GALLERY: The Best Time To Catch A Jaguar XJ220 Is After A Spirited Drive

GALLERY: The Best Time To Catch A Jaguar XJ220 Is After A Spirited Drive
Friend of PetroliciousPhilip Sarofim isn't shy when it comes to his passion for all things automotive. Having amassed what for many would be considered a dream collection, he now spends his free time driving the living hell out of them - as the car gods intended. He and I spent the better part of Saturday tearing through Malibu canyons, which eventually led us to our friend Howard'sMalibu Rocky Oaks , where naturally the only thing left to do was to whip out the camera and start shooting.




Personally the XJ220 occupies a rarified list of cars that only really existed in video games. If I'm not mistaken the first time I ever "drove" one of these bad boys it was on a PC in the computer lab at my grade school, and I was steering it with a keyboard in Need For Speed against the Ford GT90. So to not only see one in person, but to drive alongside one for a day was something of a religious experience. To sit in the car alone is to enter a time warp to a very strange time in the marque's history - the dash dials for instance look to be borrowed from a Ford Econoline.




Its spartan interior is punctuated by the radically utilitarian drivetrain that enjoys no power steering whatsoever. At speed this, in my opinion, provides a shockingly accurate amount of road feel for a car this big, something akin to my 911 but nearly twice as long. As long as you're not trying to valet it yourself on a hill, this is a massive bonus in terms of drivability.

As for this gallery, it's just the tip of the iceberg of what we have planned around this particular XJ220, stay tuned...
































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