Old Top Gear new 1996 Jaguar XK8 road test Jeremy Clarkson

Jeremy Clarkson road tests the new Jaguar XK

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• 1996
• Old
• Top
• Gear
• Jeremy
• Clarkson
• road
• test
• new
• Jaguar
• XK
• XK8
• convertible
• X100
• car
• cars
• England

[RichardEllisxyz]

@LondonItalian Glad to hear your XJ8 is working OK ....so far. Just how many miles/Kilometers do you have on her? I would guess less than 100K kilometers.Every manufacturer comes up with an excuse for Nikasil failures.....if it wasn't that much of a problem, why didn't Jaguar, BMW, Porsche stick with it? I'm talking "weaknesses" in design, not a true flaw in design. Another is the choice of single-row timing chain for the XK8.......great for frictional losses, but a failure can wreck the motor.

[LondonItalian]

@RichardEllisxyz Mines hit 188000km to date. They left it because the public's opinion was tarnished, but it IS a superior bore coating, developed in motorsport. Any surviving Nikasil cars WILL be fine & subject to less wear (& a tad more power) than their steel lined counterparts.

Many cars, even American ones, have single chains that are good for 200,000m+, the plastic tensioners were the problem, its made worse by dirty oil, making them brittle, but mines been`over serviced` & is still fine.

[LondonItalian]

@RichardEllisxyz Your entitled to your opinions, as I`ve said, I`ve had a selection of Jaguars over many years & contrary to popular myth, have had great reliability while enjoying a wonderful driving experience, in beautiful cars. I also have peace of mind, of knowing I`m carrying my family in one of the safest cars ever made.

I cant recommend them highly enough, I`m proud that British craftsmen designed & built them!

I recently had a £300,000 Rolls for a week, & much prefer driving my XJR!

[RichardEllisxyz]

Too bad Jaguar STILL can't make a decent engine....the 4.0Litre Nikasil (Chrome plated bores) engine suffered from intense reliability issues,.... many issues. Still, the rest of the car is superb...& those lines, pure sex. As before, these Jags would benefit immensely with an American engine & drivetrain, more power, better reliability. An altogether better car. And who cares what powers it anyway?

[LondonItalian]

@RichardEllisxyz I forgot, my XJR is also still on its original water pump as well, another suposed `problem` part...

American engines dont generally have the power or smoothness required for Jaguars unfortunately.

[LondonItalian]

@RichardEllisxyz Feel free to take a quick look at my 2 acceleration clips too Richard, you`ll see it still hits 60 in 5.2 seconds, & 90mph not long after! Whats not to love! (other than the 15mpg on super unleaded!)

I appreciate your comments, its nice to have a calm, intelligent conversion on here for a change.

[MrDenniski]

I think the convertible looks horrible compared to the coupé ! I think the XK8 coupé is one of the nicest looking cars to date.

[TartanArmi04]

Mr Hudson

[aic53]

Whatever you do never take this off please!

[ketchup5344]

Cant go wrong!!

[levlevi]

I think of getting XK8 coupe. It looks fantastic

[childericking]

This car looks so much better than the newer jaguar. I don't know what all the fuzz about the XKR is about, to me it looks like an average car, like a luxury nissan or something

[RichardEllisxyz]

@lewis72 Why an 'American' engine?? "There's no replacement for displacement"..And that was a European maker who quoted that!! Not an American. It always seems Europeans are hopelessly 'stuck' on tiny weak engines. They will go to extreme lengths & costs to extract power from small engines, when truly large engines are a simple solution. It is almost as if they have an allergic reaction to large engines, avoiding it like the plague.

[lewis72]

@RichardEllisxyz

I do, because I work for Jaguar Powertrain. An American engine in a Jaguar? Wash your mouth out. Nikasil was dropped in 2000. Besides, who wants an iron pushrod single cam lump under the bonnet of a Jag? The V8 here is an all alloy, quad cam 32 valve unit designed in the UK.

American drivetrain? You mean a GM or Ford 'box? Never. This has the German ZF 5HP20 box in it. The Ford 'box was dropped from the S Type.

[RichardEllisxyz]

@LondonItalian I suppose myths are made to be broken huh? Upon our return to the States in a year or two, I will be buying a trio of "replacement" cars...setting up a new life, back in the States. My wife wound up doing the "buying" of cars past, impulsively...no thought. We took a pasting with poor resale value. She does love the Jags, & so do I. I'm a semi-retired 20+ YR 'Mechanic' I have seen first-hand the results of poor servicing. So now I have to learn as much about the Jag as possible.