jaguar that Enzo Ferrari himself called, “The most beautiful car ever made.” While the early E-Types were high performance sports cars they eventually morphed into larger grand tourers by the 1970’s. This made the introduction of the XJ-S, designed from the get-go as a grand tourer, a more logical progression than is commonly thought.
My Jag had the 4.0 liter straight-six AJ6 engine which was a direct descendent of the XK6 engine Jaguar had introduced in 1949. Featuring 245 horsepower, 289 pound feet of torque and an extraordinarily smooth, wide torque curve it was both powerful (to me) and jewel-like.
The four-speed automatic General Motors transmission could be shifted manually from second to fourth using the center-mounted shifter. I particularly enjoyed freeway on-ramps where second gear could be maintained up to 75 miles per hour before easing it into third for the next stage of acceleration. Highway cruising was effortless, of course. I used to sometimes commute from my home in suburban Maryland outside Washington, DC to my company’s office in Northern Virginia. It was a bit of a reverse commute so while traffic toward DC was bumper-to-bumper on the in-bound lanes the outbound lanes were often completely empty. On these occasions I liked to briefly push the Jag into triple digits before exiting. It made for a good beginning to the workday.
During its life the XJ-S/XJS had one major facelift in 1992. Being post facelift, my XJS featured more integrated rear buttresses and wrap-around taillights.
There were revisions to the front end as well, but the front-hinged hood was maintained. Closing it properly was a skilled task. Rather than a typical spring-loaded hood design that needed to be forcefully pushed to secure it, the Jag hood had to be delicately lowered after which the hood release lever inside the car was used to slowly clinch the hood into position.
Handling was good for a grand tourer but weighing in at a little over two tons, no one would mistake the Jag’s behavior for that of a sports car. It had a limited slip differential allowing it to better apply its ample torque. I was most often reminded of this when accelerating out of corners on rainy days. On these occasions the rear end would sometimes break loose capturing my full attention. Attached to the differential were the rear brake discs as my 1993 XJS was one of the last XJS’ with rear in-board calibers.
Mechanically I have nothing but good things to say about my XJS. Ford had worked its quality magic and almost all service during my stewardship consisted of routine maintenance. Over the four years and 25,000 miles I owned the Jaguar there were only three issues.
First, shortly after I purchased the Jag the brake actuator (master cylinder) needed to be replaced. Now I had come of age at a time that a master cylinder rebuild kit could be had for a few dollars and an entire master cylinder might cost $40. At $2,800 the Jag’s actuator was slightly more than I was used to, but it was 100% covered by the warranty I had purchased. Brilliant!
The second was on a road trip with the family to visit the Other Michael and his family in New Jersey. My boys fit comfortably in the rear seat on such trips and my youngest was still small enough that he was most at ease sitting cross legged campfire style.
On this trip the alarm somehow set itself off while the car was parked in the Other Michael’s driveway and would not turn off. I called Jaguar USA’s toll free line and was guided through the reset. Again, no worries.
The third issue was with the control unit on the passenger seat. Naturally the Jaguar seats were fully powered and adjustable in multiple dimensions. On rare occasions I would unlock the car and find that in my absence the passenger seat had moved itself all the way forward and the seat back had gone as upright as possible. Perhaps the control unit was practicing for the day of the robot revolution at which time it planned to gently crush its human occupant against the walnut burled dash. This fault was so intermittent that I never had it fixed. Unfortunately, when I passed the Jaguar onto its new owner in 2002 and shipped the car to him in Santa Barbara, California the control unit once more did its thing and then completely gave out. I agreed to underwrite the purchase of a new one for about $900 – hardly enough to put your knickers in a twist!
