New Jaguar XJ growls ultra high-end sound system

London's Saatchi gallery was the setting for Jaguar's unveiling of the new XJ – a luxury saloon aimed at the business market.

The new models were right at home at a gallery known for hosting collections of strange and envelope-pushing art as inside their opulent leather and oak-lined cabins was some cutting edge in-car technology.

Jaguar gets its claws into B&W

Costing upwards of £52,500 the new Jaguar XJ comes in four specification levels: luxury, premium luxury, portfolio and supersport. But for fat cats with company expenses that can stretch the Portfolio model, costing from £62,900, has a 1200 Watt, 20-speaker, Bowers & Wilkins audio system. It also has a Class-D amplifier.

The $5000 setup, which puts most home systems to shame powers music through 15 channels of sound processing and is the first automotive application of the Audyssey MultEQ XT tuning system to digitally correct imperfections in the source.

The XJ is also the first car to implement Dolby Pro Logic IIx, meaning every seat in the car benefits from 7.1 surround sound.

Other tech delights the XJ offers

At the front virtual dials appear from nowhere when the car is turned on, replacing old analogue dash dials. Displayed on a 12.3in TFT the dials tell you speed and revs, but a panel on the left changes between navigation, audio, or telephone at the driver's discretion or while they're being pampered in the massage seat. The speedo and rev counter even glow red when in Dynamic mode to tell you when to change gear.

In the centre console there's an 8in, WVGA, dual view monitor that'll prevent in-car arguments as it allows driver and passenger to watch separate content from their seating position.

Dual View won't benefit those in the back, but with independent 8in LCD monitors in head rests, a touchscreen remote and the first use of Dolby Digital infra-red headphones in a car system we doubt you'll hear many complaints.

With this amount of technology – plus all the stuff we haven't mentioned – Arthur Daley wouldn't know where to put himself. But for those wanting to get in the driving seat (or backseat, for that matter) the XJ is on sale now with customer deliveries starting early 2010.

For more information visit www.jaguar.com/allnewxj