Certain brands, like your Ferrari and Porsche, have a global appeal, where people from all over the world, at any age group, are fans. Even for more ‘down to earth’ brands like Mercedes Benz and BMW, certain models such as the 190E 2.5-16 Evo or M3 will similarly have a global following. Some brands, however, may have a significant history and a reasonable following, but I feel their fandom really depends on where you live and/or what era you are from. Jaguar is one such brand. For obvious reasons, Jags have a tremendous following in the UK. The same goes for Hong Kong back in the 60’s to 80’s, where Jaguars were extremely popular too, given our colonial roots. Just on top of my head, I could recall at least 5 of my parents’ friends who were ever so proud of their XJS/XJ6’s; one even often claimed Jaguar was “the best car in the world”, a loose reference to one of Jaguar’s in-period advertising slogans. Being someone who neither came from the UK nor was born in the 60’s, I was never a particular fan of Jaguars. Yes, in recent years, the beautiful E-Type, perhaps the most famous Jaguar model, has gotten popular, but I am similarly not too attracted to it, especially after reviewing one on InstacarHK.
There is, however, one particular Jaguar that I was always amused by, and that is, the XJ220. You see, in the early 90’s, Jaguar was producing some pretty dated and ugly cars that weren’t exactly poster-worthy. So, when they launched the XJ220 in 1992, it was quite the curveball. Not only did the XJ220 not resemble anything in Jaguar’s then-lineup; it looked like nothing else on the automotive market, period. The extremely long and sleek body with the UFO saucer-looking wheels all suggested that this car is aerodynamically focused and means business. The XJ220 really left an impression on me, as I still fondly remember the dark blue 1:24 Maisto diecast model I had, and how jealous I was of my friend who had the 1:12 version. I literally never owned another Jaguar diecast model since then.
It is no surprise that it did not look like anything from Jaguar at that time because the car wasn’t actually 100% designed by Jaguar. The XJ220’s concept started off as a weekend project by the Jaguar and TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) engineers who, together, were enjoying a lot of racing success with the Jaguar XJS and XJR race cars at the time. They wanted to build a road car to celebrate this success, and the idea of the XJ220 was born.
The XJ220 project was ambitious right from the get-go. Jaguar and TWR wanted to produce what would literally be the fastest production car in the world at the time. As the name suggests, their aim was for the car to do 220 miles per hour. Against all odds, Jaguar and TWR actually did produce the fastest production car in the world when they launched the XJ220 in 1992. The car recorded a 217mph top speed, although some reports said it was only because they ran out of road, otherwise 220mph would have been total achievable. In any event, the XJ220 was hands down the fastest production car at the time until, of course, when the Mclaren F1 showed up a few years later.
Despite the incredible achievement, the XJ220 nevertheless had (i) very bad press at its launch, (ii) lost Jaguar a lot of money, and (iii) was largely forgotten by most for decades after. The official story was that, while it was very well received at the launch of its concept, where Jaguar reportedly received over 1500 deposits costing a whopping £50,000 each, all the buyers wanted their deposits back a few years later when Jaguar confirmed that, instead of a V12 engine as originally planned, the XJ220 will instead have a 3.5L V6 twin turbo engine. The apparent betrayal by Jaguar during an era where bigger means better, caused more than 1200 buyers to forfeit their deposits and in the end, only about 270-280 XJ220’s were produced.
There was another side of the story, however, which is that the XJ220 was launched right in the middle of the 90’s financial crisis and therefore a lot of buyers backed out, but used the engine configuration as an excuse. According to some, Jaguar’s brochure at the time clearly stated that the car was going to be a V6 twin turbo and apparently, none of the buyers who forfeited their deposits were able to get them back as everything was clearly laid out in black and white. In any event, this was not a happy outcome, and Jaguar had trouble even selling the mere 270-280 units that they produced, heavily discounting them for dealers to buy.
So why did the XJ220 end up with a V6 twin turbo instead of a V12? Mainly for weight saving and tyre technology. As mentioned, the XJ220 had great ambitions to be the fastest production car on earth. A V12 engine would have made the car even longer than it is and made it substantially heavier than a compact V6 twin turbo engine. Moreover, tyre technology at the time simply couldn’t handle such weight and also do 220mph. Ultimately, the 3.5L V6 twin turbo engine produces 540HP, does 220mph, and has a 0-60kmph time of 3.6 seconds; all achieved way back in 1992 when the average sports car had about 250HP only!
