Sittin Waitin Wishin: 2014 Jaguar XJR

"Jonathon Klein" (jonathon-klein) 05/23/2014 at 11:09 • Filed to: Sittin Waitin Wishin, Jaguar, XJR

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I'm not going to lie, I didn't head over to the Jaguar booth because of this car. I've sat in it before in previous Auto Shows, and liked it. The exterior of this car is quite striking and immediately gives you a feeling that this car has presence and someone important is in the back seat. Why I made a b-line to the Jag booth was the F-Type Coupe.

( I'll just be taking those keys now, thank you! )

My god I could have drooled over that car for days. I figured the man at the booth was going to have to peel me off the car. It's just dripping sex and cool. It's Steve McQueen as a car. The loud boisterous V8 crackle on the over run, but the calm beautiful exterior belies a fantastic grand tourer. It's just one of the coolest cars around. I wanted a go, I wanted to steal the car somehow. I need this car! I could go on for days about this astonishing brute of a car. But sadly, the people at the Jag booth wouldn't let my plebian behind grace the cars buckets. So I had to settle for their luxury diplomat's car, the XJR. Oh no, I have to sit in a luxury sedan rather than a coupe, first world problems people! But what about my second choice car, will it wrap you in the finest luxury Britain and India can provide?

If it were 2008, yes it would, and it would be a future forward type of interior. But in 2014, this car is no S-Class rival. Everything feels old, not like the Jags of yesteryear where you felt like you were in 1940's Britain and those plucky Brits were just coming off the war "you know." Those Jags felt old because they were old. This just feels like they need a refresh to match the exterior.

( Back in 1943 I was a flapper entertaining the soldiers!)

Let's start with the front passenger seats of this car and move backwards because honestly that's where you want to be if you go for either the regular XJ or the long wheelbase version. Chrome here, chrome there, piano black, Carbon fiber, chrome, chrome, chrome! Why do you need that much chrome? For a car that costs this much I would have expected the chrome bits to actually be some sort of metal, but it's not, everything is made of plastic. Mirror finish plastic. And with everything being that finish, fingerprints abound on all of those surfaces. You will never not have thousands of fingerprints in this car. To showcase this point, we were there the first day of the show; right around the middle part of the day, and it literally looked as if someone had unleashed a group of grubby handed toddlers into this car with the sole intent of marking it up as much as possible. There is also a race button. Let that just settle in your mind for a second. A race button people! Who would take this car to the track? No one, Jaguar, no one.

(The chrome is allowing to show of my virality and that I made it in the world!)

What won't show your fingerprints and what you will want to keep gripping is the steering wheel. The leather wrapped wheel is a joy to hold onto. It's as if there is a small layer of memory foam that allows for your fingers to stay in place and remain comfortable for long drives. It's definitely driver centric in this respect, even though most will want to travel in the back. I will say this about the cockpit, it's odd having a TFT display dash. The lack of gauges when getting into the car is a bit disconcerting. Not to mention this will be a nightmare to fix 5-10years down the line. I did a quick search online and supposedly a few of the new owners have already been having issues with it turning off and 15-20 seconds later coming back on. No imagine what's going to happen after the warranty ends? I wonder how much that is going to cost the 3 rd owner? Lots, bet on lots of money. This will definitely be one of Doug's CarMax specials.

( Is Doug getting CarMax money yet? I feel like he should? )

The front seats cushion your butt in some of the nicest padding I have ever felt, the only seats that are better that this butt has felt were the S-Class's seats. These Jag seats are like heaven on Earth, so long as the S-Class's are actually heaven. They cushion you so nice that you wouldn't want to sit in the back of this car. And speaking of the back seats, a lack of headroom is immediately apparent. Not only that, but the seats are at an angle that if you put full grown adults in the back, their backs will be killing them by the end of the trip. Jaguar, you've made a full size luxury sedan for the rich and powerful, but you made where most of those people want to sit extremely uncomfortable. This is the inherent problem with all four door coupes. You sacrifice rear space for the overall look of the car. Maybe if you made the seats a bit lower in the car, there wouldn't be this problem. But for this car, it's definitely an issue. Continuing with the theme from the front to the rear seats is the amount of CHROME on the HVAC system that will be shearing off the middle seat person's kneecaps.

( You must cut off your legs to sit here )

This car would be great a few years ago, however automakers have moved on and up. This doesn't feel like a special Jaguar anymore. It feels like a middle of the pack Audi A6 at best. This cars only redeemable features would be that long trips would go by in a flash with this car, due to the wonderfully comfortable seats, and the cars supercharged engine. Meaning you will get there quickly and comfortably, so long as you are in the front. But this car is sort of a dual personality. The front cockpit tells you that you should be driving this car, while the back seats and exterior say you should be chauffeured around. It's confused. Jaguar desperately needs to update their interiors. They've got the exterior styling that puts them with one of the most beautiful looking lineups in the entire car world, but that excellence needs to be in the interior too. Without it their cars will not be able to truly compete with Mercedes and BMW.

( Once a great car, now….not so much )

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Photo credit to Car and Driver and Jonathon Klein

heliochrome85 > Jonathon Klein 05/23/2014 at 11:16

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I had the opportunity to drive Jaguar's entire line up and noon the F-Type last year. All incredibly capable cars. My issues were that for the price, none of them made sense. The XJ was filled to the gills with shiny plastic/shiny chrome, all of which looked like your pictures. The XF's build quality was appalling. The XKs were wonderful, but you felt like it was a holdover from 1998. The F-type, incredible. As long as you don't need to carry anything. Seriously. I had a G35 coupe which had instructions on how to fit a golf bag. This made my G35 coupe look like a town car.

For the price, Jaguar's offerings never make a compelling reason why you should buy them, and not ANY of their competitors. (not you acura, no one thinks you are at this level)