Jaguar XJ6 / XJ12 and Daimler Sovereign / Double Six
Series 1 (1968-73)

What the Press said...

Below is a list of magazines/journals in which the Series 1 XJ's appeared. If you have any additions/corrections to this list, please let me know!

• Autotest: June 12, 1969; May 13, 1971
• Auto Sport: August 6, 1970
• Car: March 1969
• Car & Driver: 1/1969; 4/1971; 9/1972 (V12); 5, 7/1973 (V12)
• Motor: 20/1969
• Motor Trend: 11/1972 (V12)
• Road Test: 12/1969; 1/1970, 5/1971, 11/1972 (V12), 7/1973 (V12)
• Road & Track: 8/1970, 12/1971, 2/1972, 2/1973, 9/1972 (V12), 5/1973 (V12)
• Wheels: January 1970

The Series 1 cars have also been featured fairly recently in several classic car magazines:

• Jaguar World: May/June 1996 (Ser. 1-3 overview)
• Markt - Klassische Automobile und Motorrader: 1/92 (Ser. 1-3 overview)
• Thoroughbred & Classic Cars: June/96 (XJ6 Ser. 1)

Here are some things that were said about these cars:

"The roadholding, wet or dry, is astonishing, and places great demands on your reserves of courage if you set out to find the limit. At times you would swear the car would fall over rather than break away (in fact it won't)."
"But it is probably the best this nation can offer, and certainly among the best any nation has known in 75 years."

CAR, March 1969 (A scan of the main page of this article is available here)

"We believe that in its behavior it gets closer to overall perfection than any other luxury car we have tested, regardless of price."
"The car just floats round corners with such enormous reserves of adhesion that the driver's nerve will invariably be lost before the grip."

MOTOR Road Test, No 20/1969

"..everyone was impressed with the completely out-of-its-class ride and silence. With certain qualifications we would say it is the smoothest and quietest car we have ever driven or been driven in."
"We tried on wet as well as dry roads to unstick these amazing great tyres, but without success"
"..there was always far more cornering power than we could use."
"If Jaguar were to double the price of the XJ6 and bill it as the best car in the world, we would be right there behind them."
"As it stands at the moment, dynamically, it has no equal regardless of price, which explains those 12-months delivery quotes from dealers and black market prices 1000 over list."

Autotest, 12 June 1969

"There is absolutely no car on the market today that can approach it in any field at anywhere near the price, and certainly at the same price there are none that can offer so much automobile for the money."
"If they doubled the price it would still be a great buy."

Road Test, December 1969

"The Jaguar XJ6 also just happens to be the best riding car we have ever driven, and its ride/handling ratio is not equaled by any other car we can think of."
"The car seems to glide over potholes, spoon drains and dips without actually touching them, and the sensation is vastly superior to any type of hydro suspension available. Despite this smoothness the car is absolutely precise, firm, definite and predictable in its handling."
"Pushed harder and harder the car hangs on better and better, bites the road even firmer."
"the Jaguar's wheel always transmits total direction information to the driver, without informing him of road condition. This is probably the hardest thing to adjust to - since all appreciation of road condition must be visual."
"Panic stops from 60 mph were achieved in dead straight lines, in such short times and distances that our drivers were very nearly physically sick."

WHEELS Road Test, January 1970

"If you do not intend to buy a XJ6, don't try one, for ordinary cars will be spoilt for you thereafter. This is a very special kind of motoring."

Auto Sport, August 6, 1970

"The ride in this new Jaguar has smoothness and quiet that few people have had the good fortune to experience. There is absolutely no noise within the car at all."
"The outside world is insulated from the passengers to a degree rarely experienced. On smooth surfaces, the ride is so soft and comfortable that it is hard to believe that the suspension is done by metal. On rough surfaces the XJ takes little notice of bumps, no matter at what speeds they are taken."

Road Test, January 1970

"Terms like understeer and oversteer tend to lose their meaning, the car simply going exactly where it is pointed."
"its unique blend of comfort, silence stability and value for money has no equal anywhere in the world."

Autotest, May 13 1971

Last updated on 03/08/00 by Henry Fok. Send your comments to: spectre@jag-lovers.org.

Special thanks for supplying text material to Gunnar Forsgren.