Overview & Reviews

Jaguar cars have a long history of elegant styling and sporting performance. The brand was born in the United Kingdom, and for years its vehicles were synonymous with the old-world luxury of the British upper classes. More recently, Jaguar has been under the ownership of other automakers, but Jaguar cars will always bear the unmistakable gleam of traditional English refinement.

The company traces its roots to the Swallow Sidecar Company, founded in 1922 by Bill Lyons and William Walmsley. Based in Blackpool, England, the company produced a popular line of aluminum motorcycle sidecars. Swallow eventually switched its focus to automobile production, changing its name to SS Cars Ltd. in 1933. The first vehicle to carry the Jaguar name was the SS Jaguar 100, released in 1935.

After World War II, SS Cars switched its moniker to Jaguar so as not to be associated with the Nazi paramilitary organization that bore the same initials. Its first postwar offering was 1948's Mark V. The luxury sedan was joined that year by the XK 120, a sports car that was the fastest production automobile of its day — its name indicating its top speed. The XK 120 proved quite popular, and helped Jaguar establish a strong presence in the sports car market.

By the 1950s, Jaguar had begun exporting luxury vehicles to the United States. Created just for the American market, the Mark VII Saloon was introduced in 1951 and was a hit with stateside motorists. In 1956, the car took the prize at the Monte Carlo Rally. Later in the decade, Jaguar added the Mark VIII and Mark IX to its lineup. Meanwhile, the XK became the XK 140 as performance increased. Then came the XK 150 which was obviously even faster, though not quite as curvaceously alluring as the 120/140 models.

The 1960s saw the launch of one of Jaguar's most well-known models. The E-Type (or XK-E as it was known in the U.S.) debuted for 1961. The new sports car, available as either a coupe or convertible, provided performance and refinement wrapped up in an undeniably sexy package. The success of groups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and icons like Twiggy the fashion model made British culture a hot commodity during the '60s — a fact that likely had positive implications for Jaguar's popularity in the U.S.

A decade later, Jaguar introduced the XJ6C and XJ12C coupes to join the sedans. At one point, the XJ12 was the fastest production sedan of its day. By the mid-'70s the lovely E-Type was replaced by the relatively bland XJ-S. The 1980s saw Jaguar continuing to raise the bar in performance with the launch of the XJ-S HE and a true world supercar, the XJ220.
By this time, however, Jaguar's cars had also built up a reputation for questionable reliability, electrical problems being the chief source of owners' angst. Increased competition from German automakers and adverse exchange rates didn't help matters either. Without much capital to work with to improve matters, the company decided to pursue a partnership with another company. This decision ultimately led to a full buyout of Jaguar by Ford in 1990.

Ford's influence (and financial support) was evident with the 1997 launch of Jaguar's XK8 and supercharged XKR sports cars. Powering both was Jaguar's new AJ-V8, a compact yet powerful engine that was also used in certain Land Rover vehicles. A few years later, Jaguar made an effort to broaden its product line with the introduction of a lower-priced, entry-luxury compact sedan known as the X-Type. Unfortunately, this model sold poorly, as its modest European Ford sedan underpinnings proved to be a liability. Around this time, Jaguar's old-school traditional styling grew stale as competitors moved into the new millennium with cutting-edge, modern designs inside and out.

Sales plummeted, and Jaguar's financial problems caused further headaches for parent company Ford, which was also experiencing financial turmoil. Ford cut its losses and sold Jaguar (and fellow British premium brand Land Rover) to Indian manufacturer Tata in 2008. Though reliability still remains a concern, new models like the XF and redesigned icons XK and XJ seem to indicate a bright Jaguar future, as they feature modern designs sprinkled with a fair share of classic Britannic charm.

User Reviews:

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  Dream car Nightmare Jaguar X type - 2002 Jaguar X-Type
  By Sonya H - October 22 - 2:00 am

  My dream car has had multiple problems. Had to have a new driver door latch - could not open door from outside at all; trunk latch malfunctions consistently; gear box fault light comes on frequently and the service department cant seem to figure out if its a computer glitch or mechanical problem; engine light has also come on. I wouldnt recommend this car to anyone!!!!!

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  Terrible Reliability - 2000 Jaguar S-Type
  By Robert Danaian - June 26 - 10:26 am

  This is the worst luxury (?) car I have ever had. Never know what is going to fail next. How can Jaguar get away with such an awful car? I have spent thousands repairing this car. Do yourself a favor and buy something else. Anything else.

