Words by Marcus Boothby
Welcome to a reboot of an old series that was originally started when Motordiction was part of DriveTribe, which was named Automotive Icons. Automotive Icons is a series where we highlight some of the most important and interesting cars to grace the roads of the world. Today’s icon is the Jaguar XJ220, a car with a fascinating history thanks to the changes it had during its design phase and that it was once the world’s fastest production car.
The original idea for a XJ220 came in the early 1980s where racing team owner and engineer, Tom Walkinshaw, suggested to Jaguar executives that they need a halo car in the form of a mid-engine supercar. At the time, the Jaguar flagship car was the XJS V12 which was a GT car, but nothing to keep up with what the Italians and Germans were producing at the time. Think Ferrari 288 GTO, Porsche 959 and the like.
The XJ220 was originally meant to be a road going version of a Group B race car based around FIA Group B regulations. This allowed the concept version of the XJ220 to have a 500bhp 6.2-litre V12 naturally aspirated engine matched to an AWD drivetrain. This was insanely complicated in the late 80s and proved to be a pain to engineer and be too expensive to produce for a road car. So changes had to be made.
The final road car used a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 mated to a RWD drivetrain. Said 3.5-litre V6 came from the mental MG Metro 6R4 rally car and was good for a mighty 542bhp. This was drastically different to the concept and potential buyers noticed this and some stepped down. However, the production car was a brutal thing to drive. On an episode of the Grand Tour, Jeremy Clarkson compared the XJ220 it to the Bugatti EB110, he described the Jaguar as a far harder and more savage to drive than the Bugatti.
Styling wise, the XJ220 is like nothing else Jaguar has put into production. It' has everything you need from a late 20th century supercar such as swivelling headlamps, lots of glass, big vents and wheels which look like dinner plates. The inside is a real treat too with gauged everywhere, with some spilling onto the driver side door, lots of leather, air con, a chunky steering where and most importantly, a cassette player for your banging tunes.
Interest in the XJ220 was huge with deposits reaching well over 1400 people showing interest yet, due to complications Jaguar had designing and producing the car, along with the 1990s economic crash, 281 cars were made, each costing £400,000 before options. Talk about bad timing.
Despite an economic crisis and lack of customers, Jaguar felt the need to prove their new supercar by attempting to secure a world record. Said world record was the fastest production car which was previously held by the Porsche 959 which achieved a top speed of 198mph. Long story short, Jaguar wanted to hit 220mph which would tie in nicely with the XJ220 name but they only managed to hit 217.1mph which still makes the XJ220 faster than a Lamborghini Aventador. The 217.1mph figure was verified by the Guinness Book of World Records and gave Jaguar a little something to brag about when talking about the XJ220. The record was later beaten by the McLaren F1 which hit 240.1mph and then later beaten by the Bugatti Veyron in 2005.
So, the XJ220 will go down as one of the greatest cars ever made despite being less popular than the Bugatti EB110, Ferrari F40 and other rivals from the time. It has a quirky backstory, looks like a million dollars and was a world record holder. What’s not to like?