There’s a tightly wrought intensity to the XJ220’s curvaceous silhouette. It screams haunched aggression. But this isn’t some primped, perfumed and preternatural piledriver, just a polite, effortless and hugely capable machine that’s disturbingly physical in its message. Drive one hard and your metabolism takes a battering; the sheer drama of being able to reach 100 mph in under eight seconds while detonating huge shards of sound from its twin-turboed 3.5-liter V6 leaving the driver strangely detached from the surreal madness of it all.”—Richard Heseltine, Classic and Sportscar, October 1999.

In the mid-eighties, when the supercar was born, Jaguar didn’t have a car to compete alongside the fabulous Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959, even though it had the same racing heritage. Jim Randle, the head of Jaguar’s Engineering department, had an idea for such a car but active pursuits distracted the company from being in the supercar league

In 1988, after four years of development, Jaguar announced that they too would be using the knowledge gained in racing to launch their own supercar, and an amazing prototype of the XJ220 appeared at the Birmingham Autoshow. The design featured a V12, fuel-injected, 48-valve 530-bhp engine and was a four-wheel drive.

When Jaguar was bought by Ford in 1989, Ford decided that the project should be put into production by Tom Walkinshaw’s JaguarSport division. To assure practicality as a road-going customer car, Jaguar stated that 530 bhp would come from a twin turbo 3.5-liter V6 engine that had been developed in the Group C XJR-10 and 11 race cars, with two-wheel drive. Production began in 1992.

Built on a chassis of aluminum honeycomb, the finely sculpted bodywork of lightweight aluminum was finished in one of five metallic colors, silver, gray, green, maroon or blue. The hugely powerful twin turbo V6 engine could be viewed through a glass panel, and its design configuration limited the luggage space at the rear of the body to just enough for a brief case and tool kit. However, the cabin was designed to be purposeful yet spacious. There was ample head room for even the tallest of pilots, and creature comforts extended to air conditioning, full leather interior and stereo.

Tom Walkinshaw’s own XJ220, order 001, was loaned to Autocar and Motor in June 1993, for the first, and they noted, only independent road tests of results that could be compiled. Their figures were an astonishing 3.6 seconds for 0-60, continuing on to 100 mph in a further 2.7 seconds, and the acceleration between measures well over this level were equally amazing—130-150 mph in 4.2 seconds, for example. Testing the car for JaguarSport at the banked Nardo circuit in Italy, Phil Hill clocked a maximum speed of 213 mph in the car.

In virtually every respect, the press report was complimentary. Rear view vision was not the strongest point of the car and the original price of $625,000 had its downside, but perhaps the most fascinating aspect was its pure driveability. It would later be eclipsed by the McLaren F1, but for a brief period the 220 reigned supreme, as the supercar by which all others should be judged.

This 1993 Jaguar XJ220 Review and Buyer's Guide appeared in the September, 2001 Issue of Sports Car Market Magazine.