Road test: Jaguar XJ6

By Damien Tomlinson

The showroom was beautiful. The salespeople, warm and courteous. Welcome, Mr Tomlinson - a cup of tea? Sure. Some promotional material? Great. Everything exuded confidence, charm and quality.

But behind my handshake, smile and convivial conversation, I was quietly apprehensive about spending a week in the leather-bound confines of Jaguar's new XJ6.

Fresh from the opulence that was the Lexus LS430, how could a spruced-up 3.0-litre Ford Fairmont possibly get this critic excited?

As I was to find out, and as you will too, Jaguar's XJ is a beautiful car, an engaging drive, and a prestige saloon more than worthy of credence among its European competition.

Jaguar hopes its "baby" XJ will give the well-heeled-yet-budget-conscious a wife/accountant-friendly shoehorn into its perennial flagship. The equation: the smooth lines, luxury and style of Jaguar's biggest saloon, coupled with the bowser-friendly efficiency of a V6.

The new XJ6, released in May, expands the leaping cat's local XJ fleet to four, with a 3.0-litre V6 variant joining the 3.5, 4.2 and 4.2-litre supercharged V8s.

And at $149,900, the XJ6, which gives away little, other than 500cc and $20,000, to the smallest of its V8 siblings, represents pretty good value in this class.

Drive

The Jaguar XJ6 is very nimble for its 5 metre size

Make no mistake. The Jaguar XJ6 was not designed with rallying or power oversteer in mind.

This is a study in comfort, and those interested in anything else need not apply. Wave at your traffic light rivals as they squeal off into the night, because the XJ6 is not a dragster.

The good thing about this car is that it doesn't claim or want to be a fast car - the focus is on smooth travel and it doesn't disappoint in that area. Not that it's slow.

The XJ6 will hit the speed limit in 8.1 seconds on its way to a 233km/h top speed.

And while it needs to stay high in the rev range to deliver its performance, the six-speed is great at picking the right ratio, and the engine's very quiet.

Part of the reason the XJ6 name was resurrected was that the Duratec V6 has a similar output as Jaguar's old 3.2-litre V8, and the new car replaces the smallest of the XJ8s. The little 3.0-litre pumps out 179kW of power and 300Nm of torque, which is 3kW shy of a 4.0-litre Falcon's inline 6 output.

What's really amazing on the road is just how agile the Jaguar is. Belying its 5-metre length and 2-metre breadth, the XJ6 weighs just 1545kg - less than both Falcon and Commodore.

This low weight is achieved by doing away with a space-frame and using a monocoque chassis to save 200kg over the previous XJ. Coupled with extensive use of aluminium and even magnesium in the sheet metal, mounting points, doors and seat frames, this translates to a body structure that is 40% lighter and 60% stiffer than the outgoing model.

So this lightweight saloon with Falcon power is quite impressive on the road. Jaguar's very, very light steering and standard air suspension delivers a smooth, predictable ride, regardless of if the pilot's on his/her way to the bowls final or working their way through the practical component of their aggressive traffic management principles handbook.

The air suspension system automatically adjusts the ride height to keep the car level as much as possible. This is most noticeable when you sit in the car: if you wait, you can feel the car re-aligning to account for the added weight.

The Jaguar is all about a smooth ride, and it offers a level of comfort second to none

This could be a feature only those of us in the 100-club will notice, as my slightly-built girlfriend didn't feel a thing...

From standstill, the XJ6 almost hesitates before roaring into life and launching you off the line. This, I suspect, is simply a matter of gearing, as a quick flick of the "S" (sport) switch seemed to fix the transmission's indecision at whether to take off in second or first.

The excellent (and switchable) traction control takes care of grip, and the suspension does its best to keep things settled, only getting confused through rapid esses.

Considering everything the XJ includes, I was quite surprised at what it doesn't.

Yes, your $149,900 admission gets you a plush leather saloon, satellite navigation, television, phone, great sound system etc, but two big things that you don't get are front parking sensors (rears are standard), and headlights encased by those beautifully-curved surrounds are only halogen lamps. Bi-xenon projectors, standard in a $45,000 Honda Accord, are optional.

The XJ6's well-sorted six-speed is hampered, by Jaguar's sloppy "J-gate" console. Whereas the world's car manufacturers are racing to include semi-automatic push-pull trannies (you can get transmission paddles on a Daihatsu Sirion), Jaguar drivers can only tiptoe through the cogs one-by-one in a setup which detracts from the driving experience. Thank heavens the box is so well-sorted in full auto mode.

All up, a drive that's worthy of the competition in this class. Jaguar's built a car that will impress both the traditionalists and the new breed of buyer, though those with a penchant for performance will be disappointed by the "sequential" shift.

