Origins

Following the E-Type is a bit like writing the follow-up to Sgt. Pepper. Whatever you do, it won't be enough. The E-Type was a cultural phenomenon, a car that transcended the automotive world and became a symbol of an era. Replacing it was never going to be straightforward.

Jaguar's problem was compounded by timing. By the early 1970s, the world had changed. The oil crisis was reshaping the car industry. American safety and emissions regulations were strangling performance. The carefree sixties were over, and the sports car market was contracting. A new two-seat sports car in the mould of the E-Type was commercially risky.

What Jaguar needed was a grand tourer, a comfortable, refined car that could cross continents at speed while accommodating the new regulatory reality. The XJ-S project (internally XJ27) began as exactly that: not an E-Type replacement in spirit, but a new kind of Jaguar sporting car. Bigger, heavier, more insulated, more equipped, and powered by the V12 engine that had debuted in the Series 3 E-Type.

The design was the work of Malcolm Sayer, Jaguar's aerodynamicist who had shaped both the D-Type and the E-Type. But Sayer died in 1970, before the XJ-S was finalised. The design was completed by his team, with significant input from Jaguar's engineering director, Bob Knight. The result was a car that bore Sayer's aerodynamic principles, the shape was developed in the wind tunnel, but lacked the organic beauty of his earlier work.

Design and Reception

The XJ-S was unveiled in September 1975, and the reception was cool. Where the E-Type had been greeted with rapture, the XJ-S was met with polite bewilderment. The flying buttress C-pillars, those distinctive sail panels that swept from the roofline to the rear wings, divided opinion sharply. Some saw them as a bold design statement. Others saw them as awkward compromises between a coupe and something that couldn't decide what it wanted to be.

The proportions were heavy. The car was wide, long, and visually substantial in a way the lithe E-Type never was. The front end, with its four headlights and chrome bumpers, was conventional. The rear, with its full-width tail lights and truncated boot, was polarising. None of this was helped by the general dreariness of mid-1970s car design, the XJ-S launched into a world of brown, beige, and vinyl.

But underneath the controversy, the XJ-S was a thoroughly competent car. The 5.3-litre V12, inherited from the Series 3 E-Type, was magnificent, smooth, powerful, and impressively refined at speed. The chassis, derived from the XJ saloon platform (itself one of the finest-riding chassis of its era), gave the XJ-S a ride quality that shamed most competitors. And the interior, while not luxurious by later standards, was a proper leather-lined Jaguar cabin.

The car's problem wasn't what it was. It was what it wasn't. It wasn't an E-Type. It never would be, and it never tried to be. It took years, decades, in fact, for the world to judge the XJ-S on its own merits rather than holding it up against an impossible comparison.

The Early Years (1975-1981)

The first XJ-S models were V12-only, offered as a fixed-head coupe with the flying buttress styling. The car was heavy (over 1,700 kg), thirsty (20+ L/100km was optimistic), and expensive to buy and maintain. In the middle of an oil crisis, this was a hard sell.

Quality issues plagued the early cars. Jaguar was struggling financially, the company was part of British Leyland, which was itself in chronic crisis. Build quality suffered. Electrical gremlins, water leaks, trim issues, and mechanical niggles were common. The American market, which should have been the XJ-S's strongest territory, was particularly challenging: emissions equipment strangled the V12, air conditioning stressed the cooling system, and dealer support was inconsistent.

Despite this, the XJ-S found a market. Its straight-line performance was remarkable for the era, 0-100 km/h in around 7.5 seconds, with a top speed limited to 240 km/h. The V12's refinement at high speed was unmatched. For buyers who wanted a fast, comfortable GT and could tolerate the fuel bills, the XJ-S delivered.

Sales were steady but unspectacular: around 5,000-6,000 cars per year, enough to keep the model viable but nothing like the volumes Jaguar needed.

The HE and the Transformation (1981-1991)

The turning point came in 1981 with the "HE", High Efficiency, version of the V12. Swiss engineer Michael May's fireball combustion chamber design transformed the V12's fuel consumption from disastrous to merely greedy (15-18 L/100km, down from 20+). Power was maintained and low-speed torque actually improved. The HE engine was a revelation, it made V12 ownership practical in a way the original engine never managed.

The HE also brought interior improvements, better trim, and an overall uplift in quality. By the early 1980s, Jaguar's fortunes were improving under John Egan's leadership. Build quality rose, dealer standards improved, and the company was preparing for privatisation (achieved in 1984). The XJ-S benefited directly from this renaissance.

In 1983, the six-cylinder variant arrived. The AJ6 3.6-litre engine was Jaguar's first all-new engine since the V12, a modern twin-cam six with electronic fuel injection. It offered strong performance (0-100 km/h in under 8 seconds) with significantly better fuel economy than the V12. The six-cylinder XJ-S was positioned as a more accessible alternative, and it broadened the car's appeal considerably.

The same year, Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) began campaigning the XJ-S in the European Touring Car Championship, a partnership that would prove spectacularly successful and transformative for the car's image.

Motorsport: TWR and the European Touring Car Championship

Tom Walkinshaw's decision to race the XJ-S in the ETCC was inspired, if not immediately obvious. The XJ-S was a grand tourer, not a racing car. It was heavy, complex, and not designed for the circuit. But Walkinshaw saw potential in the V12's power and the car's aerodynamic shape.

