Jaguar Soul and Spirit Shoehorned Into S-Type
Mike Dale, president and first gentleman of Jaguar North America, continues to fuss about the Jaguarness of his company’s newest, smallest sports sedan. Also about sausages.
BMW’s brawny 7-Series and Mercedes-Benz’s majestic S-Class, he says, are large sausages. Cut off a piece and you have BMW’s smaller 5-Series and the Mercedes E-Class. Slice off another chunk and you’re down to the chipolatas of the litters, the 3-Series and the C-Class.
“You still have very fine sausages,” Dale continues. By quality, ingredients, automotive flavor and presumably directions for microwaving. “But they all look alike, inside and out--just smaller or larger versions of the same car.”
And so it was ordained, he says, that the 2000 Jaguar S-Type would be like no other banger in the British-built lineup. It would not be an abridged edition of the XJ8 sedan, nor some flashy, spaced-out tribute to the next millennium.
Scaled back, yes, but with little resemblance to the current family beyond sharing mechanical innards and the upper-crust breeding that is as much a part of Jaguar aplomb as the heavy plod of a Mercedes-Benz or the frisky lust of a BMW.
“The S-Type was built to represent our levels of luxury, plus traditional styling, refined performance and true elegance,” Dale says.
Then critics and buyers must decide the exigent issue: “Does it have Jaguarness?”
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Dale may stop fretting. Closer to the mainstream, about $10,000 less expensive, with higher technologies and fresher mechanicals, the S-Type may serve Jaguar pietists better than the much face-lifted, over-liposuctioned XJ8 four-door. And the S-Type, which comes to market in May, is available with a brace of engine packages: the 240-horsepower, 3.0-liter V-6 and the XJ8’s well-crafted, remarkably flexible 4.0-liter, 281-horsepower V-8.
Although the S-Type is 6 inches shorter and 1 inch narrower than the XJ8 four-door, lengthening the wheelbase a touch and raising the roof line by 3 inches have made this saloon a much roomier ride. More leg, head, shoulder and luggage room. Less sense of being belted and crammed into a low-ceiling leather-and-maple vise.
The track is broader, and the car is some 14 stone (or one 200-pound Brit) lighter. So handling is improved enormously and exorcised of yesteryear’s devils of numb steering and body heaviness. Abrupt direction changes in an older XJ was always a matter of one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi while the car’s great weight slopped uncomfortably from port to starboard.
With the S-Type--that designation reincarnated from a sportier 3.8 Jaguar of the ‘60s, the Jaguar of Detective Inspector Morse from PBS’ “Mystery!”--there is precise feel, a flatness when slinging it about and an agility reminiscent of Audi or Lexus. Which are very pleasant reminders indeed.
In terms of low- and mid-range acceleration and governed top speed, the S-Type with either engine is as fleet as the designated competition: the Lexus GS line, closely followed by the BMW 5-Series and Mercedes E-Class from the land of bratwurst and Mr. Dale’s anxieties. With the V-6--the lowercase S, as it were--selling for a base of $42,500 and the V-8 model stickered at $48,000, Jaguar certainly meets or beats its major rivals (except for the Lexus GS 300-400 twins) on price.
And, of course, nobody does an interior better than the museum craftsmen of fastidious Britain. Leathers are softer than our skin. Desperate to escape that stuffy old walnut that became meaningless when the color showed up on Daewoo dashboards, Jaguar has switched to a lighter bird’s-eye maple for the S-Type’s interior trim.
Solitary flaws: That damned spar-varnished wood and leather steering wheel from the XJ8, thick and garish enough for parent Ford Motor to use on the Lincoln Navigator. Also blah instruments pleading to be released from black and basic. No need here to belabor external looks that have been scrutinized by auto show dwellers and magazine readers since the car was unveiled last year at Birmingham, its British birthplace. Ne’er a discouraging word for the high, elliptical grille, round headlights and slicked-down hood lines that are a sociably acceptable flashback from the ‘60s.
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First time you see an S-Type, however, read the bulges above the headlights and notice how they extend back to make rounds and valleys in the hood. In a precise light, shadows dance. Paint seems to change shades, while an ordinary metal plane is transformed by stylists’ talents into gentle dales.
Now, let’s factor perception vis-a-vis reality into this critique.
Perception lingers: A Jaguar takes more time off for expensive maintenance and meltdowns than Dennis Rodman.
Reality is: Since 1991 Jaguar has risen from the dungeon of 31st place to fourth spot in J.D. Power studies of product quality and customer satisfaction.
