JAGUAR NAILS IT....

I recently worked on a co-op column with my good e-friend Brett Berk for his Vanity fair blog. It was a sort of hilarious "gay guy and the diva play cars" review of a couple of Jaguars; the supercharged XKR, which Brett covered and the XFR, which I test drove. I was a bit harsh about Jaguar's loss of their distinctive silhouette and I'm sorry but there's nothing as whiny as a disappointed Jaguar fanatic who fell in love with an E-Type years ago and has been driving Jags ever since.
Last week however, I laid eyes on the new XJ and fell in love all over again. I really think Ian Callum (Design Director,Jaguar Cars) has nailed it on this sleek and elegant cat. The model I crawled all over was the XJL (the long wheelbase) whose extra inches emphasize the short, clean-lined rear deck, the long sloping bonnet and those muscular twenty-inch wheels that make the car look like a piece of moving sculpture even when its parked.
There is a choice of models and horsepower, ranging from the not-so-plain vanilla XJ with its 5.0 liter v8 that churns out a respectable 385 HP up to the XJL Supersport packing 510 HP under it's hood (or bonnet if you prefer). Prices start at $72,500 and escalate to well over $100K but if you ache to own Jaguar's future iconic silhouette, any one of the models will do very nicely indeed.
Jaguar's range of color options is one of the most stylish in the industry; two solids and eleven stunning metallics for the exterior, eight interior combos and five veneers (including carbon fiber although it will cost you). Given my druthers, I'd opt for an exterior called "Caviar metallic" with cashew leather seats piped in truffle and stick with Jaguar's classic burled walnut veneer. Luscious!!!!
By the way, the only people who still think only men choose cars are the dinosaurs in the automobile industry. Wonder if they've heard bout Miami's own Ladies Lamborghini Club?