Jaguar XJR

– Detroit, Michigan

One of the many things I admire about Jaguar is the brand’s commitment to building astonishingly powerful versions of all its vehicles. The Jaguar XJ is an elder statesman luxury sedan, yet it’s nonetheless offered with a hulk of a supercharged V8 engine, a functional vented hood, giant red-painted brake calipers, and a quartet of loud pipes out back. Even if it lacks the deftness of, say, a Mercedes-AMG S63, the Jaguar XJR is a wicked performer.

Pros

• Jaguar Land Rover’s supercharged 5.0-liter V8 is one of my favorite engines on sale today. In the XJR, it’s no less potent than in Range Rovers and the F-Type R, but it’s the pace it produces in this large sedan that’s so impressive. The XJR will hustle to 60 miles per hour in 4.4 seconds with no fuss at all, and apparently will continue its throaty grumble all the way to 174 mph.
• That performance doesn’t ever get in the way of this car’s ultimate goal: civility. The engine only raises its voice when you dig deep into the throttle, and only in Dynamic mode does the suspension start to jostle driver and passengers. You really can get away with thinking this is a luxury car that just happens to have more horsepower than a Corvette Grand Sport; the Jaguar XJR doesn’t overwhelm you with its performance intentions.
• A large, heavy car with a tremendous amount of power needs beefy brakes, and the XJR doesn’t disappoint. Not only do they look fabulous, with fat red calipers, but they produce a reassuringly firm ...