TWIN TEST
We find out if the final generation of XJ can challenge the pinnacle of early-2000s VW Group tech
THROUGHOUT ITSlife, the Jaguar XJ has always been something of agiant-killer, able to offer an often unbeatable package of pace, handling and refinement which was regularly the equal of cars costing far more. Indeed, oncethe XJ12 had been revealed, there weremany who felt that Rolls-Royce and by extension its badge-engineered Bentley sibling brand was finally outclassed.
Amazingly,asRolls/Bentley’s struggle to updateits products sawitenter the 1980s with the Silver Spirit whichwas essentially arebodying of the 1965 Silver Shadow, the Series 3incarnation of the Jaguar XJ –itself an ageing design by then –was still winning group testsincar magazines. In fact CAR memorably decided that the ‘Best car in the world’ wasinfact the luxury-spec Daimler iteration of the Jaguar saloon and not Crewe’s finest.
That wasperhaps alow point forthe Crewebrands, starved of investment and increasingly propped up by the bizarre bespokecreations demanded by the Brunei royals, while Jaguar prospered under the command of John Egan as an independent and then found new lifeasa Ford subsidiary.
By the turn of the new century,Ford money had seen Jaguar expand intothe volume segment with the S-Type but hadalso seen the range-topping XJ take on anew credibility with its state-ofthe-art V8 engine and muchimproved quality.
Over in Crewemeanwhile, things had takenacurious turn as Rolls-Royce Motors first embraced BMWtosupply componentry forthe Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph and Bentley Arnage and then ended up the subject of abidding war whichsaw the entirecompanyacquired by arch rival the Volkswagen Group.
To cut along story short, strings were pulled on upmarket golf clubs and ano doubt furious Ferdinand Piëch discovered he hadn’t bought the rights to the R-R trademark. Nor would the trademark owners sell them to the Wolfsburg brand, although a rather cosier relationship with BMW via the aero engine side of the business ensured that a deal was later done which saw BMW taking the Rolls-Royce brand off to anew home in Sussex and Volkswagen concentrating on the Bentley brand at the Crewe site.
Naturally,VWclaimed all along that the glittering prizeithad really wanted was the Bentley brand with its greater volume potential, but the fact remained that they needed to get to work sharpish on anew range of cars. The agreement between the twoGerman giants allowed the Crewe factory to produceboth R-Rand Bentley vehicles until Jan 1, 2003 at whichpoint only Bentley carswould be produced there, but the rather big catch wasthat the Bentleys of the dayused BMWV8power. To its credit, Volkswagen got stuckin, redesigned the Arnage to accept anewly updated version of the 1950s-eraL-Series ‘six and three-q
