Jaguar XJ40 Engineering

By: Jaguar World Monthly .

The story of the XJ40 is one of the most fascinating tales from Jaguar's `colourful' archives. It was a motor car that was conceived and developed during the company's turbulent British Leyland years in the mid to late-1970s. Through a series a twists and turns, the XJ40's on-sale date was pushed further and further back, finally going on sale in October 1986.

The XJ40 had a lot to prove. Not only was the model it was replacing (the Series 3 XJ6) still selling in huge numbers, but the anticipation for the new car had been building for years. There were high hopes for the model, as it was claimed to push the boundaries in terms of refinement, reliability and technology.

Sadly, its styling never captured the hearts of many enthusiasts, who preferred the look of the Series 3, and the much-trumpeted reliability did not materialise, certainly in the earlier cars, which suffered from temperamental electronics among other problems.

Then came the Ford take-over of Jaguar towards the end of 1989, and the XJ40 would be the car that would show, more than any other model, the massive transformation that was about to take place. Throughout the next five years, the XJ40 rapidly improved, with subtle improvements that culminated in the new X300 in 1994. The last of the XJ40s are said to be the best the company ever built. The XJ40 evolved into a strong seller. In 1989 Jaguar sold over 50,000 cars worldwide (over 40,000 of which were XJ40s) - a figure that took the company until 1998 to beat.

These days, you still see many of these much-maligned XJ40s about and, for the time being at least, a `clean' example remains an excellent starting point for anyone aspiring to Jaguar ownership.

In this book, thanks to the efforts of Garreth Coomber, Chris Graham and Nigel Thorley, you will learn about how the XJ40 came into being and discover the best way to maintain one.

There are people who say that the XJ40 will always be the car that wasn't as stylish as the Series 3 XJ, or as modern and reliable as the X300; but that view underestimates the XJ40's numerous strengths - qualities that make it a value-for-money buy to this day.

Phil Weeden
Editor Jaguar Monthly

Other Details