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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  A Great Car without problems - 2000 Jaguar XK-Series
  By stan kase - November 16 - 10:00 am

  The appearance still turns heads even though the design has been on the road for seven years. Mechanically no problems . Even my knew Mercedes has given me more problems in 1 year of ownership.

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  2004 Jaguar 2004 Vanden Plas - 2004 Jaguar XJ-Series
  By Louis Daily - November 14 - 2:10 pm

  Best built car that I have driven in over 60 years. It is comfortable, has excellent performance, and is quiet. It lacks rear seating sufficient leg room, and lacks the elegant interior and exterior appearance of previous Vanden Plas models. Rear seating tray tables were omitted from this years Vanden Plas. My wife and I each have one. The rear seats are occupied rarely, and so we are very happy with ours.

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  Scary at times, but so far, so good. - 2004 Jaguar X-Type
  By devargo - November 13 - 6:43 am

  Got this in June 07 with 32k miles. Now have 55k on it, and the only repair has been a worn tie-rod end. I have heard horror stories about Jaguar reliability over the years, but I took the plunge and am glad I did. One thing I never get over is the odd noises that this car makes. Squeals, whines, whistles, bumps, woomps, thumps, etc. For one thing, it appears that every road noise comes inside. For another, wind noise actually makes a whistling around the A pillars. But, overall, I cant complain. 22-24 mpg, good looks, good performance, lots of features, and the cachet of owning a Jag for under $20000. Still keeping my fingers crossed, but so far, glad I bought this car.

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  In Love With A Car? - 2005 Jaguar XJ-Series
  By Ward - November 8 - 4:36 am

  How do you say youre in love with your car, without being considered a bit unusual. When I was a kid in my teens I loved cars, and Ive had 9 new Cads and a whole series of other autos. But, as an adult -- I LOVE THIS CAR! From the performance to the feel of the car on the road, to the admiring glances from everyone it is the best.And the carpark valets park it in front of the restaurant!

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  Be careful with what you are expecting here - 2004 Jaguar XJ-Series
  By mr_dearborn - November 5 - 1:49 pm

  The car is pretty to look at, has a fantastic engine, and rides like a dream. These were the things I was looking for in a car. I was hoping that Fords $3 billion investment several years before this car would resolve reliability issues. Nope. This car had a number of advancements that didnt quite work and are expensive to fix: 1) electric parking break, 2) air suspension, 3) aluminum unibody (rust), 4) transmission leaks. Ive dropped $11K on my $18K car thus far. It has 50K miles. Also, the handling isnt quite on par with the German cars; it doest love curves and corners. In short, be careful with your expectations on this one.

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  S-Type V8 - 2004 Jaguar S-Type
  By J. Nations - November 4 - 2:00 am

  True luxury car. Fun to drive, Beats Lexus and M-B in prestige. Gets looks and comments all the time. Black with charcoal interior is beautiful. Wood and chrome interior is very plush. No complaints to date. I even love the J- gate. V-8 with 6 speed automatic is smooth and powerful.

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  A Premier Product - 2004 Jaguar XJ-Series
  By F. R. Eliason - November 4 - 2:00 am

  This is my first Jaguar and I am totally impressed. Unlike prior models this is superb with respect to interior leg room and head room and the quality is readily apparent. The six speed automatic transmission is seamless. At lower speeds the engine does its task with no apparent effort-- and very quietly. When acceleration is required it is awesome--most likely a consequence of having much less body weight. The exterior and interior color choices are much better than other luxury sedans. In the overall the XJ is a great leap forward for Jaguar.

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  Finally got cool - 2004 Jaguar X-Type
  By Bayonne - November 4 - 2:00 am

  Fantastic looking car...gets lots of attention. Makes other cars, BMW, Audi, etc. look boring. Exciting to drive...just plain cool.

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  Very Pleased - Love it - 2002 Jaguar X-Type
  By pleased_in_NY - November 2 - 10:00 am

  I looked at many other entry-level sport sedans...but the X-type just grabbed my eye. I love its looks, its exceptional. I have many complete strangers tell me its a beautiful car. I love to drive it, the 5 speed manual is great fun. The alpine stereo is excellent. I love the interior styling and the way it handles on the road especially when revving the engine at 4000 to 6500 RPMs

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  2006 Jaguar S type VDP - 2006 Jaguar S-Type
  By Joseph - October 29 - 6:06 am

  I also had that vibrating when speed was between 30000 - 50000 MPH. It was a simple fix, not the roof or ceiling as a previous poster overstated. I was angry my dealer charged me $100.00 to turn on an electrical feature on an option I paid for. Jaguar headquarters refunded me that $100.00 when I advised them this to be an unfair practice. The Premium audio system needs to be more powerful not necessarily to be louder but rather to render RICHER sound quality. The Sub Woofer is barely noticeable. The telephone volume was also too low to hear comfortably - probably associated with my comment above about the stereo. A/C does not cool the car unless the setting is set at 65 degrees.