2002 Jaguar X-type 2.5 on 2040-cars

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2013 Jaguar XJ AWD

Even though this year's winter has gotten off to an abnormally slow start for most of North America, Jaguar has shown the world it means business by launching its all-new Instinctive All Wheel Drive system in Montreal, Canada. Designed primarily for consumers in the Northern US and Canada, Jaguar put us on the same snowy, slushy and icy roads that many of its buyers will have to deal with. Rather than making declawed versions of the XJ and XF, Jag says this system enhances the performance abilities of its sedans when desired while still making them as fun to drive as their rear-wheel-drive counterparts. We had a chance to test out both the XF AWD and XJ AWD, but we spent most of our time behind the wheel of the flagship XJ, driving it on the open roads as well as a few closed courses.
Considering the lengthy and convoluted history of the Jaguar brand - including a stint as a member of Ford's defunct Premier Automotive Group alongside Volvo and Aston Martin - it is rather surprising that the automaker is just now getting around to introducing an all-wheel-drive system intended for widespread use, but the new Instinctive AWD will finally allow the XF, XJ and other future products to better compete against the likes of Mercedes-Benz 4Matic, BMW xDrive and Audi Quattro. In the XJ, Jaguar expects the AWD models to account for around 40 percent of the product mix nationwide and a little bit more (50 percent) for the XF, but in the northern states, it expects around 80 percent of XF sales to be AWD variants.
Instinctive AWD is rear-biased and operates as full rear-wheel drive in good weather, but when the road conditions turn slick, the system can split engine power 50:50 between front and rear axles using a center transfer case.

Land Rover planning SVX hardcore off-roaders

The new Special Vehicle Operations division at Jaguar Land Rover has already given us an array of ultimate wheeled creations, but it isn't quite done yet. Next, according to Car and Driver, will be a new line of SVX models. Not to be confused with the Subaru coupe from the 1990s (which also had all-wheel drive, come to think of it), Land Rover's SVX models will be hardcore off-roaders. Details are few and far between at the moment, but they're said to take inspiration from rough-terrain events like the Dakar Rally and Camel Trophy as inspiration – different from the Ford F-150 Raptor that takes its cues from the Baja 1000. Last we heard, Land Rover was planning a hardcore Defender to send the model off to pasture in high-performance style, and considering an extreme Range Rover as well. If either of those rumors materialize, they look like they'd be prime candidates for the SVX line. JLR Special Vehicle Operations has already showcased what it can do with the high-performance Range Rover Sport SVR, the luxed-up Range Rover SVAutobiography, the exclusive F-Type Project 7 and the continuation classic Lightweight E-Type. C/D confirms that further SVR models are in store to replace Jaguar's R-S performance models, while the SVX line would likely remain exclusive to Land Rover.

Eagle Lightweight GT meticulous Jaguar restomod is 'the best an E-Type can be'

England claims so many boutique, specialist car companies doing such sensational work that if an artist were to draw a national muse for Britannia, she would hold a scepter in one hand and a gear shift in the other. Next up in the island's crowded showroom of posh vehicular gems, Eagle presents its Lightweight GT. The slinky coupe started as a Series 1 Jaguar E-Type (built from 1961 to 1968), then, after 8,000 hours of work in the chrysalis of Eagle's East Sussex workshops, the coupe emerges as a modern and much more comfortable version of Jaguar's factory Lightweight racers from 1963. Some context: After Jaguar stepped away from racing in the late 1950s, the company decided to convert 25 incomplete D-Type chassis into the road-legal XKSS roadster. Come 1962, with the D-Type and competition still on its mind, Jaguar toyed with its new E-Type road car to create the Low Drag Coupe for competition. The factory built just one, powered by a mightier version of the 3.8-liter straight-six in the E-Type that used a wide-angle cylinder head designed for the D-Type. The next year, Jaguar's racing fancy expressed itself in the E-Type Lightweight, still harking back to the D-Type with all-aluminum bodywork and an aluminum block for the 3.8-liter. The automaker planned to fabricate 18 Lightweights, but only got around to building 12. The Lightweights didn't dominate any of the big races, but privateers put them to effective use in smaller series. Their pedigree, aura, and multi-million-dollar valuations convinced Ford to debut an Advanced Lightweight Coupe Concept at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show, and in 2014 convinced Jaguar to complete the six remaining cars in the 18-car build.      Enter Eagle. After its Speedster, Low Drag GT and Spyder GT, the firm calls the Lightweight GT the answer to the question, "What’s the best an E-Type can be?" The hand-formed aluminum skin takes 2,500 hours to shape, revised slightly for better aerodynamics and comfort. A deeper ramp angle in front leads to deeper side sills, which bolster chassis stiffness, and with a lower floorpan, put the driver lower in the car and give him more headroom. Larger wheel arches fit 16-inch magnesium alloy versions of the peg-drive wheel Dunlop introduced in 1954, an inch larger than the wheels on the original Lightweights, and aluminum, three-eared knock-offs. There's steeper rake to the windshield and backlight.