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With a new Jaguar and the Shell app, your car can pay for its own gas

Contactless payments are making their way into the car. Jaguar and Shell have the first major rollout, allowing you to pay for fuel through the car's touchscreen. Of course you'll still have to get out of the car to actually pump the fuel into the car, but hey, progress, right? Apple Pay and PayPal will be available payment methods from the start, and Android Pay will be added later. For this all to work, you'll need a new Jaguar (or Land Rover) with the InControl infotainment system, a connected phone with the InControl app and Shell app, some space in your tank, and some electronic money. When you pull up to a Shell station and launch the Shell app through the touchscreen, the car will use geolocation to figure out which station you're at and then prompt you to enter the pump number you're next to (don't want to pay for someone else's fuel now do you?). Once that's done, you tell the system how much fuel you want (it's not clear if you can just fill the tank like most normal people do) and then the screen in the car shows you a receipt; one is also sent to you via email. While this might just seem like trading one screen for another and entering info through your car instead of at the pump, contactless payments also have an added level of security over pulling out a credit card. (Credit card skimmers, which steal card data when you go to swipe at a kiosk or ATM, have been popular at gas stations.) It will also be welcome in the winter months, when you can limit your exposure time. Plus you'll never again have to respond to this incomplete sentence, which greets us at Shell stations everywhere: "Is this debit card?" InControl is available on every Jaguar and Land Rover model. And if you get this Shell app working on an F-Pace with the Jaguar Activity Key, you'll have the latest in minimal-touch technology. The system will roll out to people in the UK first and should arrive in the US later this year. Related Video: Jaguar Land Rover Technology Smartphone Luxury shell paypal

Junkyard Gem: 1995 Jaguar XJR

It's not too difficult to find discarded examples of the supercharged-V8-powered Jaguar XJR of the X308 generation, but the earlier X300-based XJR with its blown straight-six is a much more elusive Junkyard Gem. Here's one that just turned up in a Denver self-service knacker's yard. For many years, the Denver Pick Your Part was a funky, muddy operation on an industrial stretch of Federal Boulevard. I bought a lot of parts for various projects and documented dozens of discarded vehicles for this series there. On April first, LKQ moved that operation to a brand-new location a half-mile away and I showed up early to experience the grand opening. I'll miss the old Denver Pick Your Part, even with the treacherous footing, but sometimes even junkyards get junked. The new location is set in a vast asphalt parking lot, which should make it easier for shoppers to get around and extract parts. One of the employees drives this seriously cool Scion xB project, so that's a good sign. As I walked the rows, this two-tone Jag caught my attention immediately. What's going on here? The VIN says it's a genuine XJR, complete with supercharged 4.0-liter straight-six rated at 322 horsepower and 378 pound-feet. That beat the 313-horse V12 in the XJ12 that sat next to it in the showrooms. The supercharger is a member of the same Eaton family that was used in the Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe. This makes sense, because Ford had purchased Jaguar in 1989. The U.S.-market X306 XJR was available only with an automatic transmission; a few hundred with five-speed manuals were sold in Europe. The version we got here was good for 14.9-second quarter-mile times and ran 0-60 in 6.6 seconds— not bad for a car that scaled in at 4,215 pounds. The MSRP was a cool $65,000, or about $134,206 in 2024 dollars. The 1995 XJ12 listed at $77,250, which comes to $159,499 after inflation. This generation of XJR was sold here for just the 1995 through 1997 model years, after which it was replaced by the V8 XJR. Just 6,547 were built. This one received a heavy customization at some point, including big SUPERCHARGED badging. The bonnet is covered with faux carbon fiber, which was all the rage during the early Fast & Furious Era. The upholstery has been redone in well-executed two-tone embroidered leather. I knew there had to be some traces of this car online. Sure enough, Mecum auctioned it in Denver back in the summer of 2015.

Jaguar C-X17 resurfaces in China with gold finish, five-seat cabin [w/video]

Some concept cars make the rounds of the auto shows and are then retired. But a number of automakers are showing that a fresh coat of paint can go a long way towards rejuvenating a show car and giving it a new lease on life - at least as far as the auto show circuit is concerned. Lexus did that recently with the LF-LC concept, initially unveiling it in red at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, then repainting it a dark shade of blue for the subsequent shows in Australia and LA. Mini did the same with the Rocketman concept. And now Jaguar has done it again with its C-X17.
Initially unveiled in electric blue at the Frankfurt Motor Show, Jaguar then rolled the crossover out again in liquid silver for the Dubai Motor Show earlier this month. Now the concept is back again at the Guangzhou Motor Show in China with a fresh coat of rose gold.
Looking decidedly more luxurious than the previous iterations, this gilded C-X17 concept also bears another change: while the previous versions featured a four-seat cabin, this one has been redone with a more conventional five-seat configuration that more buyers would likely go for. It's also got a new interactive infotainment system and another system that warns passengers of pedestrians or cyclists approaching from the rear before they open the door. Check it out in the high-res image gallery above and the video clip below for a closer look.