Jaguar XK8

The Jaguar XK8 was Jaguar’s first V8, and its first new GT in a generation. Sam Skelton outlines how to buy the best

- Sam Skelton

People are quick to nominate the Aston Martin DB7 as the prettiest car of the 90s - and not only that but a true Aston. Not so on either count – because the DB7 uses a Jaguar XJS floor plan, and a supercharged derivative of the Jaguar AJ6 engine. It also uses elements of Jaguar trim, alongside other bits from the Ford parts bin. Truer to its marque, in fact, is the Jaguar XK8, known internally as ‘X100’, which many reckon is even prettier.

Launched three years after the Aston, the Jag is undoubtedly a more tailored feeling car. There are fewer parts cribbed from the Ford parts bin in there – and an all-new engine. The AJ-V8 would later be seen in Astons, Range Rovers and in other Jaguars but this is the car in which Jaguar’s fourth new engine design was premiered.

The range soon grew after the 1996 launch with the announcement of the XK8 convertible – and again in 1998 when Jaguar launched the supercharged XKR.

When production ended in 2005 when 90,374 of the X100 generation had been built – the majority XK8 convertibles. And this popularity has endured, with XK8s and XKRs making very desirable modern classic choices today.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR ENGINES

All X100 XKs used the same basic engine; the AJ27 – otherwise known as the AJ-V8. Designed and developed in the early 1990s, this engine was to form the mainstay of Jaguar’s range for several years, as well as providing motive power to a number of other British icons including the L322 Range Rover and the Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

While the engine was available in two sizes at the time, Jaguar chose to only fit the larger 4.0 variant to the XK. This was fitted in naturally aspirated form to the XK8 and in supercharged form to the XKR. Both models were uprated in 2002 and received 4.2-litre engines in readiness for the change of engine size for the new XJ saloon.