2008 Jaguar XJ Preview

Interior Ease

A mild freshening bides time before a ground-up revamp of the Jaguar XJ, the brand's largest Jaguar sedan.

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The 2008 Jaguar XJ is not all new, but it receives styling and interior upgrades meant to keep it fresh until an all-new version arrives, reportedly in 2010. The most noticeable exterior changes are the redesigned front and rear bumpers. The car also gets slit-like vertical gills from the XK Coupe. Turn signals are now integrated into the rearview mirrors, along with some additional chrome detailing around the car’s lower air dam and fog lights. Heated and cooled front seats are now available, while rear-seat passengers get slightly more room from resculpted front seats. Jaguar is taking a firm stand against knob-like controllers in its top-line sedan as most other luxury carmakers increasingly adopt them. Jaguar is currently the only European manufacturer to do so, in an effort to keep its interiors easy to use. The 2008 XJ does, however, offer an improved Bluetooth system that allows up to five phones to be synched to it, instantly storing phonebooks and “last number dialed” lists.

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