The nine best Jaguar road cars of all time

There have been many ups and downs in Jaguar’s history, with multiple owners and a fair few financial troubles dotted along the company timeline. But as well as some fantastic race cars and motorsport successes, there have also been some truly fabulous, world-beating road cars. A few have been the world’s fastest, and at least one is surely motoring’s most iconic, so here’s a list of our favourites, the best Jaguar road cars of all time.

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Jaguar XJ220

If you read up on the XJ220 you’ll quickly learn that what it became is not what it was meant to be. Jaguar had planned to build an all-wheel-drive supercar with a 6.2-litre V12 and a top speed of 220mph, hence the name. Costs spiralled, however, so the V12 was ditched in favour of a twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6, all-wheel-drive cast aside in favour of rear-wheel-drive, and the top speed fell from 220mph to 212mph. All of that, combined with a recession in the early 1990s, meant that many pre-orders were quickly withdrawn. Just 271 were built.

Low build numbers, however, mean that the XJ220 is incredibly rare – Porsche built 337 959s and Ferrari built 1,315 F40s. And the Jaguar XJ220 was faster than both of them, holding the record as the world’s fastest production car until the McLaren F1 rocked up a few years later. It might not have been what Jaguar had planned, but it is still an awesome road car.

Jaguar XK

There were more powerful and faster versions of the XK, but it is the most recent XK that makes the list. Born from the stunning Advanced Lightweight Coupe Concept unveiled at the 2005 North American Auto Show, the XK replaced the ageing XK8 and XKR in 2006. It was powerful, beautiful (the design of later XKs became a little more complicated over the years), and made largely from aluminium it was miles more advanced than the XK of old. What’s more, you can get one today, complete with its lovely 4.2-litre V8, for a little over £10,000. The want is strong.

Jaguar E-type

The legend, the Jaguar E-type. The car that car designers lust after, and truly one of the most famous automobiles there has ever been and ever will be.

Revealed to the world at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show (one of the cars had been driven in a last-minute sprint from Coventry to Geneva the day and night before by Jaguar’s test driver Norman Dewis), the E-type was long, sleek and drop-dead gorgeous, totally unlike anything else on the road. With a 270PS, 3.8-litre straight-six engine and a claimed top speed of 150mph (in 1961, remember), it became an instant icon. It isn’t rare, with more than 72,000 made from 1961 to 1975, but to get a good one today you’ll need to have been tucking away the pennies for quite some time.

Jaguar F-Type Project 7

The F-Type was the car many Jaguar fans had been dreaming of for years. Nothing the company had produced since the E-type had quite the same appeal – the aforementioned XK was much more of a GT than it was a sportscar. The F-Type changed that.

It was small, had short overhangs, and had a big engine up front and rear-wheel-drive at the back. And whatever engine you went for, whether it was the V8 or the V6, you were buying a very special vehicle. There was a more special vehicle to come, however, and it came rather appropriately from Jaguar’s Special Vehicle Operations: the Project 7.

Based on the F-Type convertible, the Project 7 paid tribute to the D-type of the 1950s, with a body made almost entirely of aluminium and an ‘Aero Haunch’ behind the driver’s head. It was also the fastest and most aggressive F-Type yet, with front and rear bumpers, carbon-ceramic brakes, a chunky rear wing and 575PS from the 5.0-litre supercharged V8. Only 250 were built. What an awesome machine.

Jaguar XK120

The oldest car on this list, the Jaguar XK120 earns its spot because it was, back in 1948, the fastest car in the world, capable of 120mph.

Built for just six years, from 1948 to 1954, the XK120 was the car to drive in the post-war era. Hand built from aluminium (a material that has proved so important to so many of Jaguar cars), you could buy one without a windscreen if you really wanted. But it was the drop-head and fixed-head (convertible and tin-top) versions that were the real luxury items, with such delights as wind-up windows. Power from the 3.4-litre straight-six ranged from 162PS (160bhp) to 223PS (220bhp), if you were prepared to pay the dealer a little extra to have the head from the C-type fitted. A success for Jaguar on the road and on the track, it’s a beautiful, classic British sportscar.

Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake

We like estate cars at GRR, which is why a bright blue, rear-wheel-drive estate with a supercharged 5.0-litre, 550PS V8 tucked under the bonnet had to make the list.

A moment of brilliant madness from Jaguar, the XFR-S Sportbrake just as lairy as the rivalling Mercedes E63 AMG but not as precise as the Audi RS6, but it was miles more exclusive and its exhaust would bang like a naval gun. More than that, it was a big, comfortable Jag, with an eight-speed automatic gearbox and 680Nm of torque, so you could eat up the miles in complete comfort.

Jaguar XJR

Beast. That is the word that best describes the XJR. It had the familiar supercharged 5.0-litre V8 with a whopping 550PS (542bhp) and 680Nm (502lb ft) of torque, but it was deployed from a car that, on the face of things, was much more about luxury than it was about point-to-point performance. There was a silky-smooth eight-speed automatic gearbox, a gorgeous, quiet, leather-clad interior, a big, powerful sound system – a more pleasant interior to find yourself in would be a struggle without spending significantly more money. The XJR also came with 380mm front brakes and 376mm rears, for example, and ran on lightweight 20-inch wheels with some very sticky rubber.

It was a big, friendly giant that could punch very, very hard, and we can’t help but like it for that.

XE SV Project 8

Nestled firmly at the bonkers end of modern motoring, the XE SV Project 8 is another product of Jaguar’s Special Vehicle Operations. Of course it had a big engine – a supercharged 5.0-litre V8 with 600PS (592bhp) – but the big engine is far from the whole story, this isn’t just a hot-rod. It had a carbon-fibre front bumper, carbon-fibre bonnet, carbon-fibre wheel arch flares to cover the 20-inch wheels that rested on a wider track, and a carbon-fibre rear bumper, rear diffuser and rear wing. There were stiffer springs, too, as well as adjustable dampers that dropped the ride height by 15mm, carbon-ceramic brakes, an Electronic Active Differential with its own oil cooler, and, if you want, just two seats, saving 12.2kg. And, thanks to all-wheel-drive, the Project 8 will sprint to 62mph in 3.3 seconds, on its way to 200mph.

Only 300 were made, the owners of which, we presume, cannot shake the smiles of their faces.

Jaguar XJ 5.3 C V12 Coupe

The second XJ on the list, the XJ 5.3 C V12 is, believe it or not, one of the rarest Jaguar road cars around.

Based on the Series 2 XJ that was built from 1973 to 1979, the two-door XJ came to be because Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons had wanted to drive around in a coupe. Well, if you founded the company, you might as well build the car you want…

A pillarless beauty, only 10,000 or so coupe XJs were made, of which just 1,855 were fitted with a 5.3-litre V12. Was it powerful? Not massively, with either 261PS (257bhp) or 289PS (285bhp), but for £10,105 in 1977 it was £4,694 less expensive than the BMW M635 CSi and miles faster. A classic Jaguar sleeper if ever there was one.