Jaguar’s XecrableJS

A bad XJS will rip at your wallet the way an actual Jaguar tears flesh from a gazelle

by Rob Sass

Few automakers have had a more unenviable task than that facing Jaguar when it came time to replace the E-type. Instead of taking an evolutionary approach, as Porsche did when replacing the venerable 356 with the 911, Jaguar opted for a clean slate.

In so doing, they threw the baby out with the bath water and wiped the slate clean not just of the E-type’s difficult ingress and egress and poor ventilation, but of Jaguar’s Le Mans-winning heritage and its reputation for producing great sports cars affordably. Arguably, that decision was responsible for the challenging position Jaguar finds itself in now.

As a result of its particularly long gestation period, when the XJS debuted in the fall of 1975, it looked decidedly dated. Journalists at the time couldn’t get a handle on its looks. Most commented that it looked vaguely Italian, with elements of the Dino 246 in the flying buttresses and Lamborghini 400 GT in the front. Few liked it and nobody...