First Drive: 2011 Jaguar XJ

XJ Yearbook Series I, 1968-73
The last completely new-looking XJ was in fact the first. Penned by Sir William Lyons, the 1968 XJ6 featured all the basic traits that would define the big sedan over the ensuing decades, including its sleek yet proper sheetmetal, silky road manners, and spotty reliability. The only element missing was effortless performance, which Jaguar addressed in 1972 with the 241-hp XJ12.
Engines: 4.2L I-6; 5.3L V-12 Series II, 1973-79
Minor surface changes-a smaller grille and raised bumpers-obscured more substantial mechanical changes including more efficient but less powerful engines and, for the first time, a long-wheelbase version.
Engines: 4.2L I-6; 5.3L V-12 Series III, 1979-86 (1979-92, V12)
A Pininfarina redesign incorporated U.S. bumper requirements, flattened the roofline, and generally modernized the XJ without changing its character. Jaguar introduced fuel injection on the more potent I-6.
Engines: 4.2L I-6; 5.3L V-12 XJ40 1986-94
Squared-off headlight surrounds (debased even further on U.S. models with single-unit lamps) seemed to signal cheaper execution, but build quality improved on this XJ, and it received thoroughly updated engines and electronics.
Engines: 4.0L I-6; 6.0L V-12 X300, 1994-97
The first XJ designed under Ford ownership returned to the more classic front end. The V-12 went away in 1997, replaced atop the Jaguar heap by the supercharged, 322-hp XJR.
Engines: 4.0L supercharged I-6; 4.0L I-6; 6.0L V-12 X308, 1997-2003
New V-8 engines replaced the traditional straight sixes, but in many respects, the "X308" was the last of the idiosyncratic, old-world XJs.
Engines: 4.0L V-8; 4.0L supercharged V-8 X350/X358, 2003-09
All the creases and curves may have looked familiar, but they were stamped on an aluminum unibody, which rode on air springs at all four corners (the new XJ has rear-only air suspension).
Engines: 4.2L V-8; 4.2L supercharged V-8