The Battle of British Muscle

The Battle of British Muscle


  • Total voters
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Upon further reflection, the Jag has got it hands down in North America. Too many ignorant Americans would confuse the Aston for a Mustang. The rest of the world? I still don't know.

That's why, as an American, I'd have one. The ignorant can think what they want.


Alas, I refuse to vote in this poll because I'd have both.
 
For me it's the Jaguar, easily. It's awesome. And I really don't like Aston Martin at all.




Man, that thing's fuckin' bookin' down Conrod! It sounds like it's getting pretty light over some of the bumps and crests, too. That guy has big balls.:cool:

That's Tom Walkinshaw himself at the wheel.

It was a sad day when he and Jaguar had a falling out over his proving them wrong about being able to cool the big V12 in a mid engine street car; Jaguar's in house engineering staff said that it couldn't be done (despite the Keith Helfet rogue group that had built the XJ220 prototype in secret and against company policy having done so) and put a V6 in the XJ220 instead of the prototype's V12/AWD drivetrain. Walkinshaw said they were wrong and came out with the V12-powered street legal XJR-15 under his JaguarSport joint venture with Jaguar, at the same time he was building the XJ220 for them. Jaguar was not amused - at this time, having been overrun by stuffed shirts and what would later be Ian Callum's crowd - and they ended JaguarSport. The R-models were originally developed by TWR/JaguarSport and their staff of racers; the last JaguarSport-developed car was the X300 XJR.

Big balls is a signature characteristic of Tom Walkinshaw. :D
 
I can't decide. Can I have both?
 
I imagine the XJ-S as a well-read, well-dressed slightly caddish gentleman who is challenged to a boxing match with the Aston; preparing for the event for weeks, training at an old-fashioned gym eating right, jogging, psyching himself ready to meet the big Aston, it enters the ring.

And is taken out with a single punch by the V8 Vantage.

I think the gentleman would just shoot his opponent in the face. It's all right because he drives Jaaaaaaaaaaaaag.
 
That's why, as an American, I'd have one. The ignorant can think what they want.

this^

as much as I tend to like crazy cars, there is also something awesome about a car like the original Vantage that is as nice to drive and as fast as its competition but attracts much less attention.

besides that, I've always had a probably almost completely irrational thing for Aston Martins...
 
As much as I like the older Aston Martins, I still have a soft spot for the Jaguar XJS. I didn't much care for the later models with the awkward rear lights, but the older models were a thing of beauty.
 
It was tough, but it came down to the fact that I've always wanted the Jag, and IMO the V8 Vantange looks like an awkward mustang.
 
For me, the V8 Vantage has some raw appeal the XJ-S just doesn't have. I love both, but the XJ-S just isn't exclusive or an aspiration. I could buy a bad example tomorrow.

The V8 Vantage is like a raw steak, brutal, bludgeoning. It's masculinity all summed up in one single object.
 
they're both Awesomesauce, but any Aston > any Jaaaaag
 
Vantage for me.
 
Spectre, do you know the specs for these XJR-S'?
 
^rhetorical question or what? :p
 
The problem with the XJR-S is that the factory claimed numbers do not match the actual observed performance of the car. In US trim, it was nominally rated at a standard 313hp for the early cars and later 328 (318 and 338 for Euro trim), but some people have gotten more than that at the rear wheels on a dyno. Also, a 313hp or 328hp engine will not make a heavy XJ-S do 0-60 that fast (spec was 6.5, many are faster, some do it in 6 flat), not with that TH400 automatic transmission and 2.88 rear diff ratio (top speed was a nominal 158mph, so they didn't get acceleration at the expense of top end). For comparison, my former 2000 XKR was 200lbs lighter, a lot more aerodynamic and had a nominal 57 horsepower advantage as well as a more favorable gearbox and rear diff ratio - and it was only about a second faster to 60 (5.3 sec) than the XJR-S. The later 6.0L XJS (different 6.0L variant) made 308hp in US spec, has the 4L80E transmission and a much better (3.58) rear gear ratio, and it is about a half to a second slower to 60 than the XJR-S (6.9 seconds). Which tells us that there is no *way* that the 318hp/TH400/2.88 car should be faster if everything is as claimed.

And, of course, TWR would tweak them to order, like Aston would do to their cars. They were all fitted with a specially programmable Zytek fuel injection/engine management system, so it was relatively easy to optimize a particular car with a custom fuel map. Additional power was just a note on the order form away, should you want it - along with many other optional performance-enhancing features. Every XJR-S was built to order and no two are the same in any respect; they really were bespoke Jaguars by way of TWR/JaguarSport.

From what I've been able to find, the average XJR-S left TWR with somewhere around 380 real horsepower and 400+ lb/ft of torque, with even more available through judicious tuning at TWR.
 
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They both made seriously badass race cars!

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