RELIABLY INFORMED

The Jaguar XJ40 might have been a sharp new offering in the mid-1980s, but by the following decade it was looking a little bit elderly. Everyone else was rounding off sharp edges, so why not Jaguar? Plans for a new large saloon called XJ90 had gone awry; but by grafting the nose and tail of XJ90 onto the XJ40, Jaguar could make an old design look state of the art. The planned V8 wasn’t ready though, so Jaguar planned to overhaul the AJ6 from the outgoing model in order to eke out a few more years.

The new engine was called the AJ16 and it debuted in the X300 for 1994. Softer lines, softer trimmings and a cleverly considered model range meant this car would prove to be one of Jaguar’s bestselling XJs