Getting into the car, you immediately notice two things – (i) you feel like you are sitting very low, almost like getting into a tub, yet it is not difficult to get into as the side sills are neither wide nor high; and (ii) for a hypercar with such a drastic exterior, the interior is quite plush, with lots of leather and comforts, such as a brilliant aircon. Looking straight, the dashboard and the instrument panel are perhaps a bit of a let down as it looks like it came straight out of a Rover 400 or something; very plasticky and lacking any sort of aesthetic design whatsoever. The view looking out is quite interesting where, while the car is extremely low, the view is great as the front windscreen is long, the side windows are big, and there is also a panoramic roof. With rather thin A-pillars, and a glass engine bonnet as well, you almost have a full 360-degree view. I would imagine sitting in a fighter jet would feel somewhat similar.
To start the car, you have to turn the key first and then press a start button – not unlike supercars of today. The engine and exhaust note was somewhat of a surprise. I was expecting a very firm and potent roar, as one might expect from a powerful hypercar. Instead, the engine fired up with a loud, rattly, metal clanking sound. That said, the very raw exhaust note sounded good and mean, resembling that of a race car.
As I stepped onto the clutch, which was firm, and slotted the gear knob into the conventional H patterned first gear for the five-speed gearbox, I immediately knew I was up for a challenge. The owner already forewarned me that the car does not like low revs, and I found that out soon enough. Setting off in the car, the throttle was quite hard to grasp and match with the clutch’s biting point. The throttle did not feel linear, and instead of one sleek movement between the throttle and the clutch to get the car fully engaged in first gear, I found myself fettering nonstop between the two pedals. It was either too much gas or not enough. It took me a few tries before I was properly engaged in first gear and cruising down the road. Unfortunately, it took me less than 2km and two traffic lights before I experienced my first ever stalling of a car on InstacarHK. I have never, on screen or otherwise, stalled any of the cars I have reviewed on InstacarHK before. But today, I broke that cherry not once, but twice! As I was setting off from the second stoplight, I stalled, and when I tried to set off the second time, nervous, I stalled again! Embarrassing as it was, the show must go on and on my third try I was able to proceed smoothly. So, it was certainly a difficult car to drive, which goes to show its racing pedigree. After all, the XJ220 was also intended for racing, and racing it did, with many GT races and a few 24 Hours of Le Mans under its belt.
The twin turbos do not spool until about 3,500 to 4,000rpm, before which it is said the engine is only running on about 200 odd horsepower. When the power does kick in though, the car really went like an urgent steam train. Despite the ample power, the turbos do not kick in too violently, but kick in just enough for it to be exciting. Going through the gears a few times on the highway was more than enough to show me how potent this car is. It just kept pulling under load; it has more power and speed than I will ever need on the public roads of Hong Kong. Consistent with its racing DNA though, I found that you must go through the gears very aggressively in order for the revs not to drop below 4,000rpm after changing gears – otherwise, you will feel a bit of turbo lag if you let the revs drop too much after every gear change; which was surprising and not particularly user friendly for public road usage. The throws from the gearshifts were a tad longer than expected, as I was expecting some race car like short throws. There was some ambiguity in the gear changes though that would take some getting used to before one can confidently slot into every gear they intended to. The brakes were okay, but if you needed to stop urgently, they do remind you that they are from the 90s.
The performance of the car was hardly surprising, every time the turbo spooled, there was a powerful surge coming from the engine directly behind you. The power delivery is reasonably composed, where the tail does not twitch and the tyres do not scream every time you put your foot down. All this was somewhat expected given this is a well put together hypercar with pure racing pedigree. What was most surprising though, is the interior. I talked about the plushness of it, but it was the ergonomics of the seating position which I was most impressed with. The seating position is comfortable and in no way whatsoever awkward. A lot of these meet-your-hero cars have some qwerkiness in their seating positions, such as pedals slanted towards the middle or inflexible seating adjustment capabilities. The XJ220 has none of that – while I wouldn’t say this is a car that one can daily drive in, it is certainly a car that one would not mind spending a lot of time in for long journeys.
I remember when the XJ220 was released, my dad had a friend who ordered a brand new one to Hong Kong. He never registered it, and according to him, only drove it a handful of times. It was during the age where smartphones and digital cameras did not exist, so I never even saw photos of it let alone meeting the car in person. Every time we saw that friend and he bragged about his car and I listened attentively, it was always just pure imagination by me of how the car might have looked like in the metal. Today, I finally got to put that imagination to touch, and it did not disappoint. The XJ220 is one truly special car, and while its prices have risen in recent years (around £500,000 now), the car is still to me criminally underappreciated.
Huge thanks to the generous owner and my team:
Alex (http://www.tiapanmedia.com)
Dave (david@lemonadeandgiggles.com)
Adhi (IG: @supercarsofhongkong)
Martin (IG: @visualspassport)
Alex C (IG: @nofishark)
Jeremy (IG: @jyy3.x)
See our review video here: