Over the course of ownership, I found some very stupid designing flaws, when working on my XJR.

I would like it to say in stock form, no aftermarket stuff that is on the market now, that wasn't back them, thats called upgrading.

The XJR is SUPPOSED to have a bigger exhaust to handle the output of the SC'er, NOT!!!. The exhaust in the XJ8 and XJR are the same, except for the flex pipe and the pipe on the rear muffler is bigger for the XJR tips.

The fuel filter, that was just stupid, with all the rust and dirt that can build up under there.

The tank ventilation breather, at the passenger rear tire wheel. This a BREATHER Jaguar, again, rust and dirt can clog that up.

The rear shock mount, that should be much easy to get too.

Lets not get on the the engine, a very well known problem is the tensioner, and they agreed to save a ounce in weight with a plastic tensioner, that have cost them more in engine replacements, than it was worth.

The sunroof, metal? WTF??? metal, why couldn't somebody suggested GLASS!!!

That just my few designs flaws that gets to me, BUT, love the car overall.

 

Among other things:

I would redesign the air intake, route it on both sides, with flatter filters (two of them), and it would suck air behind the headlights, not from the wheelwell. That would free some space to mount the alternator in the place of the today's filter. Alternator is up on the engine in most designes, for a reason, and the redesigned air intake, could have a direct flow from the front, and act almost like the "ram air" system that would slightly pressurize the airboxes at highway speeds.

Let's get the oil pressure gauge on the cluster (a NICE, real gauge!), and let's fix the temperature gauge. Make them look like the clock (classy), and let them show the real temperature with NUMBERS! Have two sets of gauges made. One for C, and one for F, so everyone is happy, and install them into the cars respective to their destination (I personally could live with C everything, and the US buyers could have an option to get the "original" Euro car, or the US "doctored" version).

I would definitely get rid of all plastic inside of the engine (whose brain fart was this anyway?), get rid of ALL plastic on the engine, and use aluminum or titanium (IF the weight is an issue!). Ditto for the "moonroof",......GLASS people, GLASS, what were you thinking?

Fuel pump NEEDS to come out of the tank!!

Cup holder? Gimmeabreak! People that want to have meals in their beautiful Jaguars, should consider buying mini vans, and if you absolutely must drink/eat while driving,......you have a problem (and if you stop doing that, we will have less accidents, cheaper insurance,...etc.). Buy some aftermarket cupholders and velcro them wherever you want. Why we (the DRIVING, NON EATING drivers) got stuck with the stupid cupholder!? (so glad they had a X308 in Europe without the cupholder! So I got the whole lid and the bottom compartment from England, and NO MORE CUPHOLDER!)

I would change the law too! Most people CAN talk on the cell phone (holding it in the hand!) and drive! Most people don't handle the car well when they spill the boiling coffee in their lap, or drop a burning cigarette in their crotch!

Headliner NEEDS redesigning as well. It should not be separating (it doesn't on other high end cars!) and/or sagging. I don't know what to do with it, but when mine goes, I'll have it custom done (did few on the couple of older trucks by the local upholstery shop - stunning results!!)

Under the front bumper, hmmmmm.......how about getting rid of that chrome strip, and covering the whole thing either with the XJR style mesh (could be black), or match the upper grille? Did you ever have to dig out leaves, tumbling weeds, bugs, plastic bags, etc. out of there? Cover it up! Keep the debris out of there.

That's all for me. The Jag with all these mods (including the previous poster's), would be a well designed machine. But what would we bitch about in that case?

 

Mechanical Limited slip differential, that open diff is easily the XJR's
weakest link in terms of fast driving. A 6spd Getrag manual
should have been an option.

Harder CATS should have been an option.

Lining of the trunk never fits properly in any X308.

Sunroof is metal, concur with danielsand, what rubbish.
It's standard in the USA, and I wish I didn't have it.


Lots of stuff.

 

I believe the sunroof is metal since a glass roof would require a sunshade which would cut into the headroom even more.

Personally I would like a glass roof that is much larger than the tiny sunroof on the X308. I'm 6 ft tall, and I have enough headroom in my VDP (the LWB has slightly more headroom than the SWB), but I would like seats that are more comfortable. The seats on the VDP look nice, and are soft, but my left leg gets pretty uncomfortable after long drives.

I would like an actual NAV system instead of the simple arithmetic calculator screen sized radio display currently on our cars.

