I’m not clear if it’s a sign of elegant refinement or just hubris, but the £59,000 Premium Luxury model I tested is actually only the second most expensive in the XJ range. If you want the last word in XJ luxury, you have to go for the £62,000 Portfolio model.
Given the amount of gadgetry my car came with, however, I doubt many private buyers will feel the need to spend the extra few grand. There’s leather and wood everywhere, seats that heat or cool you and my favourite a heated steering wheel that prevents your fingers getting frosty on those cold morning commutes.
Passengers are not bereft of toys either. The touchscreen monitor in the centre console houses a digital television. Through some quite amazing technical trickery, the passenger can watch television while the driver sees on the same screen at the same time heating controls or the car’s sat nav map. Impressive stuff.
However, luxury cars aren’t just about the gadgets. This XJ is powered by Jaguar’s excellent 3.0 litre V6 diesel. The 275bhp unit whisks you from 0-62mph in 6.4 seconds and on to a top speed (where legal, naturally) of 155mph. Fuel economy is 40.1mpg.
When you consider that the 5.0 litre V8 petrol model costs £8000 more, delivers 15mpg less and only gets from 0-62mph 0.7 seconds sooner, it’s easy to see why almost everyone goes for the diesel.
Thanks to double-glazed windows and lots of insulation, you’d be hard pushed to tell by listening whether you were being powered along by diesel, petrol or even electric power.
The ride almost matches the impressively silent drive, soaking up bumps, potholes and camber changes with ease. Handling, meanwhile, is very taut indeed and the XJ feels quite agile for a car so big.
Around town, you’re more aware it’s one of the bigger cars on the road but a phalanx of cameras, beepers and buzzers makes it nigh on impossible to come a cropper.
While the interior’s sumptuous, there’s not a lot of leg or headroom in the back and those who want to regularly have tall adults in the rear seats (or indeed will be chauffeur driven) would be advised to spend an extra £3000 on the long wheelbase model, which adds 13cm of extra length most of which goes to the rear passengers.
Aside from that, there’s not much to criticise. The book has been carefully designed to swallow a couple of sets of golf clubs, but it’s shallow and not much use for bulky items.
The elephant in the room, of course, is the XJ’s appearance. The XJ remained largely visually unchanged over 40 years and this model is takes a radical departure from what was seen as a classic shape.
Everything has to change eventually though, and for my money the new XJ is a winner.
Price: £59,300.0-62mph: 6.4 sec.Top speed: 155mph. Economy: 40.1mpg. CO2 emissions: 184g/km.