The all new XJ has been made over and its shows. It is longer, taller, and easier to live with. No more J shift gate that frustrated me for years. This model has both manual and automatic modes. Unfortunately, you can not get it into first gear in the manual mode. Speaking of which it is nearly impossible to tell what gear you are in when shifting for yourself because there is so little feel in the lever. In addition, the shift pattern is strange. You pull backwards to go forward through the gears. Yes, it is much better than the J shift pattern of yore, but it still needs work.
Of course the car looks sensational. Long and wide and fairly low, but not like the previous models where you felt like you were sitting on the highway. You can just slide into the new Jaguar XJ without having to drop into the seat as in days of yore.
Looks wise, the expensive $4500 (US) 20-inch rims make this car even more striking. I marveled at the British Racing Green paint that changed shades as the sun's rays reflected off of it in a dramatic and nearly breathtaking manner. Unfortunately, the larger rims come with very low profile tires that can take a pounding if you live in the midst of potholes.
The interior is very well done. More modest than previous models, this Jaguar has a very readable center monitor for the GPS that is fairly easy to master. However, the driver's computer readouts in the main dash pad are very small as are the speedometer and tachometer. This is a mistake by Jaguar as this is a very fast car and you can not easily tell if you are going 50 or 80 mph by looking at the speedometer. And make no mistake about it, you are not going to be able to tell how fast you are going by the noise level either, because this is a quiet ride. I won't hesitate to say that you could easily be doubling the speed limit before you felt wary. At least that's the excuse I'm using. Some people might not like the more "subdued" look of the Jaguar's interior treatment which is famous for wood, leather, and chrome adornments. I missed it too, but the new look made me feel more like I was driving a car than sitting in my living room.
There were some odd bits. It took me a while to figure out the parking brake. The release is a little pull knob on the center console. And, the center console moves back to reveal two nicely behaved cupholders. The headlights have an automatic on setting and when you enter a garage or tunnel the HID units jump to life. I appreciated the full size spare under the trunk panel and next to the battery, and the low lift over height made loading easy. The trunk also houses the GPS memory unit. Unfortunately, it needed to be updated and it was not as accurate as other units.