We’ve never taken a closer look at the XJ6 Series 1 here. I did find an early XJ12 a block from my house, back in 2009 or so, and wrote it up here, but that was mostly about the iffy V12 engine and a bit stilted. Until we find one of these handsome four door coupes (yes, that’s essentially what they are, in the modern usage of that term, given the low sporty roof, very tight interior and notable lack of headroom), we’ll have to satisfy ourselves with Road and Track’s first road test of one. Given that this happened in 1972, it’s a bit late, as it came out two years earlier, but apparently Jaguar wouldn’t supply a test car until then.
I’m augmenting the text and fuzzy B&W photos with a fine ’71 from a BAT auction. It deserves to be enjoyed visually as much as its other qualities.
“A strange and wondrous car”, and the rest of that last paragraph is a very fitting summation of the XJ6.
The last paragraph is perhaps the best and most balanced summation of an early XJ6 ever printed.
One of my dad’s golf foursome partners back in the day, a prominent local surgeon, was Jaguar man. Had a new XJ sedan every year back in the early and mid seventies, always a chestnut metallic brown with saddle tan interior. I can still picture him getting out of his XJ6 at the country club wearing a natty blue blazer with red ascot and tweed driving cap, looking every bit the proper Jaguar owner.
Very thoughtful that you complement these vintage reviews with the excellent pic choices you always include. Beautiful design. Some of the lines are reminiscent of the ’73 Pontiac LeMans sedan. Notably, the greenhouse, and smooth downward arc of the trunk lids.
The.XJ came first, so the Collonade is reminiscent of the Jag.
I’d say the 73 Cutlass sedan variant was the best-looking variant.
But the Series 1, small bumper XJ is, if not the best-looking sedan of all time, among the top five.
CCers, what four door looked better?
Maybe the Series III XJ6/XJ12?
Yes, the 1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon 4-door sedan had a lot of Jaguar XJ influence, but so did the ’73 Pontiac Grand Am 4-door sedan. and, arguably, even the ’73 Chevelle Laguna 4-door sedan.
I always loved these, a timeless beauty for sure. I saw one once at my local wrecking yard with a swapped in 460 Ford in it.
Isn’t it possible it’s just a space inefficient sedan designed for under 6’ drivers? Today’s auto marketers can try convincing us all day that the 4 door coupe is a thing because it’s a sexier word to use than sedan, but that revisionism isn’t going to work on old cars, especially when old cars had actual coupe variants, like this did(or is it a 2 door sedan?)
See my reply to T87 above.
Automotive terms evolve over time. A roadster is now any open two seater; it didn’t use to be. I’m very comfortable with using the term coupe on two or four door bodies.
Rover started using the term in 1962 on its 3500 four door coupe, which has a roof remarkably similar to the XJ6’s.
I don’t care if you or others approve or not. Fortunately there’s no Inquisitors on the subject of coupes, so I will continue to use it as I see fit.
So was the XJ6 still a coupe when Pininfarina raised the roof for the series 3?
Honestly since we’re talking british cars, I’ll get really pedantic and choose to call them Saloons 🙂
The use of the word ‘sedan’ is a typical old-fashioned American usage. It’s because it was a collection of sparsely populated agrarian colonies for a long time and the language didn’t evolve, hence the use of olde English words like faucet. So rather than argue about the minutiae of the meaning of ‘coupe’, can you please adopt the use of saloon. And as for hoods and fenders… And why can’t prudish Americans call a nipple a nipple?
Language is a funny old thing.
Series One, smallest bumpers, biggest grille, best looking.
As a hobbyist owner of a few old Jags I often wonder what it must be like, even today, to be the purchaser of a brand new example. I’m active on the Jaguar forums where owners go to commiserate and find solutions to problems that their mostly older Jags are experiencing. I hope that the average first buyer gets a trouble free ownership experience during the first few years. Then the lease is up, and the car goes to the next owner as a CPO, (certified pre owned). This is covered by the remainder of the original warranty and is sometimes supplanted with an additional extended warranty. After that all bets are off. The cars are still quite expensive for a five to ten year old car. I can’t imagine paying, probably financing, a 25 plus thousand dollar purchase and taking that kind of chance. I remember one poor guy on the forum that paid over twenty grand for an XJ8 that blew the engine a year into his ownership, and well out of any warranty. He still owed three years on the loan and said that all he could comfort himself with is to sit in the car in the driveway, inhaling the smell of the leather and listening to the fantastic stereo system. I think these are the buyers that suffer the worst. That’s why I will avoid that situation. Hobbyists like me buy the old models at low prices and we expect to have problems, what twenty year old car wouldn’t? Even at worst we can call it a total loss for several thousand (+/-) dollars and move on.
We are all familiar with the line from John Keats that reads. ” A thing of beauty is a joy forever,” the poem ends on another note.
“And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read:
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.”
Damn, those cars are so beautiful.
I got caught with XJ lust when young, one of these series 1, a car of unparalleled beauty and class. She cost me much grief, many a scraped knuckle (not much room under that bonnet), and several quid. I left her an as an older, wiser man, but with great regret and many backward glances.
Apparently, internally within Mercedes-Benz, the first CLS in 2004 was referred to as the Jaguar beater.
Jaguar never used the 4 door coupe term (Rover did on the P5) but it’s a useful shorthand for the early short wheelbase XJ saloons. The later lwb had more space if no more headroom, until the Series III with the revised, higher, squarer roofline.
This review seems pretty fair, acknowledging the Jaguar’s charms, comfort and road manners, and highlighting its short comings in real use.
Still want one.
I had no idea these cars had manual chokes! Combined with the terrible A/C the Beverly Hills crowd may have gotten some unpleasant surprises when they bought these cars new.
The great thing is the size. At 69.6 the car is the width of my G37 and at 189.5 it’s just 2 inches longer. I agree with some of the positive comments about the M-B A-Class Jim Klein reviewed a few days ago – a small luxury car is most desirable.
These vintage reviews are so much fun.
For a couple of months in the summer of 1977 I worked for a company in Beverly Hills. The owner, who had an XJ, was a piece of work. It was a real The Devil Wears Prada sitch. I later learned from my supervisor (who was OK) that the owner would fire someone, and she and the office manager would laugh about it in the inner office.
As the saying goes, an idea isn’t responsible for who believes it. And a car isn’t responsible for who drives it.
Comment editor is MIA again.
For all it’s failings, so well enumerated in that article, it’s plusses still overwhelmed, and most importantly . . . . . . it looked like a Jaguar.
As did the two generations that followed it.
Today Jaguar makes, I suppose, a magnificent automobiles. I’m definitely impressed with the current XJ on the rare occasions I see one . . . . . and am close enough to read the nameplate so I can realize what kind of car is impressing me. Wherein lies the problem.
Those three generations of older cars were Jaguars. The current, androgenized European Luxury Sedan is . . . . . . . something to need to read the nameplate to know what it is.
Nobody expects the coupe inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise! I’ve always thought they were beautiful cars.
My uncle’s early XJ6 was a follow-on to his 3.8 (Mark II). It was a wonderful car to sit in and admire. Its ride was unsurpassed.
Its air conditioning was non-existent, which was a shame because their weekend home was where temperatures regularly reached the 90s, sometimes the 100s in summer. British Motors in San Francisco admitted that it was weak but claimed that was “normal.” He drove the Jaguar, typical troubles and no A/C and all, for years, his wife shuttling him to and from British Motors in a series of reliable American iron…I remember an Oldsmobile and a Mercury station wagon. Then after some years, Uncle went to a BMW 7-series sedan. At least its air conditioning was okay. He passed the Jag on to his brother who replaced the Jaguar Six and Borg Warner automatic with a Chevrolet 350 and Turbo Hydramatic, for which there are excellent kits available from a chap in Dallas, TX. In the process of the swap, it was found that the Jaguar air conditioner compressor had a hole in its crankcase. It really had never worked.
Uncle’s wife got the duty of shuttling him to and from the BMW dealer In her Toyota.
Beautiful car, I can’t think of anything I’d want changed on it. Even if I may not have enough headroom, that’s not the car’s fault, but rather mine for growing tall after eating my two veg.
They should have let a few of these into NASCAR races just for fun. Would’ve been nice to seem ’em going around Daytona at 175 mph, with Junior Johnson at the wheel.
It never lost a scintilla of it’s attractiveness from the day it was born till the end, even when whipped and coiffed into a Pinifarina suit later in life. Nor did it really ever gain much usefulness, being about as useful as was decorative.
I’ve never felt such disappointment as the times when I drove a couple of these. Quite tardy, somewhat revless, thirsty as buggery, noisy through the wind and wafty in the steering. Most interesting to hear all of these very things picked upon by R&T back when: English and, surprisingly, Oz reviews never mentioned these realities.
To think that the reliability was lacking on top of all this really does make it seem like a sublime art piece by enthusiastic amateurs, and leaving it on sale essentially thus for 20 years shows that, in the big world of cars, that perception was the underfunded reality for Jaguar.
As an owner of 16 vintage Jaguars including a now sold XJ6 Series III I have to say I like the Series III morre than the series I. They are all spectacular vehicles. You haven’t lived until you driven a 6 liter XJS with a 5 speed manual. Beastly but silky smooth. I also thoroughly enjoy my 01 XKR.