The magazines are mostly lazy, and don't actually test. they just copy from the brochure (5.5 sec.) But the brochure is very conservative. I did read one test they got repeatedly 5.1 sec. stock
Same with the 5.0 supercharged. The brochure says 4.7 sec., but I read somewhere they are getting 4.3 sec. stock

What do you think?

 

The meaningful numbers are 30 - 50, 50 - 70, 70 - 90, 90 - 110. Your ability to overtake safely and get out of trouble are what counts.

 

Depends on how you launch the car. If you left foot brake and wind out the engine then perhaps you will shave a bit off the official time. You may be shopping for a new transmission shortly.

Manufacturers tend to test more conservatively which gives a much more useful real world figure.

Only North Americans are obsessed with 0-60 times. In real world driving one does not often need to make an optimum standing start. One does frequently have to make a pass in safety on the highway. Roll on acceleration times are the only times that really matter to enthusiast drivers. How long am I going to be in the oncoming lane? Minimum time means maximum safety. Mind you, I recently drove a Nissan GTR which accelerates so fiercely from any speed including from standing starts that passing maneuvers occur in the blink of an eye and at very, very high terminal speeds....the first car I have had to routinely get out of the throttle while in the oncoming lane just to keep the maximum speed halfway reasonable. Unbelievably quick roll on acceleration.

 

To speak to your question as opposed to the relevance of the numbers, yes, Jaguar, like most manufacturers, publishes conservative times. For the normally aspirated 5.0 I've seen tested times of 5.1-5.4. For the SC the range I've seen is 4.2-4.4 with the XFR proving to be no faster to 60. The mags/sites that actually test are the better source for this info.

Interestingly, Jaguar's UK site lists 0-60 and 0-100kph times despite this only being a North American "obsession".

 

Various UK and Euro magazines I've subscribed to over the years also use 0-60 (or 0-100km) as a benchmark. I think it's universal.

A Jaguar engineer mentioned that the XJR/6 was built with a 3.27 diff (versus 3.58) for the sole purpose of keeping the 0-60 time under 6.0 seconds....only one shift was required rather than two! As it turns out only a couple hundred were built with manual transmissions but the bragging rights were in place :-).

I agree that it isn't a very useful measurement in real-world terms but I know some who will come to fisticuffs arguing over a tenth or two on the 0-60 blast, as though 4.8 seconds versus 4.6 relegates one car to the junkpile while the other is elevated to king of the road.

Cheers
DD

 

Ok so I am not in any sort of position to get hold of one of these gorgeous motors so can't really comment on the 0-60.

Over here though most sales brochures are heavily emphasising the emissions and tax classes rather than the 0-60 and as already mentionned the mid range accelerations are way more important.

Even top end does not count because it is usually electronically limited and there is no where that you can drive at this anyhow, except on a private track.

If you ever get over to Germany for a blast, you will soon need some sort of medication and a change of smalls.

Just my 2c

 

Standing start quarter mile means something and relates more readily to real world driving. 0-60 depends too much on getting hooked up off the line, not useful for real world driving.

0-100 km/hr is just the metric version for the Germans to compare. Sometimes that 2 mph can make a difference depending on where the shift point is.

 

So my question is, why do the UK sites for Jaguar, BMW, Audi, etc. list 0-60 and/or 0-100kph times when this is only a North American obsession and the 0-100 is "for the Germans"?

 

IMHO, it is historical. I remember as a kid in the 60's that we used to pour over car related bumf and search out the 0-60 and top speeds.

I seem to remember that the quickest was the V8 Aston Martin at 5.4s. and that was the one we all wanted.

My first car would just about do 70, down hill with a tail wind, as for 0-60, well....

It is just that we have become used to seeing them, I personally much prefer to see something in the 40-80 range for overtaking purposes.

Also the distance and time for 70 to 0, 50-0, 40-0, and 30-0, I feel to be more use than wondering how fast I can hit 60 from a red traffic light.

But each to their own preference.

 

Right, so the answer is that 0-60/0-100 times are NOT only a North American obsession or for Germans.

 

My favorite reference to 0 - 60 times was an ad for the Citroen 2CV in UK. The ad called out the various "features" of the 2CV and for the 0 - 60 the answer was simply "yes". As the 2CV barely made it to 70mph the self-depracating humor was truly wonderful!

 

I had a yellow left hand (wrong side) drive 2CV when I was a student in England back in the 70s. You really didn't want it to go much faster than 70 especially when going around corners. It had almost as much lean as a motorcycle. Interesting gear lever too, stuck out of the dash, push, pull twist to the right, twist to the left.

 

The yellow ones were significantly faster than any other color - it's just that Citroen couldn't reveal the secret...