Estate Car & MPV - January / February 1994
CAT'S WHISKERS by Tony Robinson
If the current crop of state of art high tech estates
doesn’t appeal and you’re looking for that extra touch of class and
exclusivity, Lynx Motors International well established conversion on the XJS
coupe could be the answer.
From
time to time specialist automotive engineering and coachbuilding companies
manage to upstage the establishment with high quality and seriously well thought
out bespoke products. Among them Crayford spent many years chopping tops off
Fords to create some interesting convertibles while Costello Engineering in Kent
shoe-horned Rover V8s under the bonnets of MGB's so successfully that MG
eventually rose to the bait and did the same on their own production lines to
produce what became the ultimate "B".
Tucked away far
from the hubbub of the motor industry in Hastings, is Lynx Motors International
Ltd, a company who can reasonably claim to be the cats whisker's of the estate
car business by specialising in turning XJSs into something rather more
practical than the rather cramped 2x2 which Jaguar originally invented.
Our first experience
with a Lynx in 1991 left us feeling highly favourable towards the breed. Despite
some quite drastic looking incisions, principally as one might expect into the
roof, Lynx's fine attention to detail is such that there's no evidence at all to
suggest that this isn't a factory model from the outset. In fact, John
Mayston-Taylor, Lynx's Managing Director, makes the point that there's
absolutely no loss of structural integrity as a result of their work, if
anything he says, the Lynx is potentially stronger than the new coupe. Not
surprisingly then, the two Lynx estates we've driven, including the newer
conversion pictured here, were both entirely rattle and squeak free and neither
showed any sign of the type of structural flexing that is commonly a fault of
the convertible and converted.
Although recent
improvements to the Lynx Eventer may seem minor, the new look tailgate required
considerable revisions in the sheet metal department and is beautifully
engineered. Among the benefits, the previously rather crude external hinges have
been incorporated
Perhaps the biggest
surprise about the Eventer is that it doesn't drive any differently from the
coupe from which it's honed. For all the work that Lynx put into the conversion,
there are no changes to the floorpan or running gear and there's certainly no
change in handling or balance due to that extra long roof.
So you get a car
with all the legendary characteristics of the marque, including a superbly
supple ride and immensely high speed cornering stability. Under the bonnet you
can have either the seductively smooth V12 5.3 litre which will whisk you almost
silently to 60 mph in around 8 seconds or the 3.6-litre straight six. There is
also one XJRS Eventer at large, a full 6.0-litres worth, spoilers and all, let
loose around the Autumn of 1993.
Lynx are just as
happy to work with a four or five year old donor car as they are with a brand
new one, so the price of joining this elite group of estate car owners (around
55 to date) can vary widely. Lynx,
for their part, will relieve you of £19,500+VAT. As that includes by necessity
a full repaint and interior re-trim, the idea of acquiring a bodily slightly
tatty coupe as the starting point is probably quite a sound way to kick-off.
Allowing say £16,000 to £18,000 for a 30,000 mile example, you'll be looking
at the thick end of £35,000 to £40,000, not cheap by comparison with state of
the art high performers such as the Audi S2 and S4 and BMW 530i V8.
For the Jaguar man
though, this won't matter a bit and for street appeal we've not yet driven any
estate which turns so many heads. From Park Lane to the M25 admirers are
