Perfect combination
UNLIKE THE usual mindless marketing hype that can often fill car brochures, the one for the XJ8 from 2000 was uncharacteristically spot on when it described the saloon as, “elegant, sophisticated with quiet, effortless power.”
The perfect proportions and classic yet timeless design, together with Jaguar’s new and powerful 4.0-litre V8 made the X308-generation of XJ8 a highly desirable and therefore successful car. It may have been based on the XJ40, but by setting new standards for performance, luxury and quality, it quickly became one of Jaguar’s best-selling models.
A key model, then, in the company’s recent history and one that deserves to be celebrated as it reaches its silver anniversary.
So that’s exactly what we’re going to do.
When I look at the three beautiful cars gathered here – which include a 1998 4.0 Sovereign, a 2002 XJR and a 1998 Daimler Super V8 – the X308’s popularity both then and now is understandable. A handsome, compact yet muscular saloon, its heritage is clear but without being too much of a cliché like some of Jaguar’s later models from its 15-year-long retro phase. Yet that was the point of the car, or rather its predecessor, the X300-generation of XJ, which had debuted the exterior design three years earlier.
