Here’s A Rare Chance To Buy A Jaguar XE SV Project 8

If time has been kind to any car, we think the Jaguar XE SV Project 8 is a contender as one of the biggest beneficiaries.

Subjectively, at launch, it didn’t really make much sense. Here was a four-door commuter saloon car stripped out to be a track car, suddenly becoming a two-seater, a less practical version of a car designed to be inherently quite practical.

Sure, it had a lot of performance. A fire-breathing 5.0-litre supercharged V8 with 592bhp and 516lb ft of torque put this BMW M3-sized Brit hot on the heels of an M5. 0-62mph in 3.3 seconds, and a 200mph top speed. Crikey.

Throw in a trick all-wheel drive system, wider tracks and lots of weight-saving measures such as carbon fibre wheelarches and bumpers, and it was indeed a very serious bit of kit.

As such, it commanded a very serious price. A fiver shy of £150,000 if you ordered one in 2017. Oh, and less helpfully for those in the UK, all 300 cars made were left-hand drive, despite being built in Coventry.

While it reviewed well, sales were, unsurprisingly, pretty slow. It took three years to find homes for the full allocation, and even then, it took the introduction of a Touring model – returning the rear seats, losing the mad rear wing and adding a few more creature comforts – to shift all of them.

Objectively? What a seriously cool thing. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing the 5.0-litre V8 at full chat, you’ll know visceral a thing it is. That was matched by the driving experience too. Raw, savage, just absolutely brilliant.

As time has passed, the Project 8’s magnificence has only become more obvious as Jaguar ditches combustion power completely, fire-breathing V8s fall by the wayside, and the idea of balls-out track specials appears to disappear from the face of the new car market.

So when one comes up for sale, it’s hard not to shine a light on it. This 2018 Track pack car has covered just 4,167 miles, and looks the absolute business in its matte grey paint finish, complete with the leaper graphics.

It still won’t go for cheap, mind you. As we’re writing this, the Collecting Cars auction has a sole bid and six days to go, but it’s already at £50,000. We’d expect that to at least double, and then some. When will you get this chance again, though?