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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  WONDERFUL JUST WONDERFUL - 2004 Jaguar X-Type
  By TJONES - July 15 - 10:00 am

  I purchased my X-type 6 months ago and it has been pleasure ever since. It is great on the commute between different parts of L.A. and It has 15000 miles on it already. The ride is very smooth and stable and the interior is very warm and inviting. The car does a steady 90 mph without hesitation and the wood and leather trim interior is perfect. The words summed up for the x-type are S-T-Y-L-E.

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  The King of Cars - 2002 Jaguar XJ-Series
  By tlh77 - June 25 - 1:26 pm

  This car feels like youre driving a cloud. Extremely smooth ride, an amazing drive with superior power.

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  Well pleased - 2003 Jaguar X-Type
  By garyh - June 25 - 10:00 am

  Had it since May 03. The car is everything that I expected. I get as many, nice car, comments from people as I do in my 02 Thunderbird. Handling and quality are great. I have had no problems with it.

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  How Great It Is!! - 2004 Jaguar XJ-Series
  By nelson olf - June 25 - 10:00 am

  This is my third XJ6/XJ8 since 1993 and although I loved the first two dearly, this is by far the best. It is far more comfortable and commodious then the others. The power is awesome, the drive superb, and the gas mileage unbelieveable for a car this size. Since I am one of the last Americans around who smokes, I truly appreciated the large and easy to reach ash tray. The basic sound system is as good as anyone could ever want and the heating and ventilating stytem is easy to use and starts producing cold or heat immediately. I truly expect this to be my last ever Jaguar, since I cant forsee how they could improve on this one.

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  Quality All Rounder - 2005 Jaguar X-Type
  By PIKEY - June 19 - 3:03 am

  My third jag.previous models being older xjs. The xtype is a very good all weather car particularly in the snow. The a/c can be somewhat overwhelmed on very hot and humid days. Excellent highway ride,well suspended, unlike older xj models,seamless all wheel drive.

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  A pleasant surprise! - 2003 Jaguar S-Type
  By onewhocares - June 12 - 2:00 am

  We bought this car after looking at the BMW, MB, and the Lexus. The look, price, performance, 6-speed transmission, and feature content were the reasons we chose the s-type. The car has over 5000 miles and has been relatively trouble free (the electronic parking brake failed and was replaced). The steering is precise and nicely weighted for both city and highway driving. The V-8 and 6-speed transmission combination makes merging into the 80 mph california traffic a easy task. Highway mileage has been 31 to 29 miles per galloon at average speeds of 70 to 80 miles per hour.

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  Cats, Bimmers and Soobies - 2004 Jaguar X-Type
  By KKear - June 12 - 2:00 am

  Started out looking at Subaru H6 Outback sedad and 30K, then realized that this is Jag X/BMW 3 money. All the road test guys say buy BMW 3, and everybody does. Rather than be another mindless Bimmer driver, we chose Jag X- type 3.0. Rides smooth, handles good. 21 mpg so far. Stay away from sport package and 5 stick-they ruin the cars driving dynamic. Road test car youre going to buy-some have vibration at 55- 70 mph as stated by other reviewers. Classic Cars in CHerry Hill NJ was best buying experience ever!!

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  Wow!!!!!! - 2002 Jaguar X-Type
  By kevin b - June 11 - 10:00 am

  I was looking at a pre-owned Jaguar S- Type at the local (Orlando) BMW Dealership but did not like the snooty attitude of the salesperson. I called the Jaguar Dealership in Miami and worked out a deal over the phone for a brand new X-Type 3.0 Sport. I traded in my 2002 VW Beetle turbo with 800 miles on it. I absolutely LOVE my Jaguar. I am a Jaguar owner for life!!!

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  The 3.0 Manual is the Ultimate Jag - 2002 Jaguar X-Type
  By JHP - June 8 - 11:06 pm

  This car defines sporty luxury. It is sleek, powerful, refined, fun to drive and perfectly balanced (can you say "become one with the car"?). I have yet to approach the handling or performance limits of the 3 liter/manual combination. But I can tell you that this car is truly fast and very tossable when you want it to be. And the AWD provides remarkable and reassuring traction, especially in the rain. Combine such performance with the Jags beatiful form inside and out, and its clearly the class act of luxury performance cars.

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  Inspector Morse - 2007 Jaguar S-Type
  By Inspector Morse - June 3 - 5:43 pm

  We have had this car for three years and it has been fabulous. We had two prior X-Types which were also excellent. It is a superb car around town and amazing - AMAZING - on the open road. The handling is superb, the 3 liter is remarkably robust, and it gets better mileage even than the X-Type. We have always liked the old S cars featured on the BBC Inspector Morse series and this is an elegant modern rendition. The flowing lines are so pretty even as design trends for most cars have become much more angular the past few years. Still rare and unique enough to turn a lot of heads. Snow tires are absolutely essential in northern climes. We will keep this one forever!