Four brilliant used V8 Jaguars for the price of a new Volkswagen Golf

The initial furore around the marketing campaign and the concept may have died down but the topic of Jaguar’s future is still prime pub chat, for everyone from the most avid enthusiasts to casual observers. Will the most ambitious automotive rebrand we've seen since, well take your pick from Ford or Vauxhall, actually work? Or will this next, more exclusive, monolithic, electric-only incarnation of Jaguar flame out? 

Either way, Jaguar as we’ve come to know and love it is certifiably dead. But if you’re unsure about Jaguar’s electric future, you can always buy a slice of its supercharged past, often for less than a base-spec Volkswagen Golf… 

Jaguar F-type R Coupe

Prices from: <£30,000

Apart from the P450 high on which the F-type went out, the 542bhp Jaguar F-type R coupe of 2014 is probably the pinnacle of the now snuffed-out outgoing Jaguar era, at least for those with our sensibilities. Those elegant lines and the curvaceous bodywork belie the tyre-smoking hooligan that lays within.

 But to dismiss the F-type R as a lager loutish burnout machine is to miss out on the kind of joyous driving experience that nearly made it an evo Car of the Year winner in 2014. It would have been, save for the only car that was place first unanimously by all judges on the test, the Ferrari 458 Speciale. The Jaguar wasn’t dynamically perfect but it just had you grinning, bathing in its character – the thrills an F-type R can deliver are normally the preserve of supercars.

‘The R Coupe has it all: looks and presence, a thunderous soundtrack, ballistic performance and an ability to put you at the centre of it all,’ Richard Meaden said delivering his car of the year verdict.

‘Yes, you can pick holes in certain aspects of the dynamics, but the wider experience is always immensely satisfying. Ultimately, it’s a car that quickly gets under your skin and unfailingly makes you smile. What more can you ask for than that?’

> Find a used Jaguar F-Type here

The Ferrari can’t be had these days for less than £300k. The F-type R? Plenty are out there and available for less than £30,000 or in other words, less than the list price of a new Polo GTI… There are a few things to look out for, being a Jaguar and being a very powerful, famously lairy rear-wheel drive car, but they are generally fairly solid. The 5-litre supercharged V8 is a development of a long-serving, well-understood engine. 

But as well as making sure your car has a bombproof service and MOT history with evidence, you’re going to want to listen out for rattly timing chains and make sure the water pump’s been replaced, or replacement of it is factored into the price. Check everything works in terms of electrics and toys too as these cars aren’t above having gremlins. And of course, check for accident damage – mismatched paint and panels that don’t quite fit – as well as what life is left in the tyres and brakes.

Jaguar F-Pace SVR

Prices from <£30,000

A gaudy performance SUV usually isn’t the first port of call for us in our pursuit of the thrill of driving. We’d ordinarily take any lighter, lower sports coupe, saloon or super estate in their stead. But Jaguar’s, the F-Pace SVR, really was better than most – crucially, not ruined in terms of its refinement with a relentless pursuit of stiffness and raw track performance. The 542bhp 5-litre V8 plays a starring role of course (as it does in every entrant here) but it’s not just a feckless SUV that happens to have a cool engine and be capable of 0-62mph in 4sec and a near 180mph top speed. 

Instead the F-Pace SVR (especially in its 2021 facelifted form with a revised interior, driving modes, damping and a gearbox that can deliver full torque in every gear) plays the role of a fast estate in all but its silhouette with aplomb. Which makes sense given it shares a lot of its technical underpinning with Jaguar’s saloons, the XE and XF. It was right in the mix with many of its rivals, sweeping aside BMW’s compromised X3 M and bringing the fight to the charismatic and capable Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio and the lighter, almost hot hatch-like, Porsche Macan Turbo.

> Find a used Jaguar F-Pace SVR here

An SUV with a Jaguar badge with a list price of over £80,000 will have had any finance department’s depreciation calculator sweating. Happily, that means they’re really quite interestingly priced now, with the earliest cars available from less than £30,000k and even the more talented facelifts around for in the region of £45,000. It has the same engine issues with regards to the timing chains and water pump that afflict the F-type. Being heavy four-wheel drive SUVs, they’re harsher on their larger tyres and brakes in day-to-day use than lower lighter cars. Then of course, replacing them will be more expensive than for a conventional F-Pace.

Jaguar XJR (X351)

Prices from < £25,000

We might be staring down the barrel of a revolutionary, transformative modernisation of Jaguar but we’ve actually been here before. Remember the last Jaguar XJ? Name another car that quite so comprehensively transformed, ditching what came before, which was about as staid and unchanging as car styling gets. It’s a design that still looks good and modern to this day. 

Very different though the last car was to the ‘grandad spec’ XJs, the X351 XJ was still a proper full-sized Jaguar – luxurious, cossetting but more lithe and engaging than its German rivals. Especially in XJR form with, you guessed it, the supercharged V8. It also featured a clever, relatively light aluminium construction, first seen weirdly enough on the last of the ‘old’ XJs.

The only thing more depreciative than an SUV with a Jaguar badge, is probably a luxury limousine with a Jaguar badge. Right? With the X351, that’s not quite come to pass. They didn’t sell many of the last XJRs which means they’re rare. Being aluminium, they don’t really rust and with that V8 and its known maintenance points, they’re not catastrophically unreliable. So while prices between £20,000 and £35,000 are sturdy, their values shouldn’t halve overnight.

Jaguar XKR (2010-)

Prices from <£20,000 

Confession time. There was a worry that looking at used V8 Jaguars would eventually land us in the land of ‘old V8 snotters’. This last of our quartet is nearing that era, but not quite. The Callum-designed XK is still one of the prettiest cars of the last 20 years to the eyes of many, if overshadowed somewhat by the astonishing F-Type that all but succeeded it. Now, it’s one of the great champagne looks on a lemonade budget cars, although early XK8s and even XKRs that have covered plenty of miles are close to scrap value and not worth saving.

We’re focussing here on the later more powerful, facelifted cars of 2011 onwards. With more modern looks, the 500bhp, 5-litre supercharged V8 – the first of its many appearances – plus a differential that won’t just spin up the inside wheel, this is an XKR that still feels fast and somewhat fresh today. The XK was never and an out and out sports car but successfully straddling the GT and sports car line like few others. Any comparison with an equivalent 911 was a foregone conclusion as a driver’s car but it was charming, with an inimitable ‘Jag’ character all of its own and real firepower.

Early XKRs for under £8000 are for the brave and those with at least as much left over to remediate gremlins. The cars we’re really interested in are out there for £15-£20,000. The very best facelifted cars with low miles will be mid-twenties. Between that or a worn out gen-1 997 series 911 Carrera with a Tiptronic gearbox, bore score and a rattly IMS bearing? It’s an easy, non-German choice.