Video: listen to the Jaguar XE Project 8

Jaguar has done a very silly thing. It’s taken the supercharged V8 from the F-Type SVR, somehow extracted more power, and then fitted it to the smallest, most affordable car it makes.

The result is the Project 8, the company’s “most track-focused and powerful road car ever”. It has all-wheel drive, will do 200mph and is optionally available with a ‘cage and half as many seats as it has doors. It is, to all intents and purposes, a very serious thing. 

And it sounds serious, too. Watch the video up top to see what we’re on about, with the sound cranked to max and everyone within shouting distance gathered around.

Jaguar promised us it would “sound like no other Jaguar”, and while that’s not entirely true (there’s more than a hint of F-Type SVR there, as you’d expect), there is a healthy dose of supercharger whine. More than you get from the big F, certainly. More than you get from just about any other car, come to think of it.

The price is £150k, and Jag’s building 300. Literally everything you need to know is behind these words. Go there, then get your order in immediately.