2004 Jaguar XJR

Sedan

4.2L 4196CC V8 GAS DOHC Supercharged

Automatic

SAJWA73BX4TG16195

Clear

GAS

What a car for the money everything works as it should with exception of the cruise control and rear shade 390 horsepower and factory Brembo brakes please call Teddy with any questions 727-808-3284 One night our managing editor drove the long-term Jaguar XJR to the gym (to watch others exercise, no doubt) and then home to his driveway. As he approached the Jag the next morning, he was startled to see that the driver's window was rolled down halfway. The weather report the day before had called for hard rain overnight, and he distinctly recalled editor Csere's declaration that the Jag's cream-colored chairs best be as pristine at 40,000 miles as they were when new. He was certain he'd left the car's windows up. Of course, he was also sure that his Mitsubishi stock would provide him with a future involving streams of mai tais on Waikiki Beach and many koa bowls filled with kalua pig. At that moment he also noticed the passenger window was down--and the rear windows, too. Then his jaw dropped when he saw that the sunroof was fully open. Now, the sunroof he knows he didn't leave open. How does he know that? We don't know. As he continued to contemplate how this poltergeist found its way into our Jag, he began to compile explanations. Perhaps Ford Research & Engineering, located right across from his house in Dearborn, was fiddling with some electronic wizardry that had opened all the windows. Ford owns Jaguar, after all, so it was conceivable. Or maybe his stalking ex-girlfriend came into the house in the middle of the night, took the key from the bookcase, went outside and switched on the power, opened everything, and then put the key back in the house. She was capable of it, he thought. Spence claims it was the first truly unexplainable incident in his life, all 62 years of it. (His first marriage slipped his mind, possibly the second one, too.) The rest of us here on Hogback Road claim it was a mishap--he accidentally held down the unlock button on the key fob for three seconds, which subsequently opens all the windows and the sunroof--or Jaguar's infamous history with electronics-supplier Lucas was not history at all, but alive and kicking. This anomaly occurred just once, and the only other electronic "issues" that surfaced over the XJR's 40,000-mile tenure with us were two other minor, albeit annoying, glitches. One issue arose after we'd had the car for nearly four months. The motor for the electronic parking-brake release cable froze in 10-degree weather. The other involved, unsurprisingly, the key fob, which, after six months of trouble-free operation, ceased working because of a malfunctioning trunk latch that caused the system to fault. Both were fixed under warranty at no cost. And there was one mechanical failure: At 40,000 miles, during final testing, the rear CV joints turned into metal mishmash. Again, the repair was covered under the Jag's four-year/50,000-mile warranty and required a signature but no cash. We were pleased with the no-cost approach, as our 2004 XJR, dressed in brilliant Jaguar Racing Green livery (there's actually a luminous gold-flake look to it in direct sunlight), carried an as-tested price of $79,845. It's the "R" stamped on the tail of this fearsome feline that adds about 15 grand to the price of a base XJ sedan. You get a lot of extra stuff for that, but mostly you get enormous and instant power from a 4.2-liter V-8 that is seriously kicked up by an Eaton supercharger capable of forcing 13.1 pounds of boost down the engine's 16 little inlet throats and helping to provide 399 pound-feet of torque and a maximum horsepower count of 390. To keep all this brute force from behaving like The Hulk, Jaguar uses an air suspension that automatically levels the ride and offers excellent body-motion control without having to use stiff spring rates. You get a six-speed automatic marshaled by Jaguar's familiar if eccentric J-shaped shift gate, adaptive cruise control, Brembo brakes, heated front and rear seats and steering wheel, and a 320-watt Alpine stereo with a seven-CD changer, among other goodies. That price included two options--a navigation system ($2200) and a trunk-mounted DVD player with display screens in the backs of the front-seat headrests ($2650). And for the next four years or 50,000 miles, when you take this powerful luxury sedan in for maintenance, it's not gonna cost you a dime.