I’M NOT SURE WHERE TO GO OR WHAT TO DO with the Jaguar XE SV Project 8 Touring Edition. On paper it’s the same car we drove around 18 months ago, minus a rear wing, and this time with a full road car interior, albeit one you could specify on the bewinged version as an option. With just 15 to be built, there’s a distinct air of desperation about the advent of the Touring: it seems Jaguar is struggling to find homes for its skunkworks saloon on steroids.
Yes, it may be the most powerful Jaguar ever officially built, at 592bhp, but it seems the idea of a four-wheel-drive saloon weighing nearly 1800kg but aimed largely at track use, that’s left-hand drive only, has just two seats, boasts a rear wing and graphics that wouldn’t be out of place in a Fast and Furious film, and is from a brand with a less than stellar track and competition history over the past 20 years, is struggling to compete with 911 GT3s and their ilk at the 150 grand mark. Who’d have thought it?
Perhaps that’s harsh. We liked the Project 8 when we drove it back in issue 250, but it was the overall concept of the car that left us a bit mystified when experienced in Track Pack form, not so much the fine engineering that had taken place under the surface. After all, the Project 8 is far from half-hearted: the roof and door skins are now aluminium and everything else is made from carbonfibre, there’s new wide-arched bodywork covering swollen tracks front and rear, a flat underbody, carbon-ceramic brakes, new billet uprights with ceramic bearings, ball joints on the upper control arms… yes, it may be based on an XE, but in both looks and specification this is a tremendously thorough and bespoke job.
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BEST BUYS BMW M CARS
THE PERFORMANCE CAR LANDSCAPE WOULD HAVE looked very different over the last five decades without BMW. Its M division, founded in 1972, has produced some of the best driver’s cars ever to hit the road, and in the process has provided a stream of benchmark models for its rivals to chase. In recent years, stricter emissions regulations, downsizing and electrification have seen some of those rival cars falter, yet by and large BMW’s M machines have remained strong. In fact, some rank among the greatest the department has made think of the eCoty-winning M2 CS and M5 CS while others are the only options worth recommending in their respective segments. Price tags have risen with performance, however, putting those latest offerings out of reach for many, but the marque’s popularity means there are numerous earlier M models available on the second-hand market for far more attainable figures. Here are four of our favourites.
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