2011 Jaguar XJ 5.0L V8 Portfolio First Drive

We're doing about 80 mph on a narrow, rain-slicked road, threading an undulating path across fresh-plowed fields west of Paris. The asphalt runs straight, but it's billowing toward a rise with a camber that will tilt us toward a steepish slope that runs off to the right. So we gently brake, dropping to 65 mph as the 2011 Jaguar XJ 5.0L V8 crests this gentle hillock, which it absorbs with nonchalant aplomb.

We're quietly impressed, but our passenger isn't. "You shouldn't have slowed down," she says, politely disguising her disappointment that we didn't stretch this XJ further. "You can have confidence in this car." She's right — we could have hit that off-camber crest a good 20 mph faster without coming anywhere near to introducing the Jag's underside to a clay field in northern France. It clearly takes more commitment to stretch the springy sinews of this striking new luxury sedan.

Michelle O'Connor is an American, and she's a technical specialist of vehicle integrity for Jaguar in England after beginning her career at Chrysler and then Ford. No stranger to the 2011 Jaguar XJ 5.0L V8, she has had a major hand in honing this car's abilities these past few years. Achieving vehicle integrity isn't just about ensuring that all its mechanisms, systems and subassemblies function without flaw — it's also about ensuring that the car measures up to the character that has been defined for it. And while the 2011 Jaguar XJ — the eighth generation of the full-size Jaguar sedan — might have much in common with its occasionally brilliant yet sometimes troubled ancestors, this is, unquestionably, a new kind of luxury Jaguar sedan.

A Different Kind of XJ
It's obvious that this new XJ is different from the moment you see it, because the 2011 Jaguar XJ is the first XJ to not resemble the landmark Series 1 XJ of 1968. From its thrusting latticed grille to the tapering rake of its coupelike rear windshield, this Jaguar looks sleekly, futuristically and arrestingly different. Your eyes might be momentarily drawn to the oddly upright grille, or maybe the long, shallow greenhouse that lends this car a massively different visual character compared to a traditional sedan, or perhaps the gloss-black rearmost pillar of the roof or the rakish rear taillights, but whatever it is, you won't be confusing this car with the previous-generation XJ that came to us in 2003.

Three-figure speeds are possible if you risk the possibility of a laser deployment from a lurking gendarme.

Yet beneath their lightweight aluminum skins, this new XJ and the one it replaces are more alike than they appear. To begin with, a V8 in either normally aspirated or supercharged guise is coupled to a six-speed automatic transmission that drives the rear wheels, and the suspension layout is broadly the same as well. But the new XJ actually takes much of its hardware from the new, smaller, steel-bodied Jaguar XF sedan, including various structural subframes and suspension assemblies as well as the latest direct-injection versions of Jaguar's V8. Given the excellence of the XF, this strategy promises much from this bigger car, though its mechanical character has been massaged and molded to create a machine of somewhat different character.

The Royal Road
And that character we are about to find on a drive that will take us from the elegant town of Versailles, once the seat of France's monarchy (and still the site of a magnificent 17th-century palace notable both for its splendor and the near total absence of any toilets, an unfortunate oversight creating an atmosphere pungent for more than mere reasons of political intrigue). Today this town, which lies just 12 miles from Paris, is an equally potent draw for tourists and is, in effect, an affluent suburb of the capital.

Historic plumbing shortfalls apart, Versailles makes a fine jumping-off point for the 2011 Jaguar XJ, even if the surprisingly empty country roads that are mere minutes away do far more to flatter the Jaguar's character than the streets of town, which are infested with speed bumps. It's a surprise to discover that this XJ does not soak up low-speed city bumps with quite the velvet pliancy of its ancestors, many of which were exceptional. You'd hardly call the ride uncomfortable, and the suspension is certainly quiet, but firm it is, whether you're riding in the front or the back. Jaguar says it has deliberately chosen this feeling of greater connectedness to the road below, but that decision has also robbed the XJ of some of its plush low-speed ride.

There are, however, considerable compensations. If you're a rear-seat passenger aboard this particular version of the XJ with a normally aspirated, 385-horsepower 5.0-liter V8 matched to the long-wheelbase version of the XJ chassis (the executive-length car with a wheelbase that's 4.9 inches longer that the standard car and an overall length 4.9 inches longer), you'll enjoy sumptuous surroundings that should satisfy all but the most self-regarding of monarchs, even if there could be more room for the royal footwear beneath the front chairs and the rear seats could use a motorized reclining system (the latter is on the way, says O'Connor).