Did I mention that the interior of the Jag was a nice place to spend time in? On climbing in one was first amazed by how Jaguar squeezed so little room into such a large car, but as with other high end grand tourers it was actually just the right amount of room with all extraneous space stripped away. Whether it was the audio system or the old world leather and wood surfaces the musical acoustics in the car were astounding. This car needed the right background music and thanks to James Bond and Burt Bacharach I found it in the 1968 soundtrack to the movie Casino Royale. Considered a classic by hardcore audiophiles, the soundtrack manages to be simultaneously hip, whimsical and retro which perfectly captures the XJS experience. When the Jag’s new guardian first climbed into the car he found a note telling him to play track 11 of the CD that I had purchased for him and already inserted into the six CD cassette in the trunk.
And now I ask you to dear reader, in your mind’s eye, to climb into the XJS and take a drive down California’s Pacific Coast Highway while listening to “The Venerable Sir James Bond.”
Next Week – Classic Mid-life Crisis Car, Part II.
Awesome! Not exactly This…but still has a 1993 XJ40…RHD in an LHD environment 🙂
Very nice post and beautiful car. I too am a fan of the XJS – came close to buying one in 1981 but a military assignment intervened. I prefer the 6 cylinder also.
I like your musical choice but think this one would be appropriate also…….
Nice. Of course, Simon Templar drove a Volvo P1800 in the original series.
Nice commuter, I must say.
$2800 for a brake master cylinder made me spill some coffee. (I hate it when it comes back through the nose.) I assume this was a fully integrated ABS control unit. That would have run about $1000 for the Ford Windstar I used to own.
For a Chrysler M-Body, it would be $150 including labor, sigh*.
Definitely with ABS. Yes, a different world, but then, the warranty covered it.
Congratulations on such a good experience with your Jag. your batting average was probably higher than average.
Minor detail: the AJ-6 engine was a totally new design that replaced the old XK6 engine in 1984. The XK6 engine was never installed in the XJ-S, probably because it was too tall.
I’ve seen not so many real XJS’s…all were V12. A sporty kinda driver pal of mine has reached with IT a top. 30 Litres/100kms fuel “economy”.
All Jags require maintenance religiously unlike American and Japanese cars that can miss an oil change or 2 and be fixed at the roadside with a wire coat hanger, Its weird that problems with imported cars in the US do not effect so much in their home markets?.
Thanks, Paul. Yes, I know it was a descendant but just peering into the engine compartment it is fairly similar to the sixes the 120’s, 140’s and 150’s of the 1950’s.
Only a 6 disc cd changer in such an expensive car? My ’96 Saturn SL2 had a 12 disc Delco changer in the trunk. And that photo of the Jag rear end looks very similar to what is under the 2016 Mustang. Wonder where Ford got the idea….
It seemed like such a luxury at the time to have six. Now my car has a USB memory stick with 9,000 tracks and, of course, my phone that has the whole world.
I think your 12-disc was the exception rather than the norm. I’ve encountered a number of 6-disc changers and one 10-disc, but never a 12.
Glad to hear you liked your XJS and that it was reliable. I have griped on this forum before about my experiences with a brand new XJ-S V12 from the pre Ford era. The standout, absolute worst car and most disgusting ownership experience I ever had to endure, backed by the most appalling dealership network possible. Even a used Fiat 124 Sport I had as a student was more reliable. I don’t care who owns them now (the Indian Tata company I understand) or how much better they are supposed to be, I shall never own another. Most Jags are beautiful to look at, so they should be sold as static sculptures!
As for the E type, I recently had the chance to drive a mark 1 and its old competitor, a Mercedes 250 SL back to back. Both had been restored to very high standards. The beautiful Jag was cramped, filled with heat from the engine, had an awful gear change and steering that felt ancient. The handsome SL had plenty of space, a vastly more comfortable ride and one could actually use the available power because the car went where you pointed it. The SL felt solid, the Jag fragile. The Jag turned by forehead into a bug-catcher, because the windscreen left four inches of my head exposed!
