It has the same gliding effect of the old XJ... but you sense it has a second, harder character

Jaguar has got its claws back. No, really, that’s not a lazily thought-out headline – look at the rear lamps. The four thin elements that curve over the boot and make up the new XJ’s prodigious rear end really do resemble the form of a cat’s claw. Instant beauty? On its own, yes. As part of one curvaceous body? I’m not sure.

We’ve hit the new XJ’s contentious point: that backside. You could call it Marmite design, say it looks heavy. Look at it, look away, then look back again. It’s still a touch bulbous, still a bit un-Jaguar-like. There’s something Citroën C6 about it, a bit of Lancia Thesis, perhaps. If the leaping jaguar wasn’t stuck to the middle, you wouldn’t recognise it as something that came out of Gaydon. It’s a debatable issue.

Then again, it was meant to be. ‘Jaguar was always known for pushing the design boundaries slightly, challenging you, making you think,’ says Mark Eedle, Sales Director for Jaguar Middle East & North Africa. ‘Challenging is good, because it helps us reclaim our position as a company with style. It’s a position we used to hold, but in recent years it hasn’t been the case.’ You can say that again. Before 2005 came along, the company was losing its understated British cool with the derided X-Type and was being excoriated for its mistakes. The halcyon era of the E-Type it was definitely not.

But God, what a turnaround. This new XJ is now the third chapter in the book of New Jag, arriving after the XK and XF. We’ve driven both of the latter cars in various guises, so we know the strides Jaguar has taken in recent years can be charted exponentially. The company has buried the recent past firmly beyond the grave, with the XFR undoubtedly being the pick of the current New Jag crop. Now though, it’s time to move further up the automotive food chain and bring out a new XJ.

The X351 – to give it its proper Jaguar coding – XJ, that’s parked in late evening Jumeirah is an engineering car that we’ve been granted exclusive access to. It’s still going through its final development stages but we’re here to sample it. This long wheelbase car is in ‘Phase 1’ out of a total of five, with each phase being a test for quality and engineering. On the day of our shoot, three weeks of Middle East-based analysis had passed. In that time, it had covered several thousand kilometres, focusing on engine cooling and air conditioning. Unsurprisingly, driving it is strictly out of bounds. ‘It wouldn’t be fair for us to give you a car that isn’t finished,’ says Eedle. However half-done it is, I’d still rather drive than be a passenger, but I keep schtum, settle for Eedle as my chauffeur, and try to gather as much as I can without holding a steering wheel.

Despite the Gaydon engineers not being present by the time we got a chance to see the XJ in the flesh, they did leave their equipment behind. On the roof sits a sunlight intensity sensor that helps to measure the efficiency of the air conditioning by supplying data on how strong the sun is pounding down on the car. The collection of wires inside are also sensors, used to measure how quickly each area of the interior cools down when compared to the speed at which the air comes out. And in the boot, there’s the hefty data logger, collecting information from all parts of the car for the engineers to later download and analyse in detail.

Sitting in the passenger seat, it’s hard to suss out a car when you’re ambling between lights on Jumeirah’s beach road. The first distinct impression I get though, as Eedle eases the XJ through traffic, is very much of the same gliding effect you used to get in the old XJ. There are no vibrations intruding into the cabin and you move along serenely with the now familiar blue hue from the XF lighting up the centre console. When I ask Eedle if there’s been a compromise between comfort and sporting ability, he’s quick in correcting me. ‘I’d say it is a combination, not compromise. Jaguar has always stood for sporting luxury,’ he says curtly. Eedle has spent the majority of his life in marketing and advertising and his eloquence shows, but there is the sense that, this part at least, rings true in the XK, XF and in the first signs of this new XJ. Jaguar was aiming to place its latest model between the German luxo-business-limos and the Maserati Quattroporte, and just being a passenger in this long wheelbase version (125mm longer, 23kg heavier than the short wheelbase car) the ride doesn’t have the Audi A8 ‘float’ that makes you feel disconnected from the road, or the comfort-focussed waft of an S-Class. Adaptive dampers and rear air suspension is now standard, and what you get in the ride is a sense that it has a second, harder character. It comes from the little “pitter patter” of the tyres that you notice if you really concentrate, but it’s the kind of tiny vibration that doesn’t dominate the ride quality. It’s actually quite similar to the air suspension-equipped Panamera Turbo (a car that is, dynamically speaking, deeply impressive), only it’s a more supple and relaxed affair. Further promising news for the Middle East market is that in developing the XJ, Jaguar concentrated on the long-wheelbase car (the opposite to what’s been done in the past), with the objective that the long- and short-wheelbase cars will feel identical to drive. It’s something that I suspect would inspire confidence in anyone who’s bought the longer car but is intent on making the most of the ‘sporting’ part of ‘sporting luxury’.