I would like at least side airbags with head protection and stability control. Every car in its class had these. What Jaguar calls stability control on the X308 is NOT stability control on its competitors.

I agree, there was too much cost cutting done under the hood with the plastic everywhere.

The interior needs foot well lights. That was a strange place Jaguar cut costs on the X308.

 

A 2 door Coupe.

 

1. Cupholders
2 Cupholders
3 Cupholders
4 Cupholders
5 Cupholders

 

As ianclements said, a mechanical LSD is abolutely top of my list. I autocrossed my XJR (more on that later ) this past weekend and I would have been several seconds faster if I wasn't blazing the inside tire out of every single corner. It's absolutely ridiculous for ANY powerful, sporting oriented RWD car to not have a posi. What the hell was with all the European automakers in the early 2000s not putting posi's in their bruiser sedans?

Also, a manual would have been a wonderful option. It's such a sweetheart of an engine, and being able to properly control it would be wonderful. I totally understand why they didn't do this one though. When they offered it in the X300 XJR basically no one bought it, so why build something they wouldn't sell. Dissapointing though.

Cupholders of course. I have to take my console out sometime soon here because of the 32 oz of horchata that was unceremoniously dumped into the console because of that worthless cupholder and a mild stop >

Tensioners go without saying.

I wish they would have optioned a moonroof delete. I never use sunroofs/moonroofs, and it'd be nice to have the extra headroom in the back.

Wider ASTEROIDS! Such a beautiful wheel, they just needed to be 9" wide. 8" wheels on a high-powered 4000 lb car is ridiculous.

A better attachment method for the third brake light. What's wrong with using a simple pedestal and a bolt to the package tray like everyone else in the known world?

A more standard radio. It'd be so nice if I could just change the head unit in a simple fashion.

Run the damn heater hoses anywhere but through the engine valley! Or if they MUST go through the valley, at least make them metal hard lines so they never break down. Let's run rubber hoses in an extremely hot enviornment where they can't be easily changed! That sounds like a great idea! >

 

I think I might be one of the only people on the planet to do this, but I autocrossed a VDP. The car was the crowd favorite since a VDP was a fish out of water. Even with the N/A engine though, I was spinning the inner wheel constantly.

 

Nothing! However, I would have let Toyota or Honda build it. I doubt they would have used plastic where common sense calls for metal.

 

No they can't. It's a scientific fact. Get over it.

 

Switching back to X300's gauge and door panels
Dual zone climate control
V12 engine
Chrome buttons

 

Not sure what the fuss is about the cupholders in this car is all about. I thought they were odd until testing out the cupholders in my newly aquired 01 Lincoln TC and after dealing with the cup holders in the 2000-2006 DTS and various other makes, like the new Ram 1500. In perspective, the Jag cupholders are way better. In the TC for example, the cupholders are smaller than the Jag and do not hold drinks very well and it blocks the controls to the climate controls and the menu button for the info screen. The jag, a nicely done flip out center arm reat cupholder that dont block anything and hold stuff in place. While the TC have rear cup holders and the Jag dont, the rear ones in the TC are a complete joke.


Now I would change the radio. That thing should have been a full screen, especially with the navigation option and or would have designed it with adding a full screen later. Hell, cant even find a place that sell a screen or any radio for that matter that fits. God forbid the OEM goes out and I'm SOL.

I would have added an oil pressure guage. When the oil pump starts to go or there is blockage by the time it it usually realized the damage is already done. Even my 88 MBZ have oil pressure guage that can be monitoried and if if changes you can catch the problem real quick without exspensive repairs that sould have been caught early.

What ever happened to putting the actual temperature range numbers on the coolant guages? "My jag is running hot!" "Well what temperature is it running at?" "Hell that I know, there are no numbers. It's slightly above the middle peg." I rather have the ability to see the actual temperature as it lets you know the difference between the thermostat sticking, fan going out, or water pump failure although I guess if the water pump go out you'll know with or without numbers soon enough.


Also I would of added an air cooled seat option. I know, most luxury cars if any didnt have that feature during that time but that would have been the point, because even BMW, Bentley, Rolls-Royce even, BMW didnt come with them. Although a few Cadillacs had them in the 2000s. "We let Cadillac out of all things beat us to a feature that a car that is suppose to be a few steps above it dont have? To hell with that Bentley/Rolls-Royce didnt have them. This is Jaguar and we will be the best luxury car blended with tradition that money can buy! I want my butt to be cool when I slid in!"

