Jaguar XJR 575 review – a sonorous supersaloon that has started to show its age

In the world of luxury saloons, the XJ is different, a stand out car, that fact as much down to its bold design as it is its relative obscurity. It’s been around for eight years old now, enough time for it to have been refreshed, but in the same time all its rivals have been wholly replaced.

“We have a lot of celebrities phone us and ask to borrow the XJ,” says Ian Callum, Director of Design, Jaguar.

There are some changes to the car for 2018, but we’ll not see an all-new XJ for at least a couple more years.  As Jaguar's German rivals push ahead with their new models, the XJ has to make do with what it’s got, which means no plug-in hybridised powertrains that Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi will be offering in their S-Class, 7 Series and A8 respectively, nor any of their autonomous driving ability. 

Nope, Jaguar’s done the opposite, and turned up the wick on the flagship sporting XJR model to create the XJR 575 â€" perhaps in the hope that some more horsepower will distract from what’s missing elsewhere in its range.

Still, if you’re going to be a niche player in the luxury sector then you might as well go all-in. Jaguar did so when it launched the XJ all those years ago, touting it as the most sporting model in its segment. One for the drivers then, rather than the driven, and for those who want something different from the oh-so-predictable Germanic norm.

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