‘It weighs at least 200kg less than its rivals, which should bode well for its dynamic abilities’

That task would be an easy thing to do. Especially when it comes to speed. Three 5-litre V8s will be available on the new XJ. The first is a naturally aspirated 380bhp unit and the other two will be supercharged: one with 464bhp, the other with the 503bhp unit from the XFR. This 503bhp block feels like its smaller XFR sibling in the way that it pulls away in a composed manner, with the same distant, muted rumble that suggests there’s a heap of power lurking beneath. At one moment, Eedle briefly prods the throttle and the XJ charges forward. Standstill to 100kph is quoted as 4.9sec.

That XFR-matching acceleration is down to the all-aluminium construction and the reduction in the number of components used. Instead of using three pieces of metal, the doors are now made of one, and Jaguar now uses a new “Fusion” alloy, where aluminium is sandwiched by thinner layers of alloy, which reduces weight and increases rigidity. Hardly surprising then, that the supercharged XJ now weighs at least 200kg less than a similar 7-Series or S-Class and only a touch more than the XFR. That should bode well for its dynamic abilities. Despite being given no restrictions on rev or speed limit, Eedle didn’t drive this XJ completely flat out, but he can confirm that ‘it doesn’t feel a big car to drive at all – you don’t feel intimidated’. A sure fire result of the weight saving.

As well as the engine, the ZF auto is also carried forward from the XFR with the same pop-up centre dial. Power is delivered through an electronically controlled rear differential and the ride is controlled with variable damping. The helm is powered by a quick-ratio steering system. The car was being constantly lapped and put under pressure to get consistency out of the data and to see how it reacts under constant strain in a warm environment.

Inevitably, I’m barred from asking James Burnett (the drifting maestro who drove the XJ around the track) what the car is like at the limit. So, even though a drag coefficient of 0.29 (identical to the XFR) and the premise of a sporting luxury car sounds palpable, a definitive verdict on the XJ’s feel, handling and agility will have to wait. So I ask Eedle on the prospects of an XJR. ‘We haven’t announced an XJR,’ he replies coyly. ‘We don’t comment on future products… What will we do in future? That’ll be saying. But we’ve clearly shown the direction in the last 12 months with the introduction of the 5-litre engine.’ I take that to mean a more serious XJ is in the pipeline, but any details aren’t to be divulged just yet.

Back to that styling. If you ignore the rear, the rest of the car seems to be sensible rather than senile, (which is what some have dubbed that back end). The front is a natural progression from the XF. The large grill stands out ahead of the aggressive headlamps that were first seen on the C-FX concept, and that power bulge on the bonnet completes the cool and aggressive look. Then as your eye moves further past the wing mirrors, you have the Lyons’ Line that runs along the waist of the car. It isn’t an instant looker, but one which Ian Callum, the XJ’s designer says will look right over time. One thing I’m sure of is that you can ignore the official pictures that were released a while ago; it looks much better in the flesh. It’s more purposeful, has a lot of presence and a touch more class in its curves than the sharp edges of a 7-Series. There’s no doubt its looks improve with darker colours. I think black would suit it brilliantly. And in the evening of Jumeirah, it certainly seems to fit in. Although, it could end up a bit vampire-ish and melt as soon as it’s exposed to daylight.

‘The quality is right and the materials all have a tactile feel to them’

The interior is a delight to be in. The quality is right, the materials all have a tactile feel to them and the overall simple design is something that you come to appreciate the more time you spend inside. The fighter jet-inspired chrome air vent nozzles provide a bit of visual drama, but the main ambience comes from the low slung dashboard that’s been dropped by 50mm and now has a long strip of wood running across it, similar to the nose of a Riva speedboat. It makes for a commanding and relaxed driving position.

The dials now use a TFT display, so the instruments are all virtual, as you’d find in an S-Class and in the new Range Rover. Selecting the more lenient traction control setting turns the display from blue to red and you have a gear selection display dominating the right dial. You can also make dials fade away to bring up the sat nav or various menus. And at night the instruments dim and create a ‘spotlight’ effect on the current speed and revs. As for the sign that’s stuck to the dash on the front passenger side, that isn’t a part of the options list, but a reminder to turn off the system using a switch under the armrest, as it’ll otherwise drain this engineering car’s battery.

Importers are already taking orders for the $ 125,000 supercharged XJ and the first cars are expected to arrive early next year. Despite it being around $ 15K more than the previous incarnation, the extra power and level of craftsmanship justifies that gap. And now, with the X-Type being phased out, Jaguar will finally have a complete range that warrants the company’s mantra of producing beautiful, fast cars.

By the time the clock ticks into the early morning of the next day and Eedle makes his way home with the XJ, I’ve already got over that protuberant behind. So I can confirm the beautiful part of Jaguar’s philosophy. Now it’s just the fast part that’s left to deal with.