At $3,800, Does This 2005 Jaguar XJR Let The Cat Out Of The Bag?

Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Jag offers the incongruity of driving an English drawing room interior motivated by the massive horsepower a supercharged V8 can provide. What should that be reasonably worth to experience?

A common trope employed in edge-of-your-seat movies and TV shows is the hero defusing a bomb by cutting a specific color wire. Typically, that’s made extra difficult by some sort of impediment, such as lighting trickery masking which wire is which or a bomb builder not following the wiring diagram. The outcome is usually the character making a snap decision, literally at the last second, which invariably proves correct, thus saving the day. The general consensus in the comments on yesterday’s 2005 Audi S4 Avant Quattro was that its name is too long and, based on age, mileage, and the model’s overall complexity, it could be a ticking time bomb with no easily discernible method of defusing. A modest $6,000 asking price made that a chance worth taking, I guess, as the Audi took home a narrow but decisive 55% Nice Price win.

Sticking with the movie parlance, it’s long been common practice that whenever an actor of note (most commonly female) does a nude scene, critics will describe the effort as a “bold performance.” Yeah, bunch of pervs. The thing is, I can think of no better descriptor, nor a more fitting metaphor, in describing Jaguar’s most recent concept car, the Type 00. A long and low coupe wrapped in severe Brutalist bodywork, it features details like an absent rear window and brass “ingots” on each side that pop out to reveal rear-facing cameras. This is far from a production car but is intended as a way of keeping Jaguar in the public eye—a visual amuse-bouche, if you will—while the company completely re-tools for what its execs hope is a successful new era.

Jaguar has tried the “look ahead instead of to the past” position before, most recently with the last-generation XJ. This model threw tradition to the wind and proved awkwardly generic as a result. Before that, Jags mostly all looked… well, like Jags. This 2005 Jaguar XJR represents the previous generation of the model and one that carries its Jaguar-ness with pride rather than hiding it in the closet or under a weirdly-designed rear end.

Introduced in 2003, the third generation of XJ was the first to leverage the parts bin of its then-parent, the Ford Motor Company. It was also the first Jag saloon to be built on an all-aluminum uni-body design, employing aerospace adhesive and rivet construction. These are big cars, with the short wheelbase body stretching a solid 120 inches between axle centers and coming in overall at 200 inches in length. Despite that, they are relatively light, tipping the scales at under two tons.

In the XJR, that reasonably low weight means even more get-up-and-go out of its 4.2-liter supercharged AJ8 V8. With 395 horsepower on tap and 399 lb-ft of torque to play with, the XJR can race to sixty from a standstill in just a hair over five seconds. After that feat, it can run even further to an electronically-controlled top speed of 155 miles per hour.

In this black-on-black edition, the engine and six-speed automatic are said to be “strong” and suffer “NO CHECK ENGINE REPORT.”

Both bodywork and wheels on the car appear completely stock and in very good condition. A further plus, the ad claims the tires are at about 80% tread depth. The cabin is awash in leather and wood and only lacks a stately carved stone fireplace to complete the picture of a manor house boudoir. Instead, we get embossed Rs on the seat backs like it’s a pirate’s car. 

Accompanying that is Jag’s weird J-gate gear selector and a big screen in the center stack for the infotainment and nav. Just as with the exterior, the space seems well-kept, and, being a high-end offering, it’s fitted with plenty of comfort and convenience features to help make its performance an even more pleasant experience. That’s good, considering the car has 181,000 miles on the clock, not as many as yesterday’s Audi, but still a sizable amount. The title is clean, and the VIN report shows no monkey business in the car’s past.

The asking price for this hot Jag is $3,800. That might be a “gotcha” price luring in unexpected buyers who are then hit with the reveal of some major issue on the car, or it could simply be an indicator of just how bad the market is right now for Jag sedans that don’t have a history of being used as bank robbery getaway cars. With the company having stopped production entirely and with only the promise of some new product on the horizon, cars like this may be the only way to get a Jag fix for the foreseeable future.

With all that in mind, what’s your take on this XJR and that $3,800 asking? Does that seem like a screaming deal on this supercharged saloon? Or, has Jag’s time to shine come and gone, leaving that money better spent elsewhere?

You decide!

Nice Price or No Dice:

Orange County, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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