It's now been a while since Jaguar officially unveiled the new XJ, currently better known as the X350. It will be badged as either an XJ6 (six cylinder) or an XJ8 (eight cylinder), with an XJR (supercharged V8) version coming too. The technical specifications all look OK. The V8 engines will have plenty of horsepower, although the 3-liter V6 looks rather underpowered for a car that big. On the other hand, the current XJ8 also comes in a 3.2 liter version for the European market and is selling well. My main concern about the smaller engines is "waftability," a term that is most used by Rolls Royce owners. It boils down to high torque at low revs. The V6 simply can't deliver. The older AJ6 and AJ16 engines of the XJ40 and X300 were straight sixes, which I've found to be preferable over the V6. The V8 is very smooth indeed.

The looks of the X350 are what occupies me most. The pictures at the Jag Lovers site left me initially with a "so far, so good" feeling. Later on doubts began to creep in. Is it just a big X-Type? It does look a little bit like it. I don't want Jaguar to end up in the situation BMW found itself in, where the 3, 5 and 7 series were just differently sized versions of the same car. That won't work. Overall, the X350 does have the Jaguar style printed over it. On the other hand, it has gotten bulkier. The old X308 was sleeker, lower and more graceful, but the realities of the car market are probably such that more interior space was needed. Old style Jaguar buyers don't really care. If you want interior space, go buy an SUV. It's the graceful styling of the car that attracts us. A little bit of that has been lost. Especially painful is the shortened hood. That just does not look right.

Additional pictures posted on the web do allay my fears somewhat. In these shots taken at the Birmingham motorshow the X350 actually looks better to me than in some of Jaguar's own publicity shots. I also talked to a salesman at the local Jaguar dealership yesterday when dropping off my car for regularly scheduled servicing, and one of the things he pointed out is that in real life, the X350 cannot be mistaken for a big X-Type. The headlights are a lot rounder, and the car does not have the same hunched feel as the X. The publicity brochure I got also had some nice shots.

Still, I'm going to wait until I see the car in person and as a regular feature on the roads. The latter is the most revealing, because it shows how well the X350 can set itself apart from all the other cars. The current X308 is immediately recognizable as a Jaguar. There's simply no mistaking it. One of the things that struck me about the X-Type is that it looked better in the showroom than on the road. Out there in traffic it's big shortcoming is that it's small. It simply does not have the presence of an XJ or even an S. It looks OK, but it's too small too stand out.

There has been much criticism of the styling of the X350 on the forums at Jag Lovers. The traditionalists complain it's a "Forduar" which has had the traditional Jaguar design lines compromised by the evil corporate masters of Ford. Of course, without Ford's investment in Jaguar, there would be no X350 and Jaguar probably would not have survived. I still think the XJ40 was a much bigger depature from the Series III than anything we've seen since then. Had that transition occurred under Ford's ownership and had the internet existed, the reaction would have been even fiercer. This is Jaguar fans' version of Golden Agism.

Jaguar should not expand the range too much further though. It is already scraping the bottom of the barrel with the front wheel drive 2-liter X-Type. Diluting the brand may generate sales at the bottom end of the market, but the high end is not going to like it very much.

The X350 has the potential to become a worthy successor the X308. I'll reserve judgment until I see it on the road.