Engine

As mentioned above, the XJ6 uses a reworked version of Ford's Duratec 3.0-litre V6, and this (comparably) little engine does the job of getting the Jag's bulk moving very well.

While I couldn't help wondering what it would be like to drive this same car's 298kW supercharged V8 brother, the six impressed with its urge and economy.

The 3.0-litre replaces Jaguar's old 3.2-litre V8, and shares similar output figures. Indeed, it has only 17 less kilowatts and 45 Newton-metres to the 3.5-litre V8 above it.

Perhaps its most amazing feature is that the Brits have managed to extract almost the same power from a 3.0-litre V6 as Ford Australia squeezes from its 4.0-litre Falcons.

Holden? The XJ6 has 27kW more grunt than the current 3.8-litre engine Holden uses and is lighter than a Commodore Executive, though it should be said that the new GM-built 190kW Alloytec engine will surely put the Commodore back on the power map.

Exterior

The XJ6 sitting pretty (top). The LEDs can be seen on the left side of the brake light cluster (above)

Whoever drew the Jaguar 420 saloon in the 1960s should go down in history as 'Saint Jaguar' for creating one of the most easily-recognised shapes in automobile history: the 420 became the XJ in the early 1970s, and the rest is history.

And the formula still works.

Of course there have been many subtle adjustments over the years, but other than a few horrible years in the early 1990s, the design brief has been pretty much the same: long, low and wide.

As is the norm with luxury cars these days, Jaguar has muscled up the exterior of the XJs, so the XJ6, at only 1448mm tall, wears 18-inch alloys (including a fifth, full-size spare) and 235/50 ZR18 rubber.

There are satisfying bulges around the guards, twin tail pipes, and that big bonnet with ripples over the headlights is a treat.

Chrome touches abound the bumpers at both ends, and the rear end features one of the most impressive tail light displays I've ever seen.

With the headlights on, an array of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) give the XJ's bum an almost Maserati look, and hitting the brakes is like flipping the light switch at the MCG.

All these visual cues adds up to a car that turned a satisfying number of heads on my usual attention-seeking run around the finer café strips of Brisbane, which was great.

Some might say the look is outdated, but my opinion is the XJ's look isn't broken, so why fix it? BMW, as a prime example, has tried to redefine its styling, with mixed results, in my view.

Interior

The XJ6 interior is a fine place to be, both for driver and passengers. Of course, at this level you'd expect lashings of leather and wood, and the big Jaguar doesn't disappoint with either. Tactility is the key in this cabin - everything feels great.

Soft leather seats, leather door inserts, padded, soft dashboard, and wood. Where there's not leather, there's wood. Wood on the doors, wood on the steering wheel, wood on the instruments, wood on the dashboard, wood on the gear shifter, wood on the centre console.

The interior is lavish - plenty of cow-hide and wood grain underline the Jag's exclusivity

Accommodation is more than adequate for all concerned. The driver is very well taken care of, with a 12-way adjustable seating position, including a power steering column, adjustable pedals and electric headrest and seatbelt anchor.

With all these adjustments, memory seating is a welcome inclusion, which will keep husbands and wives off each others' backs.

The leather and wood is great, but I think the feeling of quality inside the XJ6 is let down by the switchgear on the dash. Those big buttons look and feel mass-produced, which is not in line with the rest of the cabin, which has that tailor-made look and feel.

Jaguar's excellent central computer display is an excellent adaptation of the modern gadgetry that is now so fashionable and popular. Like the Lexus, the XJ uses touch screen technology to let your fingers do the walking through the climate, audio, navigation, television and phone systems.

There are a couple of "quirks" which grace the XJ6's interior as well. For instance, the hood release is on the left-hand side, an obvious lazy omission in the right-hand drive conversion. Another concern is the speedometer: the gauge increases in increments of 30km/h, meaning the speedo goes from 20km/h to 50km/h to 80km/h and so on. Weird.

In the back seat, the passengers get their own controls for the stereo and climate control systems, and plenty of room to move around. As was noted in the Lexus, the exclusion of a rear entertainment system (it is an option) to keep the kids awake/asleep is worthy of mention.

Overall: 3.5/5

I take it all back. Jaguar's XJ6 saloon is no spruced-up Fairmont. No, the leaping cat has produced a true contender in the sub $150,000 market, but the buying decision will be one of taste more than anything else.

By installing a V6 that has comparable performance and greater fuel economy than the V8 it replaces, Jaguar has created an economical, entry-level solution that does everything the larger V8s can do for a few dollars less. Brilliant.