2000 Jaquar Xj8 Long Body Front And Rear Heated Seats Showroom Clean on 2040-cars

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Jaguar XJ facelift suggests that if it ain't broke...

Jaguar is preparing what looks to be a very modest upgrade for its long-serving XJ, now heading into its fifth year in production. The fullsize luxury sedan's changes are so limited it seems like a stretch to even refer to these changes as a proper update. New front and rear lights represent the big changes, although the XJ's front grille looks to get a tiny bit of tweaking. Beyond that, though, we can't see too much changing for Jag's flagship luxury car. That said, there could be some tweaks below the sheetmetal and within the cabin that these images don't really show. Take a look at our gallery of spy photos, at the top of the page, and let us know what you think Jag is up to with this particular XJ.

2018 Jaguar F-Pace: Ambient lighting is fun and frustrating

Like so many other automobiles from this decade, our long-term Jaguar F-Pace crossover has customizable interior lighting, a part of the $2,350 Luxury Interior Package. I've previously admitted to the fact that ambient lighting has me split in opinion. On the one hand I know that it's probably going to end up being dated and uncool in the future. On the other, I actually quite enjoy it, possibly because I grew up in the neon-fueled world of early '00s import tuner culture. I also like it from a color-coordination perspective. Our Jaguar's bold blue hue called Caesium can be brought inside with equally bright illumination. It's very satisfying. But that satisfaction of having everything just so is quickly sullied as the center stack and switches are only one color that can't be changed. Admittedly, that's completely normal, but unlike many of those other cars that use neutral white illumination, the Jag's light up in the same blue/teal color that made your Razr phone look cool so many years ago. And so whether you bathe your cabin in blue, red, purple or green light, the ambient lighting will clash with the main switch gear. You can pick a shade of blue for the ambient lighting that roughly matches the switches, but I don't want to compromise my color preference because Jaguar didn't put in LEDs in that would be neutral (or, even better, change to match the ambient settings). I have other complaints about color-matching in the car, too. The instrument panel, which is a flat screen, has a few different display modes, but most of the readouts use a similar (but not quite the same) blue/teal color as the switchgear. So that doesn't match, either. Then, in the sport mode, the instrument screen switches to red. That brings me to my next gripe: all the ambient lighting switches to red when choosing this mode. I get it, red means sporty and Jaguar wants everything about sport mode to feel sporty. But damn it, I paid for custom lighting, let me keep that lighting when I'm also in a sporty mood. I actually sometimes skip the sport mode because I want to be swathed in my favorite hue more than I want slightly more sporty driving dynamics. Oh, and of course the switchgear remains teal/blue even in sport mode. So yes, this is picky. But that's the beauty of evaluating a car like the F-Pace over a longer period of time.

Lister LFT-C brings 666 horsepower to the Jaguar F-Type

Lister just announced a limited run of its LFT-C Jaguar F-Type conversion cars. It made 99 of the coupes in this spec, but now there will be 10 convertibles available for purchase worldwide. The LFT-C name further confuses Lister's naming for this car, which was initially known as the Thunder, then morphed into the LFT-666, and now these new convertibles are called LFT-C. We would've just stuck with Thunder all along and called this one a Thunder convertible. It makes the same 666 horsepower as the Lister F-Types before it, but that's still substantially more than the 575 horsepower out of the F-Type SVR. Lister does a lot of its own work to the 5.0-liter supercharged V8 to eke out the extra horsepower on top of what Jag is able to do with its performance division at the factory. The nice part of this aftermarket work is that it still comes with a seven-year warranty from Lister, so it's similar to a new car powertrain warranty. This should give you some peace of mind when dashing to 62 mph in just over three seconds. Related: Lister Knobbly roadster gets green light for production There's more than just engine work done to the LFT-C, though. Lister has designed its own suspension, exhaust, braking system and wheels to bring the rest of the car up to snuff. Carbon fiber body panels replace everything from Jaguar where possible. Other Lister design touches on the exterior include a new front bumper, front splitter, rear diffuser, rear spoiler, rear wheel arches, a new grille design and lightweight alloy wheels fitted with Michelin tires. Lister is differentiating this 10-car run by adding in a unique interior, but customers can request anything they desire on the customization front. With so few cars available, it's unlikely to see one on this side of the world after being manufactured in the U.K. That said, we asked Lister, and they said you can buy one here. Base price for the LFT-C is a cool $182,995, and that's only where it starts. We're sure customization options will allow it to skyrocket from there. The price for a base F-Type SVR Convertible is $127,725, so you're looking at a hefty premium over the donor car for what Lister has to offer. The LFT-C is available to order now.