2005 Jaguar XJ8 Test Drives

Luxury Lite

A super-light and larger aluminum body makes the new Jaguar XJ8L light on its toes and far more practical than its predecessor.

Recently, somebody asked me what I thought of the $125,000 Mercedes-Benz S600. I told him it's a tremendous vehicle and he'd have a tough time buying something more impressive without bridging into ostentatiousness. However, I also said he might want to do a little research and look at backseat room, since that's where his clients would be riding. For about half the money ($62,830) he could get a Jaguar XJ8L with an inch less backseat knee room than the S600 -- but still generous at just under 40 inches. Did he really want to spend $60,000 more for an inch of knee space?

Or if he was being savvy about his decision, he would drive the Jag -- and also the superb $70,000 Audi A8L with 42 inches of backseat knee space (trumping the S600), as well as the $75,000 BMW 745Li, which has a whopping 43 inches of rear-seat knee room.

He thanked me for my advice and went ahead and got the Benz. Friends and relatives frequently do this -- ask my advice and then promptly dismiss it. I later asked him if he drove the other cars I had mentioned and he said that he had not -- that he didn't even drive the Mercedes before he leased it. 

He's happy with his Benz, but there is still a moral to the story: Drive everything before you buy. It doesn't matter if you're in the market for a $15,000 Kia or a $125,000 Mercedes, the reason dealers have cars on their lots is so you can drive them. And in the case of the Jaguar XJ8L, if you were to drive it against the other vehicles we have mentioned here, we can say it is worthy competition for everything in its class. It is not quite fair to compare it to the S600 with that car's giant V12, but stack it against the BMW 745Li or the Audi A8L and its got plenty of snort -- and it is more eager to be tossed around the road, too.

Of course that begs the question -- do you want a sports sedan or a luxury sedan, and where do you plan to blur that lin -- closer to sport or closer to luxury? And where exactly does the XJ8L land on that continuum?