Browse over 9,000 car reviews

Maserati Ghibli vs Jaguar XJ

What's the difference?

VS
Maserati Ghibli
Maserati Ghibli

$119,990 - $208,880

2021 price

Jaguar XJ
Jaguar XJ

$69,800 - $74,990

2017 price

Summary

2021 Maserati Ghibli
2017 Jaguar XJ
Safety Rating

Engine Type
S/C & T/C V8, 3.8L

Supercharged V8, 5.0L
Fuel Type
Premium Unleaded Petrol

Premium Unleaded Petrol
Fuel Efficiency
12.3L/100km (combined)

11.6L/100km (combined)
Seating
5

5
Dislikes
  • Seats lovely but a bit firm
  • Confused sense of identity
  • Expensive

  • Options pricing
  • InControl software a bit ordinary
  • Too much in-cabin chrome
2021 Maserati Ghibli Summary

Maseratis make a certain amount of sense to a certain kind of person. As the folks who run the brand in Australia will tell you, its buyers are the kind of people who’ve driven German premium vehicles, but find themselves wanting something more. 

They are older, wiser and, most importantly, richer. 

While it’s easy to see the high-end lure of Maserati’s Italian sex appeal styling and luxuriously appointed interiors, they’ve always struck me as cruisers rather than bruisers. 

Again, they’re for the older, more generously padded buyer, which makes the Trofeo range something of an oddity. Maserati says its Trofeo badge - seen here on its mid-sized sedan, the Ghibli, which sits below the vast Quattroporte limousine (and side on to the other car in the range, the SUV Levante) - is all about the "Art of Fast". 

And it certainly is fast, with a whopping V8 driving the rear wheels. It’s also completely bonkers, a luxury car with the heart of a track-chomping monster. 

Which is why Maserati chose to launch it at the Sydney Motorsport Park complex, where we could see just how quick and crazy it is. 

The big question is, why? And perhaps who, because it’s hard to imagine who wants, or needs, a car with such severe schizophrenia. 

View full pricing & specs
2017 Jaguar XJ Summary

As a child, my parents - who aren't car people - would see a Jaguar and point. It didn't matter if it was an XJ, Daimler Double Six or a Mark II, there was a great deal of mystique around these bastions of Britishness. It also didn't matter that these weren't necessarily good cars. The Seventies and Eighties saw the brand slide into a funk while being passed between owners like hot potatoes.

Somehow, the brand survived its brush with Ford's useless Premier Automotive Group strategy which only came good towards the end as Jaguar's management woke up and put in place a change in direction that produced the Ian Callum-designed XF. Riding high on that design, Jaguar then promptly introduced the very pretty Jaguar XJ.

It has been on sale for ages, but with the addition of a few bits and bobs to stay competitive, it's as compelling as ever. Most importantly, the performance-focused R has kept its unique supercharged V8.

View full pricing & specs

Deep dive comparison

2021 Maserati Ghibli 2017 Jaguar XJ

Change vehicle