A bit of perspective on the XJ220 (video, 4:42)

Great vids thanks. I'm a fan of Jay's car show I think he does a good job.

 

XJ220 rocks, but then of course, i am biased.

 

I absolutely love this car the first time I saw one in person as a kid. I've been lucky to see several more including one a few years back and it's still stunning in person. I'd love to have one someday. It attracts a lot of attention, but not because it's flashy...hard to explain.

 

Looks like Jay really enjoyed it 👍

 

What was story with the 6 cylinder tt version? That one looked much better

 

??

The XJ220 was only build with a tt 6cyl.

Initially Jaguar planned a V12, even taking deposits for it, but changed plans and brought it to the market with the tt 6. Many initially interested then withdrew their deposit.

From my memory the car was also critized for having a bit too many non-exotic interior/exterior components (Ford, Citroen).

 

oh, then im thinking of a 12 cyl mid engine car at around same time as 220. late 80's or early 90's. maybe xj15?

 

this one
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We should start a Jaguar XJ220 Thread!!

 

XJR-15 built by TWR

 

i like it whoever made it!

 

Both the XJR-15, and the XJ220 owe more to Tom Walkinshaw than to Jaguar.

Neither can be considered real Jaguar by the purists.

I think Jaguar lost money on both projects, and some of its reputation as well.

 

220 hurt jag rep bc buyers were promised 12 cyl engine but then got 6tt. bad press at the time

Xjr15 was media darling but too expensive and rare to be considered a real car

 

Anyone who owns one will tell you it is a hell of car and does not deserve the bad rap it gets. I love mine.

 

There are 2 sad stories about these cars.

The XJr-15 came about because Walkinshaw wanted to create a one-make series associated with the GPs - which he did. He convinced Jaguar to be involved in providing the engines, and lending their name. Jaguar accepted to share the project on the understanding there would be a street version. The one-make series was soon terminated in view of the huge repair bills and damages the car substained within a few races. In all, only 56 cars were built at Walkinshaw's Bloxham premises, before Jaguar pulled the plug on the project.

The XJ220 was also Walkinshaw's brainchild; he convinced Jaguar that they needed a supercar to compete against the Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche of this world, and they bought the project. Related to the XJR-15, the prototype attracted massive interest and Jaguar received hundreds of deposits with orders.
Then Walkinshaw's team changed the motorplant, realising that the V12 was too cumbersome and heavy. Looking for an alternative, Walkinshaw bought from Austin (!!), the drawing of a turbo 2.5L they had in mind for an evolution of their Metro rally car (!).
When the car was officially presented, there was consternation at Jaguar, and many orders were cancelled, with Jaguar having to fund the deposits. The media had a field day rubbishing Jaguar and it got quite a bit of bad publicity from this venture. The intended 500 cars were never produced, and 2 years after the end of fabrication, Jaguar had to massively discount the cars, just to get rid of them!

To make matters worse, Walkinshaw entered 2 cars at Le Mans. They were well above the competition in GT and finished a resounding 1-2, only to be disqualified by the stewards soon after for non conformity to the homologation sheet.
Walkinshaw had been told by insiders before the race his cars may be thrown out of the results, but he still entered them without modifications.
Compounded with the street car fiasco, the Jaguar management was less than thrilled by the outcome.

 

You are probably right that the car is very good.

But what the public, and the buyers didn't like at the time was that it was not what it was announced to be.

Instead of a Jaguar V12 atmo engine of some pedigree, it was sold with an Austin V6 turbo, of far lower lineage, so to speak. What Ferrari buyers would say if they were offered a FIAT Uno turbo engine at the back of one of the cars in the range?

Call it snobism, perhaps, but turbo engines were not as acceptable then as they are now. Back then, only a few car makers used them, mostly because they didn't have larger engines in their range, and usually not among luxury cars.

Now things have slightly changed, and most supercars are in fact turbo, and of relatively small capacity too (less than 4L for Ferrari, Ford GT, Porsche, McLaren, etc...).

Maybe Walkinshaw was an innovator in proposing a small turbo at the back of a supercar, but the idea wasn't widely accepted back then.

 

I took the motor apart during restoration for a quick look and it is very well built, does the car justice. And frankly, given the weight difference, the TT6 is a better fit than the massive V12. In my opinion, the motor not being a V12 was just an excuse for the speculators to back out of their contracts given that the market was tanking at the time.

