XJ6 Series III vs Range Rover Vogue
A FEW years ago I decided to compare an XJ6 Series III with a Range Rover Vogue. Two of my favourite cars from the Eighties (if not of all time) it was like being asked which of my children I prefer.
Although as a luxury saloon and boxy 4x4 they were clearly very different from each other, there was reasoning behind my thinking. Arriving in 1981, the Vogue was the first SUV that consumers started to choose over luxury saloons. Range Rovers from this time might not have been the leather lined limos like they are today, but neither were they the basic, covered in easy-to-clean vinyl like the very early examples that had been aimed at farmers. Its thick carpeting, metallic colours and handsome three-spoke alloys started to make the model a genuine rival to the XJ6 Series III.
I have loved both of these cars since I was kid. The garage where my father used to fill up with petrol in the Seventies and Eighties was a Leyland dealer on the outskirts of Darlington. When the old man was brimming the tank of his Renault 30 or Peugeot 504, I’d run over to the showroom and press my runny nose against the glass to look at what was inside. Peering past the dull Metros, Itals and Ambassadors, my sights were always set on any XJ6 Series IIIs or Range Rovers on display.
Even at my tender age, I understood the Jaguar was one of the most elegant cars ever designed in this country. Growing up in rural Yorkshire, where saloons like this were a rarity, due to its perfect proportions and exquisite detailing, seeing one even behind glass was as exciting as any work of art by a grand master is for me today.
Range Rovers were slightly more common back then; one of my parents’ friends, for example, used one for his grass cutting business. Although undeniably boxy, I always liked how it could be a workhorse one minute and a comfortable car the next. But according to the sales brochures I filled my bedroom with, from quarries to stately homes, forests to gymkhanas, these cars really could go anywhere and be anything.
EVEN AT MY TENDER AGE, I UNDERSTOOD THE JAGUAR WAS ONE OF THE MOST ELEGANT CARS EVER DESIGNED IN THIS COUNTRY
Fast forward 40 years and I finally got the chance to compare the two. D
