If you were doing well in the early 1970s, a Rover P6 3500 was almost a badge of rank. But if you were doing really well, its British Leyland sister car the Jaguar XJ6 would be within reach. But was the jump from a Rover to a 2.8 XJ6 really worth it, or would you have been better saving for a 4.2?
Image has always been one of the biggest driving factors when it comes to buying a large an expensive car – and Jaguar’s XJ is no exception to that. When the company downsized from its complex 1960s saloon car range into a single model, no doubt it was hoped that the halo effect of the larger engined and more expensive models would filter down to the entry level 2.8. While Jaguars have always been good value, the entry level XJ seemed to offer better value still by dint of its appearance; looking like a car from a class above.
And its image was impeccable at the time. Having lost the association with people like the Krays and the Great Train Robbers, Jaguar was starting to offer the same level of quiet respectability that, even 5 years earlier, would have been the preserve of marques like Rover. Now sister companies under the auspices of British Leyland, Rover and Jaguar products were starting to appeal to the same type of person.
There was a natural progression, too – from the former Mk2-rivalling P6 models into the XJ. The 2000 might have been far further down the ladder, but Rover’s 1968 launch of a 3.5 litre V8 in the Three Thousand Five (facelifted into the 3500 for 1970) effectively offered an ideal bridge for the respectable type who couldn’t quite stretch to XJ ownership in the absence of the older S-type models. Between it and the entry level XJ, a successful executive might plot an automotive route from Rover 2000 to 3500, into the realm of the XJ with the 2.8 and through to the 4.2. £1,683 bought the Rover 2000, £2,058 bought a 3500, an XJ6 2.8 Deluxe was £2,574 and the 4.2 £2,862. That would have been an achievable route for a bright young spark in a local bank, aspiring toward the manager’s chair.
Within ranges, progress was clear – but was the jump from V8 Rover to 2.8 litre Jaguar the same sort of forward step? And today as classics, which makes a better buy? The only way to answer that is to put them head to head.
Rover launched its P6 in 1963. It was a radical move for what many have seen over the years as a conservative company, but it was far from its only bold move. In the late 1940s Rover had studied Studebakers to create the P4, an all new car utilising freewheel technology alongside a bold shape. Rover too had pioneered jet power for cars, with three prototypes surviving to this day. The P6 was a clean sheet design, aiming for the same sort of market as the Jaguar Mk2 2.4 but in a less traditional manner that younger buyers would find appealing. The styling and body engineering were insp
