RideLust

Thumbs Up: A luxury ride with sporting intentions.

Thumbs Down: Digital dash seems out of place.

Buy This Car If: You want a modern interpretation of traditional luxury.

Somewhere during my first stint behind the wheel of the Jaguar XJ Supercharged, I ran out of superlatives. Somehow, calling the 2011 Jaguar XJ the nicest mid-level Jaguar ever produced seems inadequate. It’s certainly the best looking, and it breaks from Jaguar’s stately saloon car heritage to borrow a few styling elements from Aston Martin (remember, both were owned by Ford when design work on the 2011 XJ began). It’s certainly among the quickest, and the car’s 470 horsepower supercharged V8 brings the car to speed with a surprising amount of haste, hitting 60 miles per hour in under 5 seconds. It also seems better screwed together than Jags in recent memory, and the interior is the nicest I’ve ever seen in a Jaguar XJ. As equipped, the Jaguar XJ Supercharged tester I drove had a sticker price just south of $90,000; it’s not often that I can say this, but the new XJ Supercharged is worth every penny. Read More…

As automotive journalists being able to obtain press cars is a definite perk of the job, but Jay Leno is on an entirely different level. Obviously we’ve shown segments of Jay Leno’s Garage on here before, and for good reason… Jay gets his hands on EVERYTHING. Take this beautiful Jaguar CX-75 concept car that was recently the talk of the 2010 Paris Auto Show. What makes the CX-75 concept so special is that it is powered by two jet turbines, which in turn power electric motors, making it an extended range super car. This car was never intended to see production, but instead built to pay homage to 75 years of Jaguar heritage and showcase their existing technology. Personally, I think it’s kinda’ cool in a futuristic Jetson’s kinda’ way, and who knows, we may just be looking at the future of automobiles.

Source: Carmag.co.za

Over the years automakers the world over have used animal names to describe their newest cars. These names are supposed to immortalize the true essence of these cars and portray to their owners the automobiles inner spirit. More often than not however these names are ill-seated at best and unfortunately at the end of the day, don’t do the poor animal any justice at all. Below is a listing of 20 cars that have taken their names from members of the wild kingdom. Some are appropriate, others, well… not so much. Either way though you can’t blame the manufacturers from trying to put a little personality into their rides.
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Jaguars have always been beautiful cars, but in recent years they seemed to have fallen off the radar. Cars like the Ford Mondeo based Jaguar X-type have somewhat tarnish their image, as it seems they were concerned more about profit, than putting out a good product. We’re now getting ready to roll into 2011 and thankfully Jaguar seems to be back on track with cars like the new Jaguar XKR 175. I’m a huge fan of GT cars as they are, for me anyway, the perfect car for my style of driving. They’re rear-wheel drive, front engine and generally have oodles of power for which they use to gobble up miles. Matt Farah of The Smoking Tire has just gotten his hands on the new 2011 Jaguar XKR 175, and according to him, this thing is epic. The great thing about Matt is he is a pull no punches, honest reviewer – something that is seldom seen these days, plus he cracks me up. Click play to see what I’m talking about. Read More…

If you’re in the DC area and want to check out an exceptional collection of exotic and immaculate classic rides FOR FREE, I suggest you head over to Great Falls, VA to the Cars and Coffee event that takes place every Saturday.

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Jaguar revealed this sexy futuristic feline at the Paris Auto Show in honor of its 75th birthday. The C-X75 extended-range electric is powered by four electric motors good for 780 horsepower and has a lithium-ion battery pack. It also rocks two biodiesel-compatible micro gas turbine engines that kick in to generate power once the batteries go dead, giving the car 500 mile of additional range. Performance? It hits 62 mph in 3.4 seconds and slaughters the quarter mile in 10.3. And it’s absolutely stunning. The car’s shape is reminiscent of the 1966 XJ13 Le Mans prototype, one of the most gorgeous cats ever designed by the British company. Inside the thing is decked out in all kinds of aluminum and fine-grain leather. Its Bowers & Wilkins audio system uses a honeycomb array of transducers instead of speakers to pipe classical music throughout the cabin and help cancel out the roar of the two micro turbines. Other fun cat facts: The micro turbines move 25,000 liters of air per minute while spinning and their forceful exhaust is used to generate downforce. Rowr.

Why yes Sir, we can absolutely accommodate the transport of the deceased. By the way… how tall did you say they were?

Source: YouDriveWhat.com

Jay Leno has always been a big Jaguar fan, in fact a few of the classic cats occupy space in his garage. Over the last few decades Jaguar simply hasn’t produced, at least in my opinion, cars that I would consider desirable, the new Jaguar XJ however seeks to change that. The above video is not the usual road test that you’re accustom to seeing on Jay Leno’s Garage. Instead it’s a step by step process of the production, transport and delivery of what is now the most ambitious new automobile that Jaguar has brought to market in quite some time. Click play and enjoy!

Source: Jay Leno’s Garage

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Monterey Historics at Leguna Seca Raceway in California. We witnessed vintage Formula One cars, Trans-Am cars and even a race that contained one of the largest collection of vintage Bugatti’s ever assembled. It was a true treat and something that I will not soon forget. The best part about watching these vintage machines flat out on the race track though is that you simply never know what is going to happen. Take this vintage Jaguar for example, the driver came into the corner way to hot, thus overshooting it and running up and threw the gravel trap. I give the guy full props for the save, but I have a feeling that he might have left some skid marks in a place other than the raceway after pulling this maneuver.

Source: Youtube.com

This is the Flat Cat. The velvety black beast was built by Ken “Posies” Fenical and is equipped with a crate Chevy V-8 and a Tremec five-speed manual. It puts about 300 horsepower and 370 pound-feet of torque to the pavement through a beefed-up Jag rear end. The car is based on a 1971 Jaguar XKE 2+2, the ugly duckling of sporting Jags. The original car is top heavy with a huge greenhouse and spindly belt line. Fenical put some weight on the Fat Cat, adding 2.5 inches of steel to the bottom of the rocker panels. The thick boxed sections strengthen the unibody and balance the tall greenhouse. The rest of the Flat Cat’s voluptuous curves were left alone. The resulting car is gorgeous, sleek, and menacing.

Source: Hot Rod