Yahoo Autos The 2019 Jaguar XE SV Project 8 Is Fast, Furious, and Fantastic
The 2019 Jaguar XE SV Project 8 may or may not have been built to set the lap record for production sedans around the Nürburgring Nordschleife, but that's exactly what it did, circling the rising and plunging 12.9-mile toll road in Germany's verdant Eifel forest in just seven minutes and 21 seconds. That's about four seconds quicker than the time set by the second-quickest four-seater, the 2019 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S.
Some have placed asterisks on Jaguar's claim of sedan supremacy at the 'Ring. This is because the record run was technically made in a "production intent" prototype, not an official production model. Also, for the record lap, Jaguar put the car's adjustable suspension in Track mode, which lowers the dampers by 0.6 inch, and set the aero addenda to their most downforce-generating positions, which involves manually extending the carbon-fiber splitter by 2.4 inches from its already ground-scraping chin and jacking the rear wing into an aggressive forward lean. (Granted, this can be done with the tools provided with every Project 8.) And there's some debate about the meaning of "production sedan" when only 300 examples will be built. But we digress.
Track Cat
Roughly a year and a half after Jaguar set its lap record, a Velocity Blue XE SV Project 8 test car made its way into our hands. It's quite a sight, too, with a visual impact that momentarily renders any concern about its actual go-fast credentials moot. With its dramatic wide-body fenders sitting low over its dark 20-inch wheels shod with specially developed ZR-rated Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, plus all of the unpainted carbon-fiber aero bits, it looks as extreme as anything you'd find cruising Sunset Boulevard on a Saturday night. Even if the front fascia wasn't perforated with graduating hexagons and the body hadn't been plastered with obnoxious (and fortunately optional) SVO and leaping-cat graphics, any tale you might make up about this car's track-day dominance would likely be believed. And exactly no one who approached us believed the Project 8 actually came equipped this way from the factory; instead, we got lots of compliments on our "mods."
But the Project 8 does come like this, and at $188,495 to start. Along with its 592-hp supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 and eight-speed automatic transmission, our test car featured an 825-watt Meridian sound system, a head-up display, and smartphone and GoPro installation kits, but it skipped the optional traffic-sign-recognition and adaptive-speed-limiter system, the heated windshield, and the Smoker's package. Versions destined for the United States do without the optional Track package available in other markets that includes a pair of lightweight carbon-fiber racing seats with four-point harnesses and a harness-retention hoop in place of the rear seats, which shaves a claimed 27 pounds from the car's curb weight. The Track package, which the Nürburgring record car was fitted with, also potentially summons another asterisk: Is a sedan still a sedan with rear doors but no rear seats? U.S. cars arrive in the standard configuration only, with two surprisingly comfortable bucket seats up front, two heavily bolstered rear seats, and a panoramic sunroof. Also, all Project 8s feature a digital gauge cluster with navigation and a 10.2-inch TouchPro infotainment system.
More Than Numbers
Keen to see if Jaguar's track star could live up to its hype, we hit the test track, where the all-wheel-drive Project 8 clocked an impressive 3.5-second zero-to-60-mph sprint and blasted through the quarter-mile in 11.8 seconds at 121 mph. While that's damn quick for a two-ton car, its run to 60 mph trails Jag's own 3.3-second claim as well as the times posted by more powerful (and less expensive) competitors such as the BMW M5 and the Mercedes-AMG E63 S 4Matic. The Project 8 also hauled itself down from 70 mph in a solid 148 feet and clawed around the skidpad with a excellent 1.05 g's of lateral grip (we kept our test car's suspension in its standard setup for comparison purposes and to maintain tolerable ride quality). Still, for all the ballyhoo, the unnecessary graphics, and, yes, that eye-watering price, we left the track impressed but with our minds unblown.
Until the next day, that is. This Jaguar is friskier out on the open road than under controlled circumstances. And while Southern California does not have the Nürburgring, it does have the Santa Monica Mountains. After a stint on the washboard-like 101 freeway, where the Project 8's stiff springs were clearly evident but the adaptive dampers preserved the integrity of our dental work, we set off blasting down winding canyon roads. It was there that the Project 8 blew our minds. Turn-in is shockingly quick, and the grip levels from the Cup 2 rubber are so high, even on choppy pavement, that you'll mutter new expletives rounding every bend. The communication of road textures through the chassis and the electrically assisted steering can be described as visceral, not academic, and we were soon charging into corners at speeds few other cars could handle. The Project 8 rotates nicely under braking and its adhesion through apexes is simply tenacious, yet it remains as composed as a librarian, exiting every bend with nary a chirp from the tires.
Nürburgring asterisks and sticker shock aside, Jaguar's XE SV Project 8 is brilliant. Sure, AMG's GT63 S 4-Door may be less expensive and more tastefully styled, and its smaller front splitter won't try to kiss every driveway it crosses. But the Project 8 is nothing short of epic, a four-door that makes virtually every outing feel like a record run.
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