What’s most noticeable—and, consequently, notable—about driving Jaguar’s XJ8 Vanden Plas is what you don’t notice. You don’t notice any blind spots. You don’t notice any ambient road noise. You don’t notice any lag in the handling. You don’t notice you’re doing triple digits in mph on the Tollway until you look down and assume you’re reading the kilometer gauge.
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| photography courtesy of Jaguar Cars and Wieck Media Services, Inc. | |
| THE STATS | |
| STICKER PRICE: $80,585 ENGINE: 300 HP 4.2 L V8 MPG: 16 city, 25 highway |
This full-size sedan defines every positive British stereotype—elegant, self-assured, and understated. This is a car that says, “Yeah, I have money and taste, but I don’t feel the need to be showy about it.” Sales in Dallas should be just terrible.
Somehow, engineers found the sweet spot between performance suspension and comfort, a lot owing to the leveling air-suspension system and speed-sensitive steering. The roaring power of the 4.2-liter V8 engine makes this Jaguar as agile as its animal namesake, despite its plus-size.
As for the interior styling, it’s hard to beat. The Vanden Plas is roomier than many SUVs, quite a departure from the typical Jag. Little touches like the analog dash clock give it a decidedly continental feel. The classic, polished-walnut panel and trim is a signature for Jag (though the fact that a panel popped off when a passenger opened the rear door is more a signature of Ford, which now owns the line). The wife warning system—beeping alarms that go off when you get too close to something in the rear or front—ensures that any woman can park it despite the natural handicap of her gender.
If there was any disappointment in my test drive, it was in the multimedia package. No matter what I did, the audio sounded tinny. And the controls for the rear-seat DVD player were in the back—exactly where a parent can’t reach when the Little One demands you start Shrek over again.
With superior performance, elegant styling and a more-than-reasonable price tag, this is a luxury car both for the thinking man—and the man who isn’t compensating for certain, er, shortcomings.
