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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  Only a Jag can be this good - 2004 Jaguar XJ-Series
  By Jerry - June 14 - 12:43 am

  The fit and finish are unlike any other manufacture, if you want luxury with performance the XJR is the way to go. Fun to drive and comfortable.

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  Amazing - get a 2005 or newer! - 2005 Jaguar X-Type
  By Jag - June 6 - 6:53 pm

  Love the car, I researched the car before purchase, saw that 2001-03 had some problems, Jaguars Quality Initiative 04 put over 1000 new components in this car. My 2005 is awesome. Great driving experience, curves and hills are my favorite, AWD will be a blessing this winter. Luxury interior leaves you feeling like and people thinking that you paid a fortune for this car.

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  OK but Reliability Issues a Concern - 2004 Jaguar X-Type
  By Peter C. - June 4 - 8:50 pm

  I did tons of research when I purchased this car. Bought for ridiculously cheap price. All and all drives nice, on par with other entry level luxury vehicles. Many issues have popped up including replacement of propshaft, faulty seat heater, grinding noise when braking, faulty sunroof (had to be fixed twice). For price I paid, and magnitude of repairs (small but annoying) I am not unhappy but if I had to do it again, I would probably have purchased the Volvo S-60 instead.

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  The Jag - 2003 Jaguar XJ-Series
  By Craig Seifert - June 4 - 5:53 am

  Bought the car for my wife, but love to drive it when shell let me. Picked it up in DC and drove it 200 miles on the interstate to get home and was impressed with the comfort, stability, power and control. Two days later, we drove it to Michigan from Virginia Beach. Again, superb is the word. Weve owned and driven a lot of high end cars, but the XJs are in a class of their own. The styling is refined from decades of improving on a base design from the late sixties. The engineering has too. The base 300 HP 4.0 L V8 coupled with the 4 speed automatic is powerful but smooth, sophisticated but dependable and pretty efficient (20 mpg), considering that its pushing a 2.5 ton car.

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  Consumer Rating - 2006 Jaguar X-Type
  By Rich - June 3 - 7:16 pm

  Excellent quality, workmanship and reliability. A real quality vehicle.

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  1 Week Into Jaguar Ownership - 2004 Jaguar XJ-Series
  By mherbst - June 1 - 5:49 pm

  12k a 40k mile car was a steal. I purchased this car knowing something would break. You have to have that mindset for all Jaguars and plan accordingly. This car was below my budget for a used car, and I put my savings from the purchase into an account for future repairs. Im now very glad I did. 1 week in and the sunroof is broken, air suspension has visible leaks, who knows what else. Just the parts for the sunroof are $800, rear air suspension is $1500 for one shock. If you dont mind working on a car yourself (which I dont) this is a decent buy, also for air suspension issues arnott makes better than factory suspension. 4 shocks for the price of a jag one.

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  Great Car - 2000 Jaguar S-Type
  By Joe 1667 - May 28 - 10:00 am

  I Own a BMW also.This car is more logical in interior design.My new X-5 died on me only after 6 months.I have had no problems with the S-Type.Much better Navigation and A/C controls then the BMW.Ride is comparable to the BMW.I will admit that the BMW feels faster and has a sportier ride.

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  Tons of Funs - 2004 Jaguar S-Type
  By Yankee in Dallas - May 24 - 10:00 am

  We tested BMW, Mercedes and Infinity. Both liked the Jag better for looks and performance. Nice V-8 for the price of a six cylinder Beemer or Mercedes. Beautiful and very comfortable interior. Get the V-8 !!

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  love that jag 3.0 - 2004 Jaguar X-Type
  By joneejag - May 24 - 2:00 am

  we were trying to decide between the lexus 330 acura tl and the jag x all have there own best qualities.. but when it came down to it the best deal for the money it was the jag. it has the look and feel of a sports car with plush of the big $ cars it is really fun to drive with the growl and that leaper its a blast.

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  Fast ,Luxurious and Beautiful - 2014 Jaguar XJ
  By xjr - May 22 - 8:04 pm

  I have owned my 2014 XJR LWB for a year and I love it ! Jags have always built the most beautiful sedans and the new XJR makes its German competition look like the tanks (with go faster wheels) they really are . The power and handling of this luxury sedan has to be experienced to be believed . It easily compares to top performing sports cars but with the discomfort . Drive one youll see !