1992 Jaguar Xj6 Sovereign Sedan 4-door 4.0l on 2040-cars

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2020 Jaguar I-Pace Suspension Deep Dive | All kinds of weird and wonderful

I’ve driven the Jaguar I-Pace a handful of times, and it always proves to be an enjoyable experience. In case youÂ’re not up to speed, this is JaguarÂ’s dual-motor all-wheel drive all-electric SUV. ItÂ’s quick, it looks cool in a running shoe sort of way, and it delivers a decent 234 miles of range. Sure, it has its faults, particularly when it comes to the infotainment and climate control layout. But the electric JagÂ’s smooth ride comfort and direct steering feel are clear strong points, and its handling stays nicely balanced and displays sharp reflexes as far as IÂ’ve pushed it. That is to say, a strong pace, but nothing that would land me in jail. The suspension plays a big role in all of this, of course. I wanted to see what theyÂ’d done, so I recently put an I-Pace HSE up on jackstands and took a look underneath. Electric powertrain notwithstanding, I found this to be an utterly weird and fascinating machine.    From this vantage it is easy to see the big air spring (yellow arrow). The use of this type of spring medium allows the I-Pace to run at different heights. It mostly runs at standard height, but can also lower the car at highway speeds to lessen aerodynamic drag. ThereÂ’s an even lower mode to ease the loading of passengers and cargo, along with a raised-height off-road mode because, well, this is theoretically an SUV. It looks like it has a double wishbone front suspension, too, with a high-mount upper arm (green). But we canÂ’t be sure until we move in closer.   With the wheel turned, we can see that this is a double wishbone front suspension in the sense that it has a single ball joint (green) at the bottom. ThereÂ’s lots of nice-looking forged and hollow-cast aluminum bits and pieces, too. But it looks odd in some other respects. The lower arm (yellow), for example, seems to have a joint of some kind in it. Meanwhile, near the top, you can see how the tall upright (or hub carrier, if you like) is curved (red) to provide tire and wheel clearance. Use the wheel studs as a reference point and you can imagine how the tire assembly will nestle into that area.   The shock absorber (green) runs up the middle of what is a doughnut-shaped air chamber. A very tall tower of a doughnut, but you get the idea. But you canÂ’t call this a coil-over. Do I hear bag-over? Anyway, a position sensor (yellow) is connected to the upper arm so the height-control system can regulate itself properly.

Jaguar gets to work on next-gen XF sedan

With the XE now out in the open, Jaguar can begin to focus on what comes next. That means a new crossover, but also replacements for some of its aging current models - chief among them, the XF. Introduced back in 2007, Jaguar's mid-range sedan is growing a little long in the tooth. But from these latest spy shots, we can see that the British automaker is hard at work developing its successor.
Expected to be based on the same iQ A1 platform that underpins the new XE, the new XF promises to be lighter in weight and more advanced than the model it replaces. Look for most of the same engines to carry over, including gasoline and diesel options ranging from four cylinders to eight, with and without forced induction, with a potential plug-in hybrid version to follow. The current model is available in rear- and all-wheel-drive configurations and in sedan and wagon body styles, and we'd expect its replacement to follow suit.
The low-profile wheels and dual exhaust pipes on one of the prototypes spotted suggests it would lie somewhere near the top of the range, while the second prototype packs taller sidewalls and a trailer hitch. It's hard to discern much esle from the spy shots, heavily camouflaged as they are, but as with the technology underneath, we'd expect styling to takes some cues from the smaller XE as well. Jaguar will, of course, need to tread the line between distinctive and understated if it's going to fend off the Maserati Ghibli and take a bigger slice of the pie away from the likes of the Audi A6, BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the Lexus GS and Infiniti Q70, the Cadillac CTS and the upcoming new Volvo S90.

Junkyard Gem: 1984 Jaguar XJ-S with Chevrolet V8 swap

If you wanted to do some conspicuous consumption during the 1980s, you couldn't do much better than the Series II Jaguar XJ-S. A big, decadent-looking coupe with a smooth V12 engine under its vast bonnet, a new XJ-S would have been just the thing to celebrate a fresh round of S&L looting or a Stinger missile deal with Adnan Khashoggi in 1984. The XJ-S cost plenty to keep running, though; when the third or fourth owner got tired of huge repair bills for V12 problems, a small-block Chevy V8 engine often got swapped in. Today's Junkyard Gem in Denver is such a Jag, with an early-1990s Chevy 350 residing in the engine compartment. While the good old Chevy 350 didn't purr quite as silently as the nicely balanced 5.3-liter V12, it got the job done. Some junkyard shopper had already grabbed the heads off this engine before I got to it. The block casting number indicates that the engine began life in a 1987-1995 car or truck. The small-block Chevy is a common swap for Jaguar XJs, going back to the 1960s.  The cylinder-head buyer tossed the heavy intake manifold on the roof, which would be a junkyard no-no on a nice car. This car's body isn't so nice, though. It appears that some sort of aftermarket hood scoop once lived atop these layers of body filler and pop rivets. The interior looks decent enough, though the varnish on the dashboard wood shows signs of excessive Colorado sun exposure. The MSRP on this car began at $34,700, or about $87,300 in 2020 dollars. You could get a new Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz coupe that year for just $23,737, though the real competition for the XJ-S was more likely to be a Mercedes-Benz S-Class or BMW 6 Series with two doors. The 1984 BMW 633CSi went for $39,120, while the Mercedes-Benz 500SEC cost a staggering $56,800 that year. How the mighty have fallen! This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. You can't buy the race car, but you can buy V12 power wrapped in soft leather and paneled in rare wood. Featured Gallery Junked 1984 Jaguar XJ-S View 22 Photos Auto News Jaguar Automotive History Coupe Junkyard Gems