Prince assessment rate of 20 years ago

- Expert test drive Andrew Frankel had the opportunity to test drive and make judgments about the Jaguar XJ220 supercar, King of the speed in the world of supercars.
In 1988, Jaguar announced a new concept at the NEC Auto Show, held in the city of Birmingham, England. It is a research prototype being developed for a lightweight supercar concept is equipped with mid-engined with the aim to compete with the Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959.
The heart of the car is the 6.2 liter V12 engine block from XJR-9 race car, combined with four-wheel drive system, designed scissor doors and speed "target" is 355 km / h. The car then turned to with XJ220 name.
Due to the great demand from our customers, combined with Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw to develop the production version of this car, a car-style great design and high-performance of a race car.
The production version of the XJ220 was introduced in 1989, and the price is given when there is £ 361,000, preset amount customers need to be able to own this car is 50,000 pounds. Initially Jaguar plans to manufacture 350 units XJ220, but its orders received up to 1,500 units.
Then the recession happened in 1992, and the car market seriously affected, and the amount of car production XJ220 plan reduced to 350 just like the original figure given.
Although retained the style of a concept introduced in 1989, however, a major change took place with the production version of this car. Jaguar V12 engine was replaced on the concept by block V6 Twin-Turbo 3.5-liter engine block from racing cars Austin Metro 6R4, the Jaguar XJR-10 and XJR-11. Pair of scissor doors and four-wheel drive system also discarded, instead pair of doors open horizontal "normal" and rear wheel drive system.
These changes have led to severe criticism and Jaguar's supercar never be able to spend as much love as its rivals.
Block V6 engine on the Jaguar XJ220 has a capacity of 550 hp, maximum torque 645 Nm. This power Jaguar XJ220 can increase the speed from 0-100 km / h in 3.8 seconds and reaches a top speed of 350 km / h, and this is the "speed king" in the early '90 's half of the the 20th century. Jaguar XJ220 officially pass "record speed" when it was the Ferrari F40, this car has a maximum speed of 340 km / h. XJ220 record only broken by the McLaren F1, the fastest car of the 20th century.