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Saloon
Jaguar believes that its owners prefer engines to growl, so if you want a hushed ride, buy a Lexus. That said, what you do hear sounds cultured and muted unless you spend the whole time with the throttle buried in the carpet.
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The XJ floats on air springs, giving you a choice of ‘comfort’ or ‘sport’ settings. Whichever you pick, the ride remains supple. As you’d expect, it’s a driver’s car, so there’s direct steering and plenty of power from even the smaller engines. In contrast to earlier Jaguars, the cabin is reasonably spacious, and even more so if you buy the long-wheelbase models. Somehow it still feels snug, though. The wood and leather trim looks great, but the quality of some of the switches and minor trim isn’t quite what you’d want. And, despite its fair size, the boot is awkwardly shaped, which means that it's no match for a BMW 7 Series or an Audi A8.
Running Costs
Although aluminium-bodied cars can be expensive to repair, Jaguar has found a way to keep costs sensible, as reflected by insurance groupings that start at 15, making them a fair bit cheaper than most rivals. Even the mighty XJR falls into a reasonable group 19. XJ values plummets from new, so by their third birthday most models fetch below half what they cost when new. That means buying a three-month-old car is unwise, yet a three-year-old is temptingly cheap. Servicing is expensive if you stick with a main dealer, but you’ll easily save a third if you seek out a reputable non-franchised specialist. Jaguar spares are no bargain, either, but it isn’t worth using cut-price items because they often wear faster or don’t work as well. Fuel economy ranges from 27mpg for the 3.0 and 23mpg for the 4.2 up to a far more reasonable 35mpg overall for the diesel.