First of all, let me say that I have owned this car since it was brand new - I bought it when it had 14 miles on it from various people test-driving it. I walked into the Jaguar dealership, saw this beauty sitting on the showroom floor, and knew right away I had to know more about it! This car is the quintessential Jag - it's immediately recognizable on the street, I get constant compliments on it (even 16 years later), it turns heads, and is just an all-around amazing car. It was never produced by Ford and was always, always imported straight from England - no sub-par parts were used, top-of-the-line materials were implemented in construction, etc. The car is also quite deceiving - it's huge (after all, it's the LWB version) and heavy (it weighs in at over 2.5 Tons). It sits low, looking like a cat about to strike some prey. But the moment you step on that accelerator, people are shocked about the power and grace behind it! I also have a Cadillac CTS that doesn't handle NEARLY as well as this graceful cat does! When you open the door and sit behind the wheel, you're surrounded by understated elegance. From the wood trim to the simple, easy-to-read analog dials, to the instrumentation panel and the dash - you know you're in something special. The real burled walnut trim is absolutely everywhere - the door panels, the center console, the dash, the roof panel, the fold-down picnic tables built into the backs of the front seats - I mean, there's NOWHERE you can look in this car and not see the opulent wood applied. The leather - OMG, the leather - is sublime. I've had many passengers liken the seating in this car to sitting in recliners that would put La-Z-Boy out of business, and I'm inclined to agree. Reliability for this car as surpassed literally every single other car I've owned. In 16 years I've replaced a thermostat, tires, and headlight bulbs - and nothing more. It's in need of suspension work at the moment, but nothing I wouldn't expect for a car of this age. She has held up AMAZINGLY well! One of the drawbacks to this car is the fuel economy - but that just goes without saying. You can't drive something this long, lean, and heavy without sacrificing some MPG in the process. After all, when you pay $80,000 for a car in 2000, the assumption is, you can afford the premium fuel it's going to guzzle like a person who's just run a full-on marathon. Would I buy this car again, if it were still made the way it was for this model year? Without blinking an eye.

We have owned many luxury cars before including Jaguars, Mercedes and BMW's. For both my wife and myself this car is the best and most enjoyable we have owned. The quality is outstanding and the features are so numerous that we can't possibly remember all of them and sometimes forget how to access them. The ride is fabulous and the handling is outstanding. The seats not only have built in heaters but also a massage feature that can be set to turn on after a fixed time in the car. It has high beams that automatically a=come on and dim when driving on the dark country roads where we live. The GPS is highly accurate and re-routes us around traffic. The car is also sleek and eye catching and we have received many positive comments on its appearance. The engines automatically turns off at traffic stops saving gas. The acceleration will knock you back in your seat when needed yet the overall MPG is amazingly good for such a heavy car. It has a push button start so the keys never have to come out of your pocket. The shift selector is a round button that pops up upon pushing the start button and recedes when engine is turned off.

This car was an amazing purchase. It is a luxury vehicle that has everything you could ask for. Being that it is an XJ8L, the backseat is bigger than most other Jaguars. The car ran/drove amazingly and was a very safe ride. This vehicle is a V8 which also makes it a lot of fun to drive with all the power it has. The inside of the vehicle was more than accommodating. It had everything someone could ask for as far as a cd player, leather and a car phone. It has a 8 disc cd changer which might be going out of style for most people, but it was very useful to me with my music collection. Keeping the vehicle up to date and gas is usually not a problem. One of the only things that I disliked about the car was that the hood opened up backward. Meaning that it opened starting at the windshield. Given that this trait was unique compared to most other cars, it made it hard to do things under the hood on your own. This car gets some quite a bit of attention IF you keep it up to date and keep it looking new.