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  Dont get stuck with one - 2004 Jaguar X-Type
  By Blown306 - November 20 - 10:03 pm

  Weve had our X-Type 3.0 Sport for about three years and it has been one of the sorriest cars we ever bought. In 60k miles, the car is on its fourth set of tires, fifth set of defrost vents, second set of visors and 3 three rims have been replaced, one because it had to be chiseled off (stuck $14/ea lug nuts caused it). It leaks oil, makes tons of various noises and gets horrible mileage. It can take off and turn good in the snow, but forget about stopping. 30 days after a $200 alignment from Jag and new tires on the front, the wear indicators on the inner edges are gone! Look at something out of Germany instead... trading this in on a Jetta diesel.

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  The worst car Ive ever owned - 2002 Jaguar X-Type
  By Ed - August 15 - 5:43 pm

  My car loves to spend time getting service. Its been at the dealer for service 10 months of the 48 months Ive owned the car. I cant remember the many new parts it has but you can say they have rebuilt the thing. Nobody can deny is beautiful but is a piece of junk.

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  Why would you want this car? - 2002 Jaguar X-Type
  By Jgrnaut - July 22 - 2:00 am

  The name Jaguar conjures up images of refined elegance and bold styling. After driving the X-Type, the words Jaguar and “refined elegance” seems to fit together like Shaq in a Mazda Miata. When you sit in the cockpit, you understand why it is priced so cheap (for a Jaguar.) I think there was a shortage of quality leather when the car was built because most of the surroundings were made of plastic, high quality plastic I’m sure, but never the less plastic. Once I stepped on the gas it seemed like I had 4 sumo-wrestlers in the back and a few in the trunk. On the good side, the key is really neat and it has that cool leaping jaguar on the hood.

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  Cheap broken plastic bits everywhere - 2000 Jaguar S-Type
  By Aardvark - June 9 - 2:00 am

  Pretty car, atrocious build quality, not so much assembly, but the cheapest garbage plastic everywhere. Inside trim pieces break, but worse, crappy plastic in critical components, including transmission shift gate and window lifts necessitating unreasonably expensive repairs to replace cheap broken parts. Brakes mushy with expensive pads and rotors, front suspension is a disaster. Tie rod ends, hubs, ball joints all made out of crap and need replacement. So if youre lucky, you wont need to do what everybody else has had to: replace the transmission, front end, a/c and heat components, engine coils, window regulators, etc. AND DONT SLAM THE DOORS. Your window regulators will break.

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  lemon - 2001 Jaguar XJ-Series
  By Hipexec - May 17 - 2:00 am

  This is an overrated, overpriced lemon! My Chrysler Concorde LXi has more features, better climate control, more power, bigger trunk. They sold me the car with Pirelli tires that wore out at 20,000 miles! Little things like it has no compass built-in. It doent go in the snow, and the heat of Phoenix causes it to overheat. Where does it go well? I dont know.

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  worst car and service we ever had - 2004 Jaguar X-Type
  By paul mazzilli - January 22 - 7:56 pm

  The clutch failed at 13k miles then the car was off the road for a faulty linkage and the clutch failed again at 25k miles. We were told the failure was due to normal wear not covered by warranty.We can’t believe a car of Jaguar’s prestige has an expected clutch life of 12 to 15k miles.We have driven sticks for 30 years and put between 35k and 115k miles on cars and have never had a clutch fail. This car has mainly highway mileage with little shifting.We find it nasty to be told that the damage is due to our driving habits. Two separate Jaguar dealers told us they see around 15 to 18k miles as the average life on an X-Type clutch and that they do not have experience with many manual cars.

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  X-Type Unreliable - 2004 Jaguar X-Type
  By Kelley - September 25 - 4:26 pm

  From the time that I purchased this vehicle, it spent more time in the shop then I spent driving the vehicle. Unfortunately, I decided to purchase this vehicle instead of lease. The car has very little residual value now at 55,000 miles and I have had to put over $3000 into the vehicle in the last two months because of the poor quality of this vehicle. The vehicle is pretty to look at and yes it will turn heads, however, it has been a complete waste of money for me. I am a professional and do not have time to waste getting a vehicle repaired constantly.

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  What A Disaster! - 2005 Jaguar X-Type
  By Todd - June 26 - 10:43 pm

  Please! I beg you to think twice before buying an X type. I have had it for 3 months... and it has been nothing but a disaster! The remotes dont work, the gas tank does not open!! The windows are constantly breaking and get stuck in one position. The plastic buttons on the inside break off!!! Stay as far away as you can!!!!