But has Jaguar’s S-Type inherited the elusive Jaguarness?
Well, it certainly seeps traditions, and its leathers and wood suggest a ’72 tawny port and London clubby. It continues to overindulge a driver with genuine extravagance. And it certainly is a discreet, multi-functional screamer; a lump of luxury that may be driven hard and securely, yet motored gently past Buckingham Palace with the Coldstream Guards wondering if they should start opening the gates. And it definitely brings a third, smaller, distinctive and less expensive branch to Jaguar’s contemporary family tree.
In truth, in matters of soul and spirit, the S-Type is everything a Jaguar has always been--yet burnished by new levels of mechanical reliability, durability, handling, performance and technology to what a Jaguar could have been 10 years ago.
Nothing has been left off the S-Type’s equipment list. It includes side air bags, a Global Positioning Satellite navigation system, even voice-activated climate, radio and telephone controls. Also a traction-management system that taps and releases brakes and throttle should road conditions or vehicle dynamics get loose. And a five-speed gearbox with automatic and manual functions, rain-sensing windshield wipers and a computerized suspension system that adjusts to road and ride.
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Last week, we inflicted cruel-and-unusual punishment on a pair of pre-production S-Types with V-6 and V-8 power. There was enough morning rain to blind wipers at full thrash. Then sleet that eventually closed Interstate 5 north of Lake Hughes and Castaic. Then snow at the 3,000-foot levels of Angeles National Forest that got colder and grumpier until it was dumping on 1,500-foot levels.
Accepting that all vehicles show well in good weather, a battering by snow, ice, sleet and freezing rain constitute ideal conditions for bringing out the best and the beast in any car.
The S-Type, even when abused, even with traction controls getting wide-eyed around corners that glistened, made the drive seem like July in Palm Springs. The V-6 showed a couple of nits, noticeably a distinct slap when driven hard and ordered to up- or downshift between fourth and fifth gears. But the V-8 was a velvet powerhouse.
On both cars, the windshield de-mister failed to reach into far corners on the passenger’s side. Jaguar said such problems would be resolved on production cars.
And, of course, we played with the voice-activated radio and climate controls. Because Jaguar says they can differentiate between accents, and our group of challengers spoke the inflections of New York, New England and Old England. From Michael Caine to Al Pacino.
The system didn’t do too well. It missed a couple of temperature demands. Then it answered only when it was yelled at.
“Rather like talking to my dog,” said the New Englander.
Not like talking to my chow.
Yell at Beau and he’ll pee on your shoe. Unless you offer him a sausage.
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Times automotive writer Paul Dean can be reached via e-mail at paul.dean@latimes.com.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
2000 Jaguar S-Type
Cost
* Base, $42,500-$48,000. Includes side air bags, dual-zone automatic climate controls, leather seats, five-speed automatic transmission with normal/sport modes and semi-manual operation, bird’s-eye maple trim, anti-lock brakes, power seats and windows, cruise control, traction control, rain-sensing wipers, six-disc CD player and anti-theft system. V-8 model adds power sunroof, memory seats, mirrors and steering; power rear sun blind; premium sound.
Engine
* 3.0-liter V-6 developing 240 horsepower; 4.0-liter V-8 producing 281 horsepower.
Type
* Front-engine, rear-drive luxury sports sedan.
Performance
* 0-60 mph, manufacturer’s claim, 6.6 seconds for V-8 model, 8.0 seconds for V-6.
* Top speed, governed, for both models: 130 mph.
* Fuel consumption not available, but current XJ8 with similar V-8 engine delivers 17 miles per gallon in city, 24 mpg on highway.
Curb Weight
* 3,650 pounds for V-6, 3,770 for V-8.
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The Good: Fresh and new, but pure Jaguar from ‘60s nose to ‘90s tail with smooth majesty in between. Unlike the competition, not a smaller or larger version of anything else in the stable. Priced perfectly for almost 2 tons of luxury that outperforms Lexus and BMW. Whispers at cruise, growls when poked awake. Great trinkets, with Connelly leather and maple wood a weighty argument for British citizenship.
The Bad: Snap in automatic shifting of V-6, although Jaguar says it is a pre-production gremlin. Same with windshield de-mister in wet and murky, really British weather conditions. Voice-activated responses that don’t talk back when they should.
The Ugly: Fat, wood-on-leather steering wheel fit only for steamrollers, carnival rides and Lincoln Navigators.
