As a boy I looked up at Jaguars as the most prestigious of the luxury brand cars. If you owned a Jag you were royalty in my eyes. In 1989 Ford motor company purchased the British motor maker and with it came changes. Some good some bad but overall the image of the Jaguar has declined. The most common thing I hear out of peoples mouths is ?it?s a glorified Taurus?. As much as it might be true that jaguars were built on the Taurus frame, a frame does not make the complete car. A better argument would be to complain that Ford over-utilizes plastic through-out their line of cars and trucks. With all that said the XJ series Vanden Plas is trying to get away from the bad and highlight the good and this isn?t a bad start.

The flagship sedan that Jag has been making for nearly 40 years, XJ series, comes in 5 trim levels. The base M.S.R.P. starts at $63,585 for the XJ8 and ends at a whopping $91,335 for the XJ Super 8. All 5 come equipped with a 4.2 Liter V8 pushing 300 H.P. while the XJR and Super 8 are supercharged and put out 400 H.P. All 5 models are equipped with a 6 speed auto transmission as the only option. The Vanden Plas edition I drove fall?s smack dab in the middle of these 5 and comes loaded with a good amount of equipment and upgraded interior styling cues. Inside you will find nice leather on all the seats, power front seats with adjustable lumbar support and ample storage through-out. The interior has wood styling found on the doors, steering wheel and through out the center console. All in all the interior is nice but you will still get a feel for some cheap plastic on the doors and center console. The navigation and control center is clumsy and looks out of place. Although usable it is not exactly user friendly and looks like an afterthought, not a flowing control center that beckons your attention that most luxury sedans have these days.

The outside of the XJ is not much different from what it has been for so many years. Classic smooth lines with the rounded hood channels flowing into the headlights with a small dual panel grill. The look of the XJ is still an elegant design that is timeless in my opinion and doesn?t really need any changes. The performance of the luxury sedan is fairly impressive. The 300 H.p. V8 pushes the heavy sedan along at more than adequate speeds. You will have no problem passing a string of slow cars out on the highway but it will affect your 24 highway mpg and bring it down to a more realistic of about 21 which is what I averaged for a short trip I took. Not great gas mileage and it gets even worse in town, around 16 m.p.g. The ride quality is nice and soft with just enough rigidity to give it decent performance on rougher terrain and corners. This is handled by an air ride computer controlled suspension that makes adjustments in milliseconds to the changing road conditions. Jaguars may no longer be British Royalty but I do think they have a spot in the elite upper class of sedans. The class is packed full of over-achievers like the Audi A8 and BMW 7 Series so Jag is definitely going to need to keep working on that exclusive image and niche marketing as performance isn?t quite there. And although the performance may not be all there the styling is and it?s hard to snub your nose at an all-time classic like the XJ no mater what year it is.