2000 Jaguar S-Type

If it's sleek looking, quick, and prowls as smoothly and quietly as a cat, then it must indeed be a Jaguar. But how does the eagerly awaited 2000 S-Type perform?

Between late April and early May, the all-new 2000 S-Type joined Jaguar's two-seater XK8 and the longer, heavier XJ8 sedan in North American showrooms. Today, it's making a convincing statement in regard to corporate parent Ford's careful husbanding of the Jaguar brand. Initially, though, news of this junior Jag was not well received.

Simply the announcement of this vehicle a few years ago garnered the type of dismissive criticism an overly ambitious high-school production of "Hamlet" might receive. Old fans of the marque arose, along with sectors of the motoring press, to express skepticism bordering on contempt for the idea of a higher-volume car. This lack of faith reached its low point when Jaguar and Ford Motor "leaked" news that a Lincoln and perhaps even a Ford would share critical parts of the baby Jaguar's suspension, select driveline pieces, and floorpan and crash structure. No doubt, visions of bechromed Taurus sedans with "leaper" mascots glued to their hoods danced in imaginations as Jaguar management attempted to explain its higher-volume, less-costly model. (Jaguar predicts sales of 20,000 units in North America in its first full year of production.) Since then, the newly announced Lincoln LS sedan and Thunderbird roadster were revealed as the car's platformmates. But given our drive and test, we're thinking the Lincoln and the T-Bird may be considerably better for the crossbreeding, rather than the Jaguar weaker for it.

Particularly with the lusty 4.0-liter/281-horsepower DOHC V-8, the S-Type offers stone-serious performance. But, of course, fast without refinement wouldn't have made a proper Jaguar. What we found was a remarkable level of quiet and vibration-free muscle built into this car's powertrain.

The V-8 under the S-Type's bonnet is essentially the same, 32-valve all-aluminum V-8 introduced in the XK8 in '96. Called the AJ, it makes 281 silken ponies and 287 pound-feet of torque. With essentially the same engine and almost 200 pounds less mass than the heavier XJ sedan, the S jumped to 60 mph in just 7.0 seconds and a quarter mile was consumed in 15.3 seconds at 91.9 mph. Not a BMW 540i-slayer, but it does put this sedan in such fast company as Lexus GS 300 and Mercedes-Benz E320. (Note that both of those competitors are six-cylinders. Opt for their V-8 versions, and prepare to eat Jaguar fur.)

For S buyers less power hungry, an interesting alternative is a sophisticated all-aluminum, 60-degree, 3.0-liter V-6. This 7000-rpm DOHC engine generates 240 eager horsepower at 6800 rpm and 221 pound-feet of torque at 4500. And to ensure this motor will also yield low-rev grunt, as well as the obvious crank-spooling muscle, it's fitted with variable cam timing and variable intake-manifold geometry. Drivers have 90 percent of this engine's torque on tap from just 2500 rpm, and 0-60 times are about 0.5 second slower than with the V-8.

Backing both of these impressive engines is an all-new, five-speed automatic designed and developed jointly by Jaguar and Ford. (The Jaguar XJ uses either a ZF or a Mercedes-Benz five-speed automatic.) This new tranny provides stellar shift quality throughout its ratio range from first up to its tall, highway-gobbling 0.75 fifth. Drivers can select "normal" or "sport" shifts using a switch on the shiftgate's trim plate. Horses surge silently through this all-aluminum box and on to the double-isolated rear differential via a laser and computer balanced two-piece steel driveshaft.