Jaguar XJ (XJ40)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Jaguar XJ" XJ40 – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Jaguar XJ (XJ40)
Jaguar XJ (Series III)
Successor	Jaguar XJ (X300)

The Jaguar XJ (XJ40) is a full-size luxury

The 1993 XJ6 earned the title of "Safest Car in Britain" as the result of a government survey.[3] The original 1986 car gave way to the heavily revised Jaguar XJ (X300) in 1994, followed by the Jaguar XJ (X308) in 1997. The XJ40 and its later derivatives is to date the second longest running XJ platform, with a total production run of 17 years. After the XJ40, Jaguar's intention was to launch a brand new saloon with a new V8 engine. Ford halted development of the saloon, termed XJ90, and proposed to instal its new engine and front and rear ends onto the centre section of the XJ40 model; however, the V8 was not ready.^[4]

Development

Throughout the 1970s, Jaguar had been developing Project XJ40, which was an all-new model intended to replace the original XJ6. Scale models were being built as early as 1972. Due to the 1973 oil crisis and problems at parent company British Leyland, the car was continually delayed. Proposals from both Jaguar's in-house designers and Pininfarina were received. Eventually, it was decided an internal design would be carried through to production.

In February 1981, the British Leyland board approved £80 million to produce the new car. Launch was originally scheduled for 1984. Following Jaguar's de-merger from BL and privatization that same year, the company's CEO

, particularly in the lucrative North American market, to delay the XJ40's launch a further two years to allow for more development time.

The XJ40 was at the time the most extensively tested vehicle the company had ever developed. Designs for the XJ40 pioneered significant improvements to how Jaguar cars were designed, built, and assembled. Among these improvements was a 25% reduction in the number of bodywork panels required per car (e.g. three pressings needed for a Series 3 door compared with one for a XJ40 door), resulting in not only a more efficient assembly process but also a weight saving and a stiffer structure. Despite this, early production XJ40s still suffered from reliability, particularly with its electrical systems and build quality issues, which damaged its reputation, and further continued Jaguar's poor reputation for quality, despite the extensive testing of the car, and the engineering efforts to improve quality. The protracted development time meant the car dated much quicker than its rivals, and it was quickly superseded technologically by the

in 1990, the XJ40 was replaced by the X300. While it was based on the XJ40 platform, the X300 was highly revised in almost all areas.

Retired Jaguar founder William Lyons had acted in a consultative role during the XJ40 project's early phase, and was shown the final prototype shortly before his death in 1985, and was said to be approving of the car - thus the XJ40 is widely believed to be the final Jaguar to have had Lyons' involvement.

Mechanicals

Initially, only two engines were offered across the XJ40 models: a 2.9 L and a 3.6 L version of the

As a consequence, the preceding Series III XJ was kept in production in V12 form to cater for this market need until 1992.

The automatic gearbox used in the 2.9 L, 3.2 L, and 3.6 L six-cylinder cars was the four-speed

shift by wire

technology rendered it redundant; all subsequent Jaguar models now use a rotary knob for transmission mode selection.

Exterior

The curvaceous lines of the outgoing Series XJ were replaced by the more angular, geometric shape of the XJ40. For the first production run, all headlamps fitted were a set of two round lamps inside a chrome housing with painted bezels or a set of form-fitting composite rectangular headlamps with power-wash sprayers. The lower trim level had painted bezels without chrome. The latter were fitted to the higher trim levels: Sovereign and Daimler. The United States safety regulations allowed the form-fitting composite headlamps in 1983 for the model year 1984 onward. The lengthy lead time for American type approval did not give Jaguar the opportunity to change at the last minute to the popular composite rectangular headlamps in time for the launch in the United States. During the 1990 model year refresh, the United States-specified XJ40 received the composite rectangular headlamps for entire trim levels. The European headlamps have single reflector for low and high beams behind the flatter glass lens. The United States headlamps have two separate reflectors for low and high beams behind the slightly bulbous plastic lens.

The bumper is a visually distinct black-rubber-covered bar that runs the full width of the car, and incorporates the sidelights and indicator lights. The bonnet is hinged at the front. Window frames are either chromed or black, depending on model. Rain gutters, door mirrors, and door handles are also finished in chrome. All XJ40s have a chrome surround for the windshield and a single wide-sweeping wiper. Early low-specification cars were fitted with metric-sized steel wheels and plastic wheelcovers. From 1991, the wheels were changed to imperial sizing.

Interior

The interior of the XJ40 was trimmed with either walnut or rosewood, and either cloth or leather upholstery depending on model. Until 1990, cars were fitted with an instrument binnacle that used digital readouts for the ancillary gauges, but still featured an analogue tachometer and speedometer. Instrumentation included a vacuum fluorescent display named the Vehicle Condition Monitor (VCM), which contained a 32x32 dot-matrix screen capable of 34 functions. The VCM was able to alert the driver of bulb failure, brake pad wear, unlatched doors/boot, and low coolant level. The binnacle was notoriously unreliable, and from 1990 on the binnacle was redesigned to use analogue gauges.

Early cars used a two-spoke steering wheel that was later changed for a four-spoke

]

Models

XJ6, 1986–1994

The base XJ6 of the model range was modestly equipped; extra-cost options included alloy wheels,

anti-lock brakes

, air conditioning, leather upholstery, and an automatic transmission. The exterior featured two pairs of circular headlamps and black powder-coated window frames.

