2010 Jaguar XJ Now Available at Fleetrates.com call 800-851-9000

Dec. 29, 2009 - PRLog -- 2010 Jaguar XJ Review
The 2010 XJ is a complete repudiation of its predecessor. Well, almost complete: The new car's body-in-white is again made from lightweight aluminum, and a number of platform architecture elements and component sets are carried over from the old car. And after riding in a long wheelbase Portfolio version with Jaguar chassis guru Mike Cross at the wheel, it clearly has the same delicate, cat-like grace on the road. But everything you can see and touch is a time warp away from the cloying back-to-the-60s ambience of the last XJ.

The theatrical interior is glamorous and gorgeous. There's leather and wood and chrome, but ambience is more Ian Schrager than Cary Grant. Large wood panels on the doors run forward to a thin panel that arcs around the front of the cabin below the windshield. The crash pad on the dash falls gracefully away from the base of the panel towards the passengers, giving the cabin a wonderfully airy and spacious feel.

A short blast along twisting back roads near Whitley with Cross suggests Jaguar has hit its target. You feel road under the wheels, but the impacts are never harsh, and the body motions are beautifully damped. Turn in is precise -- the XJ gets the quicker steering ratio of the 2010 XK and XF-R -- and roll minimal. Front springs are steel, while those at the rear are air, to ensure a level ride. "When your car is on the light side, like ours (this model, the heaviest in the line up, weighs 300 lb less than an S550) it's very sensitive to load variation."