Up front, drivers may be surprised to be confronted by an instrument binnacle apparently containing no dials, and the resultant black hole only becomes enlivened when you hit the start button. An image of a leaping Jaguar briefly appears, followed by a trio of virtual instruments that have the notched bezels of an expensive Swiss watch, though they are obviously two-dimensional. The Thin Film Transistor (TFT) screen that creates them is adaptive, providing impressively clear navigation information (in addition to the generously dimensioned infotainment display), bold indications of your chosen gear ratio should you be in the Manual mode for the transmission (which makes the shift paddles on the steering wheel operative), and assorted trip-computer readouts. It's ingenious, engaging and informative, advantages that more than make up for its faint aura of cheapness.

Contemporary Look, Contemporary Zeal
Cheapness is not a criticism likely to be leveled at the rest of this Jaguar's interior, which is sumptuously upholstered with leather and suede, trimmed with surprisingly large surfaces of wood and accented by fine chrome detailing, notably the air vents and the XF-style knurled transmission knob that rises from the center console. The difference, however, is that this cabin is shaped and sculpted to appear as contemporary as today's Top 10 download, making the previous XJ's interior look like a wooden roll-top desk.

If that's a surprise, so is this XJ's athleticism. Not that the current crop of Jags are short of grip, go and poise, but this sedan is quite a big car and certainly looks long enough at 201.7 inches overall to be cumbersome. But its relatively light weight at 3,909 pounds, sophisticated suspension (you get active air-spring hardware at the rear), fine grip from 20-inch Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT J tires and confidence-inspiring hydraulic-boosted steering soon have you making good use of a direct-injected V8 that turns out fine sounds of combustion and thrusts this car forward with considerable zeal, as demonstrated by its carmaker's claims of 5.4 seconds to 60 mph from a standstill and an electronically limited speed of 155 mph.

Apart from the 2011 Jaguar XJ's smart step-off, high-revving zest and well-timed and rarely discerned shifting from the transmission, you'll be pleased to discover a range of calibration modes for engine, steering and suspension that add significant interest to the business of conducting this Jaguar. These have previously been seen in the XF, but the sharpening effects of Dynamic mode (which alters the shift strategy, throttle mapping, steering effort and suspension damping) can be further heightened by selecting the transmission's Sport setting, triggering an adaptive mode that'll give the powertrain a real workout if you're bold enough with the throttle and your cornering ambitions.

A Chassis Fit for Supercharging
Your enthusiasm for corners is matched by a well-balanced chassis that musters plenty of grip, allows degrees of tail-slither depending on how far you disengage the electronic traction control, and a level of poise that soon has you forgetting the scale of this Jaguar's dimensions. It's civilized and unusually entertaining for a car in this class, looks very likely to be able to handle the 510 hp that is promised by the yet-to-be-released supercharged model, and provides a keen driver with genuine entertainment.

This is an impressive car with which to shrink the huge fields and rolling, big-sky countryside between the many picturesque little villages that pepper this part of France. Three-figure speeds are regularly possible if you're prepared to risk the possibility of a laser deployment from a lurking gendarme and the resultant large fine, but that's a punishment vastly less inconvenient than Marie Antoinette's beheading in 1793. We did notice the brakes getting a bit smelly after a few about-turns following some pace-y cornering along one section of road, though we're not talking Versailles levels of olfactory discomfiture.

Fit for the Republic
Jaguar has more than gotten away with this significant shift of character for the new XJ. With the 2011 Jaguar XJ 5.0L V8, we have a sedan that is richly finished yet modern, civilized yet satisfyingly athletic. It's even convenient to operate, once you've mastered its largely logical electronic subsystems. It has a great stereo as well, plus a trick infotainment screen that allows a passenger to watch a film while the driver is navigating.

Of course, this Jag does have its drawbacks. There's the slightly annoying low-speed ride. And the exhaust sometimes booms faintly in the back. It's easy to inadvertently open the ashtray and center console storage with an elbow. And the trunk, if bigger than the last model's, is still too small, maintaining a tradition that goes back 42 years to the first XJ.

But for all this, the 2011 Jaguar XJ is a fine and desirable car, and a very serious challenger to the existing order set by the luxury competition from Germany and Japan.

Edmunds attended a manufacturer-sponsored event, to which selected members of the press were invited, to facilitate this report.