In late 1997, the Jaguar ‘X300’ XJ6 became the car it should have been at launch thanks to the launch of the new AJ 16 V8 engine line-up.

Along with the new engine, the new ‘X308’ had a few visual tweaks – a new dashboard, better wood, clearer dials and rounder bumpers.

But beneath the exterior, which didn’t have an awful lot wrong with it anyway, the X308 was a thoroughly different beast with an entirely new suspension set up and a revised transmission. They were – and remain – glorious cars to drive.

This one is a properly rare beast – a 2002 ‘Sport’ spec, which was one-up from the entry-level car and was aimed at younger customers, identifiable by its body-coloured grille surround and mesh grille. The Sport specification was dropped early in the XJ8’s life but was reintroduced in 2001 as a special edition to help clear XJ8 stock ahead of the launch of the X350 XJ6 later that year.

Unlike the earlier cars, this one has the much improved steel-liner engine and is Euro 4 compliant, meaning that unlike most X308 XJs it can be driven in London’s Ultra-Low Emissions Zone and similar clean air zones throughout the UK with impunity – a huge selling point.

It’s a very smart and unusual variant of the XJ8 – a really rare spec in an especially handsome colour, with a pretty good history and supplied in full working order.

It’s now ready to go on to a collector, someone who appreciates its rarity in X308 terms and recognises it for the striking, unusual and covetable low-mileage example that it is.
 

 

BEFORE YOU BUY 

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