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After Ford bought Jaguar in 1989, Dearborn's homeowners lastly had a widely known luxurious model that may be taken extra critically than Lincoln exterior North America. Jaguar's contemporary funding of {dollars} into enhancing engineering and meeting high quality labored wonders and the event of a contemporary DOHC V8 engine was instantly given excessive precedence. That engine made its debut within the 1997 Jaguar XK8, then moved into the engine compartment of the primary manufacturing Jaguar sedan to obtain manufacturing facility V8 energy: the XJ8. At the moment's junkyard gem is without doubt one of the first era XJ8s, which was discovered crashed in a Colorado self-service boneyard.
The 1998–2003 XJ8 was primarily based on the ultimate model of the previous XJ40 platform, the X308, from the mid-Nineteen Eighties. Whereas this meant the X308's chassis stretched again to the British Leyland period, Ford's cash ensured it will be higher constructed than its predecessors through the cash-strapped unhealthy previous days.
Not a lot has been modified within the exterior styling in comparison with the XJ300.
Inside, the previous XJ40 sprint is lastly gone without end, changed by a design extra applicable for the brand new century.
Jaguar couldn't compete with BMW and Mercedes-Benz in pioneering chassis engineering, however its legacy was laborious to prime.
The engine is a 4.0-liter DOHC V8 with variable valve timing, rated at 290 horsepower and 290 pound-feet. Ford deserves credit score right here for financing Jaguar's personal engine quite than filling in some members of its modular V8 household. In case you needed a handbook transmission in your XJ8, the reply was certain No,
In actual fact, Ford used a 3.9-liter model of this engine within the Ford Thunderbird and Lincoln LS.
MSRP for the bottom 2001 XJ8 was $56,355, or roughly $98,725 in 2024 {dollars}. The 2001 BMW 740i price $62,900 ($110,190 after inflation) and the 2001 Mercedes-Benz S 430 price $70,800 ($124,030 now). Nonetheless, maybe the $51,745 BMW 540i and $56,050 Mercedes-Benz E 430 ($90,649 and $98,190, respectively, in in the present day's cash) have been extra real looking gross sales rivals for the XJ8.
The inside of this automotive is slightly soiled however seems to be in fairly good situation when it arrived. What occurred?
it occurred. In European luxurious sedans practically a quarter-century previous, this type of bodily injury normally leads to the insurance coverage firm declaring the automotive totaled.
Keep in mind when Dennis Tito paid $20 million to turn out to be the world's first area vacationer? Jaguar might have saved him some cash.
You'll by no means lose it in a car parking zone.
This was a brand new breed of jaguar.