 

You are right all along, but presenting a V6 turbo when the car had been announced with a V12 atmo was considered a subterfuge at the time.

The funny thing is that the media that crucified Walkinshaw, and criticised the XJ220 at the time, now queue up to road test one now!

And most of the road tests concur with your opinion too! The XJ220 was the fastest British supercar until the McLaren F1. What may have been ...

 

The XJ220 is finally getting its due and being discovered as the wonderful supercar that it is. Responsive, snarling....the V6 engine has it's roots in Group B rallying and is a potent "detuned" engine that is capable of 800hp + so it is hardly stressed. My S version has 680hp and its as visceral as the F40 or Carrera GT. With only 272 cars around, the "discovery" of the real driving quality of these cars will hold them in very good stead going forward.

The XJR-15 is also subjected to common misconceptions. Car was the first all CF car made, penned by Peter Stevens who later would leave TWR to join McLaren and pen the F1. Famously , Tiff Needell got an early car that was still in the process of having its suspension set up...with predictable handling niggles on a track. Properly set up, these are fantastic driving cars and sharing the XJR-9 tub, the closest thing to a Group C road car. Looking forward to getting mine back from Don Law Racing this spring. Having a V12 in the back with little or no sound insulation should be quite a comparison to the XJ220

 

The xj220 really is right up there with the other iconic cars of that era. I think the exterior styling is aging quite well too.

 

Fiction seems to have become fact surrounding the evolution of the 220.

The original 1988 motor show car was a Saturday special built by the engineers at Jaguar as a hobby project, with no involvement from management at all. Once finished it was shown to the senior guys at Jaguar who loved it and saw a good promotional use of this "one off" car at the upcoming show in Birmingham. That car never saw any action and just ran around in a car park once or twice. It was a prototype that just about ran under its own steam and thats all. Its now in a museum so did survive.

It was huge and very heavy, I went to that show and fell in love with the car, no one was even looking at the F40 on the opposite stand, you could not get near the Jag stand, so it proved to be a huge promotional success. It was in all the national papers the next day.

The late 80s were boom years, money was everywhere, Jag quickly realised a production supercar similar to the original prototype would be a money spinner. From day one it was known the only thing the production car would share with the prototype would be the name, and thats it, and that it would look a bit similar, even the large production version was a fair bit smaller than the show car!

The v6 rear wheel drive spec was the first practical thing decided on, and the £50K depositors were fully aware of what they were buying from day one and knew full well it was not going to be a v12 or 4 wheel drive, most were speculators looking to make a killing in those heady days. They planned to flip them the day after they took ownership, the F40 back then was £200,000 new £600,000 second hand!

As production versions started to roll out of TWR a couple of years later the world had changed considerably, especially in the UK, we were in a deep recession, the speculators could not come up with the balance to buy the cars now they were ready to be collected, most had borrowed their deposit money and had since lost their shirts on property/stock market etc so tried to get out of the deal, citing the fable about not v12 not 4x4 but the contract was watertight, they lost their deposit and Jaguar went after them for the balance also. Supercars no longer traded at a premium, and depreciation was huge.

As a result there was a glut of finished 220, Jag still had a factory full of them years later, being offered out at heavily discounted prices.

Remember Mclaren at this time had trouble shifting the F1 as well and built no where near the amount they planned and eventually shelved production well short of their target, only the later batch of race cars and the Le Mans win helped the F1 become the success it is now.

Love the XJ220 but the interior if you are from the UK is dire, air vents and switches from low level production cars, tail lights the same. All those mainstream cars are long gone now but back then if you jumped in an everyday taxi it was like playing spot the XJ220 component!

Now the XJR15!!!! oh boy a proper race car for the road, stunning machine in a fantastic shade of blue.

 

Great summary Paul ! Agree with everything except the interior evaluation of the XJ220 😊. The instruments wrapping around snug you in and the analog gauges are simple and functional . granted the instrument binnacle is very plain and transplanted but you quickly forget such quirks driving it. Look at the RS200 Evolution interior... ....looks completely pedestrian and plain but no one would turn down a chance to drive it and call it anything except special

 

Ha! it is a decent interior if you don't know where it came from!

Is your XJR15 race or road spec? one of those was always on my wish list, they came very close to my budget not that many years ago, but no longer the case.

I love the minimalist interior on them.