How the Jaguar XJ220 changed sports car history | Fifth Gear

Jimmy revisits a car that’s over a quarter of a century old, but still as iconic as ever, the Jaguar XJ220 and discovers how its design has shaped the sports cars we drive today.

#FifthGear #JaguarXJ220

[terminal-velocity]

We need Tiff back! He’d have enjoyed taking part in this video.

[edmaluf]

- How much turbo lag do you want?
- Yes.

[davekennedy]

And STILL a truly stunning looking work of art!

[jeffkeith]

He didn’t seem quite as happy when he’d handed over the tiller.

[GazzaView]

I remember seeing this actual car (220 VAN) heading down the M66 one morning in 2014 when on my way to work. It's the only time I've ever seen one on the road.

[logwind]

One of the most gorgeous shapes on a car ever.

[owenchuarbx]

The Mclaren Speedtail took some inspiration from this.

[markchip]

I always love it when a reviewer is just left speechless!!!

[fivespeed]

I saw one of these at a car show in Birmingham Alabama sometime around 2003.

[gf]

The XJ220 looks like a serious race car, the F-40 looks like a big TONKA TOY.

[HotRod]

I still keep having this car in my mind since last year. Until this latest video pops up. I only seen one unit in Malaysia owned by a southern royal family. Really a magnificient piece of car.

[ericpisch]

You could buy unsold new ones for 80k for years after the launch, great how they invented aero that had been about for decades in motor sport lol

[p]

Years ago I designed a slightly sleeker carbon version, with all the modern bells and whistles. I called it the XJ2020.

[grandlotus]

I drove to San Antonio to show the XJ220 to my youngest son. (A baldfaced excuse.) I loved it.

[abbielindley]

I prefer the XJ220S by TWR it's a monster!

[henryovalles]

If i had the means i would buy this over any Ferrari

[MrMuz]

I've always loved this car. It appears to have been used as inspiration for the CX-75, also.

[gerardmontgomery]

5:04 the "I've handed my baby to a strange man" face.

[georgeblackbeard]

What annoys me about the XJ220 is that it became such an unapologetic punching bag ... its claimed top speed of 217 mph, was done on a banked circuit ... nothing wrong or unoriginal about that ... what does annoy me is the fact that for every other super car at the time, when they were conducting top end tests, they were releasing the figures for their supposed top speed if you did the maths calculation and factored the banked surface out of the equation

Also, for the rest of the super car pact of the time, they never put them on the Nurburgring

So they were actively trying to downplay this brilliant car, because it committed the ultimate sin and didn’t have a V12 in it and scissor doors and four wheel drive as announced at launch

So this car is much more impressive than actually takes credit for ... when manufacturers were inching by a single mile every time back then to get to 200 mph for a production car, here comes the XJ220 and blows everything clean out of the water ... If you factor out the banked circuit, it easily exceeds the claimed 220 mph at launch

Also, I know it’s subjective, but the black wheels detract from the purity of the original design

As you can tell I seriously love the XJ220 ... never seen one up close unfortunately ... I know nothing is perfect, but for me this design not only has not aged, it just gets better every year ... truly stunning compared with a plethora of ugly cars out there

If Batman ever had to choose a car, it would be an XJ220, not a freaking Audi R8 !

[blackknife]

It's a gorgeous creation warts and all IMHO.