And of course little niggles like windows that was auto both ways, although I think the window thing was to prevent people that were a little less than intelligent from getting their head stuck inthe window. Kids should have been the issue. One they shouldnt be left i nthe car alone and two, small ones shouldnt be able to be buckled in and be tall enough to get their head out the window. If a kid somehow unbuckle their seat and you dont notice a loose kid in the back, maybe it's time to pay more attention to the kids. And if the kid is old enough to get their head out the window while being buckled in, then they should have enough sense to not get their head caught inthe first place. But the moonfoor/sun roof thing definately should have auto both ways so that one press of the button the roof closes without havign to time it just right to get it before it goes into vent mode.

And I would have kept the old ultra luxury Jaguar standard-The V-12 even if it had to be twin turbo to compete and pump out more power than the SCV8. The Super V8 is cool, but that should have been an XJR exclusive. I mean a V-12 with special leather seat pattern design, maybe a two tone. A special wood that is a step above the already beautiful VDP wood trimming. If anyone remember the V12 from the 95 era, it was one of the smoothest engines out there. Or hell, even if the SCv8 and the V-12 had same power rating it would be cool still. The MBZ S55 and the S600 had the same power and torque but the characteristic were very different. The S65 AMG is a whole different beast in it's own right. Although I wouldnt mind having a Jag that could keep up with and or surpass the S65 AMG of that era.

And an option for softer suspension a bit. On par with at least the S500. The new Jags ride even stiffer. Love the design but the stiffer ride alone made that drop to a more number three or four choice on the top five list of the next car in a year or two when otherwise it would of been the number one hand down. Guess they figured that everyone that dont drive a Lincoln or Caddy wants to feel every single bump in the road.



Then again I'm a bit old fashion anyways but just my take on the subject.
For right now, I guess I'll have to settle for the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph or Arnage of the 1999-2005 (2002 for the Silver Seraph) to find a smooth riding newer euro that still believe in never enough leather and wood outside the MBZ w220s (which have too much plastic and not enough wood and other issues that I'm not keen on having right now) and the X308 Jags (which I already have).

 

@burmaz

Nice job auto-x'ing a VDP! That's a lot of cat to swing around

The XJR was a fan favorite as well. The vast majority of the people out there didn't seem to realize how powerful the Rs are. I got several comments along the lines of "holy crap, that thing MOVES!". But yeah, it really needs a limited slip diff. There was a fast sweeper on the back of the course where I was just putting up big billowing clouds of tire smoke trying to get the power down.

 

+1 for the LSD.

I kind of understand the lack of a manual box in the XJR, but why not even a semiauto function like in the AMG E55, which has the exact same gearbox?!?

The numbers would've made little sense, since the gauge is doctored to stay on the middle peg until the engine is terminally overheated.

The sunroof on my XJR has auto both ways, maybe yours is broken?

Even my MY1998 Citroen had windows with auto both ways, so +1 there. IIRC it had a safety system that stopped and dropped the glass if something prevented it from closing properly. Never tested it with my kid's head though.

 

What is the point of cupholders in any vehicle?

Drinking whilst driving will only lead to spillages. If you are parked and buy a drink, use your own cupholders you carry with you all the time....your hands!

They are just another gimmick the stupid consumer thinks is cute and they have to have because they have sad lives and need to be fashionable instead of practical.

 

Exactly my thoughts! I grew up in Europe, and we don't eat, drink, shave, apply makeup, read papers, and everything else Americans do in their cars. When we are behind the wheel, we,.....DRIVE! I firmly believe that most Americans would be involved in a collision within first 24 hours of driving in Italy (and I will not even mention Teheran or Istambul!!).

I'm so happy that I don't have the cupholder in my Jag anymore.

 

Gotta find me an armrest without the cupholders. Only thing mine does is squeak when I rest my arm on it. I've managed the last 20 years quite well without having one in my car, I think I can manage at least another 20 easily.

 

Remove the black plastic bottom of the armrest from the top and apply silicone caulk where around the permiter. Then screw it back together and let the caulk set-up. No more squeaks.

 

The rediculous gearshifter. Really, what is the point of this goofy thing? A gated Ferrari gearshift is easier than this clumsy device.
Eliminate the cupholders, in all cars. Eat at home, K?
Use metal instead of plastic for t-stat housing and t-chain tensioners.
I'd also recommend proper service intervals for the transmission. "Lifetime fill", define lifetime please.

 

Agree with the first part but geez.