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Originally Posted by montreal red
what a car..... what are your thoughts on the XJ220 vs the 959 after driving both?? which would you rather have?  |
The XJ220 is a suprisingly easy car to drive normally.Good progressive clutch with a transmission that shifts well with some effort,Steering has a ton of feedback is somewhat heavy as there is no power assist and has a very large turning circle.The engine quite refined with tons of turbo lag till you see 3000+ rpm.Most of the engine sounds in the cabin are drowned out by the boost & main fuel pumps at low speeds with not a lot of induction,turbo whine or exhaust noise being that audible at cruise speed.Full throttle only raises the noise level to a moderate level.Quite civilized actually!
The bad part about the Jag is that it is a 2 decade old supercar.Getting in & out of this vehicle is quite a challenge for myself as the doors do not open very wide so getting your feet in creates a challenge.With the seat adjusted so my head is not touching the roof the steering wheel is at the end of my reach which means you have no leverage for the heavy steering at parking speeds.Drive any other supercar of this era and it all pretty familar as far as the egronomics are concerned.
The 959 drives just like any other 911 of that time period which means it is a very easy car to hop in & drive.The 959 is somewhat different in having tons of power on boost over 4500 and lots of lag below that but with decent drivability at lower power settings.To remember the normal Turbos of that era had nothing below 3500 and only a 4 speed so you really had to work to keep them on boost.For normal use the 959 could be used as an everyday car if you really wanted to which you could never do with the XJ220.
I have not driven these cars at any real quick speeds so these are observations while driving them around in the Toronto area.If I was to bring one car out to the track it would be the 959 and that will more than likely never happen.I am more than fortunate to have these cars under my care and have the chance to drive & show them.