Trim levels: XJ8 XJ8L XJ Vanden Plas XJR

MSRP: $54,750 $59,750 $63,800 $67,400

Notes: The aluminum quadcam V8 engine from the new XK8 coupe arrived under the hood of Jaguar's sedan for 1998, necessitating a change of designation for most of the models. The new engine provided dramatically better performance, as well as slightly improved fuel economy. The new engines, in normally-aspirated and supercharged forms, were coupled to a new 5-speed version of Jaguar's peculiar J-gate manumatic transmission. J-gate allowed manual shifting, but only from second gear, via a heavily-sprung selector lever. Because of the greater power of its supercharged engine, the XJR was unable to utilize the 5-speed ZF manumatic, and instead used a Mercedes-Benz transmission heretofore found on the S-Class V12s. An interior redesign was also undertaken, including a replacement of much of the cabin electrical equipment, thus defeating some of the XJ's persistant electrical gremlins. Other changes to the suspension (stiffer and with a rear anti-roll bar) and brakes (larger discs) were also made this year. This resulted in a designation change from XJ300 to XJ308.

Series: 1995-2003

PERFORMANCE