My dad once told me that buying a Jaguar was like renting one for yourself and giving another to your mechanic. I was enamored with the type of buyer who’d purposely buy a car that looked great, worked sometime and was in a garage all the time. Who were these people? And why did their faces look so stretched and surprised all the time?
The 2015 Jaguar XJL AWD presents a significant milestone for the company then. As their paradigm has been fully shifted from boardroom speak to wheels on the ground since it was purchased by Indian carmaker Tata in 2008, the XJL is a mid-life sedan testing Jaguar’s staying power and design. Already four years into its life, the XJL has been relatively unchanged for two years with the last significant addition coming with all-wheel drive in 2013.
In the XJL, Jaguar bolted on a Magna all-wheel drive system that theoretically powers all wheels equally, front only or rear alone, and every derivation in between depending on grip.
I won’t burden you with details, but the Jaguar’s transfer case constantly monitors wheel spin at all four corners and shifts power accordingly. Traction control modulates the wheels left and right, transfer case front to back, to register grip and act appropriately every 100 milliseconds — all while comfortably kneading your lower lumbar thanks to available massage seating.
In short, that used to be a Jaguar owner’s nightmare: so much to go so wrong. And escaping the stigma of being a perpetual garage queen has been Jaguar’s biggest hurdle to date, but trading on classic good looks has always kept the automaker afloat.
Despite being one of the oldest in its class, the Jaguar XJL still holds court against the much more popular Mercedes S Class, Audi A8L and competitors from South Korea. The other long-wheelbase executive sedans have surpassed the XJL in technology — the Mercedes S Class has always been on the bleeding-edge of car tech — but they haven’t passed the XJL in curb appeal.
Since the XJL was introduced five years ago, the big Jag’s sweeping roofline and blacked out pillars have commanded a second look by most people. Up front, the big mesh grille and wide mouth topped with a floating badge look so good it’s starting to be copied by other automakers (Chrysler, I’m looking at you), and the XJL’s LED array around its headlights are still some of my favorites in an increasingly tired design trend.
Inside, the broad swaths of leather and wood have aged just as well. The Jaguar’s leather-stitched dash that sweeps across the front and opens into the doors makes an already big car look bigger. Leather headliners and panoramic glass everywhere open the cabin up to the rest of the world, while sound deadening and plush materials keep distractions out.
The XJL is Jaugar’s longer wheelbase version of the XJ. For $81,200 to start, the XJL adds 4 inches of rear legroom in the back and a bevy of other interior options if you’re the type to be driven instead of drive yourself. To add on AWD that price moves up to $84,700 to start, and you’re limited to only a supercharged V6 powertrain. (A V8 and supercharged V8 are available in rear-wheel drive only.)
In any other story — according to only me — the V6 would take top billing based on its development alone. Lopping off two cylinders from Jaguar’s base 5.0-liter V8 created the 3.0-liter engine, even though both are planted longitudinally under the hood. Mathematicians will notice that a 25 percent loss in cylinders doesn’t equal the same loss in displacement, for which Jaguar has shorted the bore and stroke in the smaller engine to compensate.
The 340 horsepower lump underneath the hood is plenty for the XJL AWD, however. In mountain driving with plenty of snow, the Jag wasn’t at a loss for power or comfort. The 8-speed transmission does its best to get out of the way and help the big 4,100 lb. sedan achieve around 20 mpg in combined driving.
In the world of executive sedans, the XJL still comes in third behind Mercedes and Audi who both offer more technology in their newer sedans. But Jag’s big sedan, four years in, still holds water (and most of its other fluids too) in that competition and signal that we’re fully engrossed in a new version of the classic British automaker’s history.
In other words, this is not my father’s Jaguar.