The TWR XJ-S race cars were heavily modified, wider arches, aggressive aero, race-prepared V12 engines producing over 500 bhp, but they were recognisably XJ-S. In 1984, TWR won the European Touring Car Championship outright, with Walkinshaw himself sharing driving duties. The championship was hard-fought, with TWR's Jaguars battling BMW 635 CSis and Rover Vitesses in some of the most spectacular touring car racing of the decade.

This success was transformative for the XJ-S's reputation. Suddenly, the car that had been dismissed as a bloated GT was a racing champion. Jaguar capitalised with a TWR-developed road car, the XJ-S Sport, and the association between TWR and Jaguar would eventually lead to the Le Mans-winning XJR-9 and Jaguar's return to top-level endurance racing.

In Australia, the XJ-S's racing heritage resonated particularly strongly. While the car never raced at Bathurst in significant numbers, the TWR connection and the general enthusiasm for touring car racing in this country gave the XJ-S a credibility among enthusiasts that its road car reputation alone couldn't have achieved.

The Convertible (1983-1996)

The XJ-S was always crying out to be a convertible, but Jaguar was cautious. The initial open-top variant, introduced in 1983, was actually a Targa-style cabriolet, a fixed rollover bar with a removable roof panel and fold-down rear section. It was an awkward compromise, lacking the elegance of a proper convertible and the rigidity of a proper coupe.

The full convertible arrived in 1988, initially as a V12 model and later with the six-cylinder engine. This was the car that should have been built from the start. With the roof down, the XJ-S's proportions improved dramatically, the flying buttresses disappeared (obviously), and the long bonnet and sweeping flanks made for a genuinely elegant open car.

The convertible was an immediate hit. It attracted a different buyer, more style-conscious, more interested in the experience of open-air V12 motoring than in outright performance. In warmer markets like Australia, California, and the south of France, the convertible became the definitive XJ-S variant.

Facelift (1991-1996)

The 1991 facelift was more comprehensive than it appeared. Bumpers were integrated into the body (replacing the chrome-and-rubber units), the rear lights were redesigned, and various panel details were revised. The effect was a more modern, cohesive design that addressed many of the styling criticisms that had followed the car since 1975. The facelift XJ-S looked ten years newer than the model it replaced.

Under the skin, the 6.0-litre V12 (replacing the 5.3) offered more power and marginally better efficiency. The 4.0-litre AJ16 six (replacing the AJ6) was smoother and more refined. Build quality continued to improve under Ford ownership (Ford acquired Jaguar in 1989), and the later XJ-S models are the best-built of the entire run.

The name also changed subtly: from XJ-S (with the hyphen) to XJS (without) from 1991, though both forms are used interchangeably. Pedants insist on the distinction. Practical people don't bother.

Production ended in 1996, when the XJ-S was finally replaced by the XK8. Over 115,000 XJ-S models had been built across the 21-year run, a number that seemed impossible when the car launched to mixed reviews in 1975.

In Australia

The XJ-S was sold in Australia throughout its production run, imported through Jaguar's official dealer network. Both V12 and six-cylinder variants were offered, in coupe and (later) convertible forms.

Australian conditions suited the XJ-S in some respects and challenged it in others. The dry climate was kinder to bodywork than British or European conditions, Australian-delivered XJ-S cars tend to be less rusty than imported examples. But the heat was brutal on cooling systems that were already marginal, and air conditioning that was an optional extra in the UK was essential here.

The V12 XJ-S developed a reputation in Australia as a fast but unreliable luxury car, a perception shaped more by neglected examples than by the car's inherent capabilities. Well-maintained V12s are perfectly reliable; the problem was that many Australian owners couldn't or wouldn't spend what was needed to keep them in top condition.

The six-cylinder models were more successful commercially. The 4.0-litre facelift coupe, in particular, found favour with buyers who wanted Jaguar style and straight-line performance without V12 running costs. These cars are now the most commonly seen XJ-S variants on Australian roads.

The JDCA has active XJ-S representation across all state branches. Regular club events attract strong XJ-S turnouts, and the model has a dedicated following among members who appreciate its touring ability and value for money. Several Australian specialists maintain expertise in the XJ-S, and the car's shared components with the XJ saloon mean parts supply is generally good.

Convertibles are particularly sought after in Australia for obvious climatic reasons. A V12 convertible on a coastal road on a warm evening is one of Australian motoring's genuine pleasures.

Legacy

The XJ-S's reputation has undergone a remarkable transformation. The car that was dismissed at launch as an unworthy E-Type successor is now recognised as one of the great grand tourers, a car that did exactly what Jaguar intended, even if the world took twenty years to appreciate it.

Much of this reappraisal is driven by value. The XJ-S offers a V12 Jaguar GT experience for a fraction of what an E-Type costs. This has attracted a new generation of enthusiasts who can't afford an E-Type but want the V12 Jaguar experience. They discover a car that's comfortable, fast, characterful, and, when properly maintained, surprisingly dependable.

The TWR racing heritage adds depth that the car lacked in its early years. The convertible addressed the one thing the original coupe was missing. And the 21-year production run allowed Jaguar to progressively improve the car to the point where the final models were genuinely excellent.

Today, the XJ-S occupies a sweet spot in the classic car market. It's affordable enough to use, significant enough to appreciate, and complex enough to reward those who invest time and money in understanding it. Values are rising, particularly for V12 convertibles and late facelift models, but the XJ-S remains one of the best-value ways into classic Jaguar ownership.

It took the world two decades to love the XJ-S. It was worth the wait.