1986 Jaguar XJ6 Vanden Plas | Retro Review

The new for '86 Jag XJ6 is a timeless beauty, but so was its predecessor that many Jaguar loyalists favored...So, they were gifted the continuation of the older body style until 1992, albeit V12 powered only,
Show 621 | Original Airdate 04-06-1987

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[palebeachbum]

I love the looks of the old-style Jaguars. So elegant and classy.

[incyphe]

2:06 love how the entire panel wobbles on gentle press.

[tkewrestler]

No one would accuse this model of being too reliable, but they still are lovely vehicles.

[DrCharlesMontague]

Once had a 1994 XJ6–the last year of this XJ40 body—and it was such a good car. Excellent and athletic to drive, loads of clever features, and surprisingly good on fuel (we routinely averaged 24 mpg). Miss that car all of the time.

[HaroldCombs]

“Idle was a little rough”

“Lucas ignition system”

Ah, makes sense

[robertallen]

I've been a Jaguar fan since I was a middle school kid in the early 1990s. I've owned Jags off and on for the last fifteen years, including my current daily driver, a 2009 XJ8L.

In all that time, I've never heard the J-gate shifter referred to as a "Randall Handle." I guess Motor Week was trying to make it a thing, but it never took off.

[GeeEm]

I used to see tons of these in the DC area back in the 80s and 90s.

[APilots]

I had its successor, a 1996 X300 XJ6 for a couple of years. Still the most beautiful sedan I’ve ever owned and, in my opinion, together with the BMW E38, one of the most elegant sedans ever designed. Unfortunately reliability was a bit of an issue and I eventually got rid of it as it was my only car and depending on it to get to work every day was starting to become a gamble. I still think back fondly of it though, hopefully I’ll own one again one day.

[anibalbabilonia]

Man that car was way ahead of it’s time! Still looks beautiful and classy!

[tmolne]

That Interior is way ahead of its time

[OuijTube]

$40, 000 in 1986 would be $110, 159 in 2023. Man these cars were EXPENSIVE back in the day

[TeamRogers]

Old School Jaguars in the House, Hell Yeah!!!

[theKevronHarris]

I like Jaguar's traditional J-shaped automatic transmission shift lever at 2:34. Looks unique!!

[Porschedriver]

The XJ6 were all pretty low and swoopy. They were all around SoCal in the day. My buddy’s dad had a green one in the early ‘80s.
Always a special design mold even as it was updated. Those early electronics — everyone was doing trial & error! 😮😅

[jasonroberts]

I have loved old Jaguars since first seeing Edward Woodward driving one in the original(and best) Equalizer t.v. show. Thanks for this classic review Motorweek!

[jsz]

The Series III had a complex body structure. The hood was made of 17 panels and welded together. The XJ40 had two pressings for the hood. The early XJ40s had a lot of reliability issues since it was a clean sheet design. My '94 has dual airbags, seat memory, power lumbar in both front seats and even the front headrests are powered. Luckily my car has never been fitted with the rear SLS, self leveling suspension but the it has the X300 style with separate spring and shock absorber (they're not connected like struts).

[stevevarholy]

Nothing rides like a Jag. Although my Rover/Sterling came real close.

[VortexGarage]

Maybe this was a pre-production car, but the XJ40 XJ6 didn't start in US until 1988. The Series III XJ6 (the one shown in studio at start of video) was available until 1987.

Fun fact, that old style Series III lived on a few more years as the XJ12. The XJ40 engine bay was designed by Jag to be narrow during it's development so that British Leyland would be unable to force them to use the Rover V8...so it could not use the V12. So the only was the XJ12 could go on until the next generation in the 90s was to use the older Series III chassis

[albear]

1:54 Will you look at that? digital *voltmeter and oil pressure gauges!*

[jeremyanderson]

Ownership of the Vanden Plas trademark today is a tad ambiguous, since JLR owns the trademark in North America, and SAIC Motor (which owns MG) owns the trademark in other parts of the world