• 
  1992 Jaguar XJ6

Sovereign, 1986–1994

The Sovereign model came equipped with significantly more features than the base XJ6. Included was air conditioning, headlamp washers, a six-speaker sound system, rear self-levelling suspension (SLS), anti-lock braking system, and inlaid burl walnut wood trim (pre-MY1991). The headlamps fitted were the rectangular single units. The window frames were made from stainless steel.

• 
  1992 Jaguar Sovereign with twin round headlights
• 
  1992 Jaguar Sovereign
• 
  1991–1994 Jaguar Sovereign model with single rectangular headlights

Sport, 1993–1994

Late in the XJ40 run 3.2S and 4.0S in 1993–1994, Jaguar introduced the Sport model. It was available only with the six-cylinder engine and featured rosewood interior trim, as opposed to the walnut trim of other models. Both the door mirrors and radiator grill vanes were colour-keyed to the body, which was decorated with twin coachlines. Wider-profile tires were fitted, mounted on five-spoke alloy wheels.

Majestic, 1989–1992 (SWB) and 1993–1994 (LWB)

A rare long-wheelbase model named the Majestic was produced in 1993 and 1994.

This meant the Majestic carried a significant price premium over the standard models. It was offered to all markets except the United States and Canada. This car should not be confused with cars that were stretched into limousines through an after-market company.

There was a Short Wheel Base (SWB) version on the regular wheelbase for the United States market only from 1989 to 1992, called the Vanden Plas Majestic but badged as Majestic. These cars were mostly finished in Regency Red (with Red Lattice alloys), apart from the 1992 cars which were finished in Black Cherry (with Oyster Roulette alloys). A SWB USA Majestic can be identified by M as the fourth letter of its VIN, and the LWB rest of world Majestic's have an M as the seventh digit of the VIN.[8]

Gold 1994

The Gold model was introduced in 1994 with a limited set of features and options, and for a modest price. It was available in fewer exterior colours than other models, and was identified by a gold-plated badge on the boot and gold growler badge at the top of the radiator grille. Gold cars were fitted with the Kiwi-style wheels and painted with twin coachlines.

Insignia

In 1992, when Jaguar closed the DS420 Limo shop, all the craftsmen were left standing idle. Jaguar devised Insignia: a bespoke service for the XJ40/XJ81 and XJS, where prospective owners could specify special paint, trim, wood, and wheels at additional cost in any given combination. 318 XJ40 Insignias were produced, most of them can be identified by the oblong gold-on-black Insignia badges on the front wings, and by their above-standard interiors. All of the interior trim was done in leather (two-tone colouring being an option), opposed to the leather-vinyl combinations used on regular-spec cars. Special paint colours were introduced for the Insignia, including Mahogany, Amethyst Blue, Mineral Green, Primrose Pearl, Crystal Blue, Saturn Orange, Peppermint, Sandstone, White Pearl, and Lavender. A number of Insignias were put onto the Jaguar demo fleet to do the round of the dealerships to show all the options available in the Insignia line.

Police Special

Like the Series III XJ, some XJ40s were converted to police cars for

XJR

The XJR, introduced in 1988, was a high-performance model that was finished by the Oxfordshire-based JaguarSport company, a dual venture by Jaguar and Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) team, at TWRs Kidlington-based factory alongside the XJ220. Based upon a Sovereign model, it was fitted with uprated suspension with unique Bilstein dampers, a revised power steering valve to increase the steering weight by 40% and special exterior paint and exterior styling touches. Early examples were fitted with a 3.6 L AJ6 engine in standard tune but later models had a TWR tuned version of the 4.0 AJ6, with new inlet manifolds, uprated cams, and a tweaked ECU. Some examples are also fitted with a larger bore JaguarSport exhaust system.

The XJR differed cosmetically from other XJ40 models with its body coloured bodykit, consisting of new front and rear valances and side skirts, all from fiberglass, a black grill with a JaguarSport badge in it and unique Speedline alloy wheels with wider tyres. Later models had ducting fitted to the front valance to feed cool air directly to the brake discs. The interior featured a leather

steering wheel, JaguarSport logos on the dial faces, leather shift knob, and seat headrests embossed with the JaguarSport logo. The XJR model was introduced in 1988 and ceased production in 1994. In 1991, the appearance of the XJR changed when it switched to the square headlights of the Sovereign model and was fitted with a different design of bodykit. Only a few hundred of each variation were produced, making the cars rare today.

XJ12 and Daimler Double Six (XJ81)

Given the model code XJ81, the XJ40-based XJ12 and Daimler Double Six were introduced at the

This was mated to a GM 4L80E 4-speed automatic gearbox. It could be identified by the XJ12 or Double Six badge on the rear and a V12 emblem on the glovebox. The XJ12 used the two twin-headlamp pairs, black radiator grille vanes, and a gold growler badge on the radiator grille top, while the Daimler received the rectangular headlamps. Early cars used stainless steel window frames, on later cars they were changed to black.

Daimler/Vanden Plas

The Daimler Company-branded cars represented the highest trim level, and were sold as their Vanden Plas model by Jaguar dealers in the United States. Like the Sovereign, it was fitted with the single rectangular headlamps. Cosmetically, it differed from other models with its fluted radiator grille surround, boot-lid plinth and detail finishes. A Daimler interior features fold-out picnic tables for the rear passengers and a two-passenger rear seat versus the flat, three-passenger item on the Jaguars.

Special uses

The car was used by two

References