I suppose one could compare the XJ S with the next generation SL, the R107 and it would a similar story. I left that classic car drive wanting to buy an SL, but here in Australia decent quality ‘Pagoda’ SL’s start at $120k, so I bought an R107 1981 380 SL in superb condition. I bought this 35 year old car in Melbourne and my brother and I drove it back to Brisbane over the weekend, a distance of over 1200 miles. It performed faultlessly and delivered excellent comfort, great performance and wonderful handling. I would not even contemplate a trip like that in any Jag, especially not an XJ S!
I haven’t driven an E-Type, but I did drive a 120 and, yes, it came across as old technology as well. Now that I think about it I had a similar thought in an MGB. Only drove an old Mercedes pagoda once but it was nice. Sorry about the 12 cylinder. I think if I was ever the type who would buy a new expensive frivolous thing I would give the current F-Type a try. There’s a great review of one on The Smoking Tire on you-tube by Matt Farah where he elegantly talks about the difference between a Porsche owner and a Jaguar F-Type owner. It’s worth checking out.
Ashley, I would have to defer to your first hand experience with the XJS, especially since you actually bought a brand new one. I accept that you had a terrible experience with a very expensive car which would have been a terrible disappointment. Actually it would been a disappointment at any price level. However that being said, there is a very active XJS enthusiast community on line and this extends for different Jaguar models. Because of the massive depreciation experienced by these cars they are often bought cheaply by dedicated tinkerers and hobbyists. Can these cars actually be reliable transportation? I don’t know, many on the forums claim to have had a lot of success. When there is a problem most will drive the old reliable daily driver. I have been working on my own ’89 XJS convertible and have just sold my 1970 Mustang to get the funds to fix up it up. I just bought a ’97 XK6L, a really beautiful car. I bought these for their beauty and their heritage, and to be honest their low buy in price. Gorgeous, just like the advertisements proclaimed.
Your series of cars has been an eye-opener, a chance to get some vicarious experience in something that is probably just too much car for me to fully appreciate. These are indeed beautiful, but not in the same way as the E type. That “biscuit” leather interior looks sumptuous, indeed.
I am enjoying this series a lot.
Another satisfied Jaguar customer? Lovely car, and a nice write up. The V12 is great but very difficult to justify when the 6 was as good as this.
Thanks Michael
A truly gorgeous car–I, too, am greatly enjoying your series as you’ve been more adventurous with your choices than many others would have had the courage for in the face of potentially high repair costs. I feel the late 80’s update with the wraparound tails modernized the car quite nicely as well, and I’m sure that interior was an amazing place to spend time!
factoid about the 1967 casino royale soundtrack. it was recorded on an experimental 3M mastering tape formulation which some audiophiles claim makes it the best sounding disc ever released. certainly, the appropriate soundtrack for this fine ride.
Michael,
Thank you for your enjoyable article. I come from a long line of Jaguar owners. I grew up in a XKE, XJ12 AND THE XJ6. I have my own collection now and am proud to say we have given our children the same experience growing up in leather and wood as I had. I have owned several Jaguars and hated to see them go even though there replacement was always of relation. I currently own a Black 93 XJS cabriolet, and a 1999 Jaguar XJR-X100. My kids have all grown up and purchased there own cars, a Lexus and a Subaru. I thought I was teaching them a lesson in culture and refinement….it appears that speed won out. My 1993 XJS has the 6cyl and proud to say just over 230,000 miles…and the engine is the original one and has never been opened up for repair. My 1999 XJR has a little over 90,000 miles and is as fast as the wind….and She is a member of my family for life. Nothing can compare to the pre-2004 Jaguars. I purchased a 2007 xjr and quickly returned it to the dealer…not the same car. I currently drive a 2015 Mercedes gl550….it is a nice suv…but for me…a real ride always awaits me in my garage. My pre 2000 Jaguars have my heart. As far as the indi-made Jaguars…..I would rather drive a Buick LaCross…its twin. Too big and bulky to be from the same family. There is nothing elegant about these extra large bulky ugly design mistakes. My Mother taught me what a real Jaguar should be…it is not what Jaguar is today. Thanks for your article again, it appears we have both been bitten by the same bug!