Albert,

Congratulations on the XKR. I'm very happy for you and glad at the same time you didn't go for a Vette. As you said, gentlemen can only be seen in classic GTs.

Looking forward to the pictures.

 

Totally agree and this is the reason I ended up in the XKR. Just no comparison for comfort.

 

Hmmm... are you in the wrong car, my friend? Of course, not all British are Gentlemen, there are some..., as one British tester described the character of the F-type after blasting down the road with the exhaust switch flipped to open; His one word description was:

"HOOLIGAN"

I kind of agree. Once I did the same in the F-type, I mentally apologized to all the people whom I blasted-by and scared the pants off and made the mental note NEVER to use that exhaust feature again, as long as I lived. It WAS HOOLIGAN!!! Can not imagine how Jaguar gets by the local sound restriction laws?

No, the XKR is a polar opposite: It means warm, dark paneled Gentelmen's Club, attending polo derbies in tweed jackets, speak the Queens English with that slightly stiff upper lip...

I love the XKR as it is. I am not one who wants to replace the warm wood in the traditional Jaguars with aluminum or plain materials as in the F-type. Not sure why Ian feels the need to "modernize" Jaguars by deleting the oval front intake, the warm wood that every other manufacturer still trying to imitate. There are things that make a certain traditional product distinctive and attractive and wood and the oval intake were two big features that always attracted people to Jaguars.

So, call yourself what ever you find best, Gentleman or not, your choice does put you in a box, a box that is not half-bad to be categorized into.

 

Thanks, Executive. As the scores were added up, it was no-competition. The Stingray is much faster around the track, much more high tech, looks and drives great but.... still a Vette. It was tempting to consider it but, I am so much happier with my choice regarding the XKR. A completely different class of car. It is a car that I love to just find a reason to go out to the garage, to just walk around and look at it from all angles and appreciate the beauty and exclusivity of it.

At this point of my life that kind of satisfaction takes priority over all out performance. But, still, when it comes to performance, I still got that 7 sitting in my garage inviting me to be BAD, really BAD... don't think that even the new Stingray would come close to it.

 

Congratulations on your new purchase! I made the leap a few months back and it puts a smile on my face every day I get inside.

Edit: PS-- Beautiful interior!

 

Heh - there's the fundamental error: I'm not British In fact, I come from a place that's about as far from Britain as you can get, unless you have a boat

In my home town, we'd use a different word: "HOON"

Never been in one, don't like horses, wouldn't be seen dead in a tweed jacket and I talk like a "bloody foreigner". I'm more: loud punk/goth/industrial clubs, attending motor races in drainpipes and a leather jacket, and swearing like a trooper, with a slightly curled upper lip.

We're a broad church, us Jag owners...

 

Exactly! At the end of the day, i mean does 3 seconds (which is significant on a track) mean anything for daily driving? 510 horses in a beautifully sculpted body, dressed in black tuxedo, with great sartorial sensibilities is more than enough.

American car companies were always about big engines. Which was fine in muscle car era, but cars these days should have more values than just HP.

Never really liked Corvettes in general. A few months back i saw some pictures of the boys at the factory putting together the C7 and i was amazed at something. Workers were all dressed in different clothing. It looked more like a barn than a professional production facility. The place must have no standards. First factory i have seen without a dress code. Makes me think of the Vettes even less.

Some may or may not find the correlation....but it's like walking into Sony Music on 550 Madison Avenue in Manhattan and seeing the executives wearing short.

Anyways, good luck with it. Looking forward to the pictures and update us once you put a few hundred miles on it.

 

Yeah, there are plenty of faster cars around for the same money, but few if any have the same combination of acceleration, handling, reliability and creature comforts - a car that you can live with on a daily basis but have a lot of fun with, too.

 

Hello Albert, Congratulation for the new xkr, i sold mine myself 40 k euros to a french dealer, i paid it 60 k a year ago. I know bought a mini cooper clubman, i work from home and need a car to go to the post office only so no big deal, but i was thinking to buy a new xj but i am unsure.

 

Thanks.

If you consider an XJ be sure to take it on a very long (multi-hour) test drive. My '12 XJL rides real rough with a low level road surface vibration that can be passed over on short trips but, absolutely killing me over longer trips. I thought that something was wrong with my particular car but, having now read a bunch of other reviews and posts, likely it is a common issue. I will be trying to get rid of mine soon.

 

Thank you Albert, I am hesitating too cause often alone, it is a long car to park here in europe. I appreciate your feedback, i am also looking at a 2003 body last year, or a xjr 6 cylinder vintage, as i think, i had more pleasure with these than any others, specially my 95.

I did 8000 km with my pirelli until they started to be a bit slippery, and i was about to change them...so half way maybe, but it was normal cause i had great trips here going over the limits.... it was shame using a 5 liter for 2 km to go to the post etc, so for sometime I will save money and will come back to jaguars.

i just saw another 5 liter around the price i sold mine on sale i guess it was not that cheap considering the person traveled to spain to buy it from me, and i got a bank check in 5 mn scanned.

all the best.
each time i bought a car i never had the chance to take it for along ride...
thanks for your kindness Albert


on the last facelift 2007 new steering column, the driving experience feelings was diluted, maybe its coming from there, or down on the steering rack/ box...who knows... they are now insulating tire with kind of sponge inside to avoid noise, there is lot to learn yet to improve driving sensations. I think its coming from the much more stiff alu structure compatibility/consequences.

 

Congrats. Its good to hear people coming back to a prized possession. XKR is the way to go, power, styling and comfort. XKR owner are not gentlemen but definitely hooligans. The things you can do in an XKR and still be respected!!! I love your car but love mine more cause its mine.

 

Albert, how are you liking the XKR?

 

Thanks for asking, Executive.

The truth is that up to this moment I have not used the XRK. I drove it home from delivery, about 10 miles and noted immediately that it handled better than my previous XKs. As soon as I got home I investigated the reasons for that, lifted the car and did find that the XKR is using a larger rear sway bar than the XK. That alone explains what I felt. I measured it at 0.70" which is a fair amount stiffer than what the XK had. If I remember correctly the XK had something like 0.55". So, the handling is, no doubt, better. I think that a car of this size and weight could use even a larger bar but, given how difficult it would be to replace, I think I will be happy with the 0.7 bar.

How much better is yet to be determined. The reasons I have not driven the car because it has been raining here almost every day and the pavements are wet right now. The car has only 5935 miles on it and it still have the original, 4-years old Dunlop tires, one of which is about 50 percent gone. So, I will attempt no heroics with old, dried out rubber, particularly in the wet.

Later today, however, I will have to drive it about 40 miles over twisty roads in order to take it to a smog station to have it certified for CA. I can not hold off since CA law says that the car must be registered within 20 days of it entering into the state. So, unless I want to get penalized, I have to get smog and I will have to drive to CA DMV office to get the car inspected and registered.

While parked in the garage, however, I did apply a nice coat of wax to make the ebony black shine. As a heart-stopper I did find a silver-dollar sized spot on the top rear fender, looking like a bird dropping eaten into the otherwise near-perfect paint. I'm not sure if it can be buffed out by a detailer, I hope it can be.

Of course, the few miles that I put into it have given me plenty of opportunities to use the supercharged power to propel the car way into 3-digit speeds. So effortless and so smooth. That is what I love about GT cars. I feel that the XKR and I will get along just fine, thank you

 

Buying a super low mileage car is the closest thing to buying new at a significant discount! I purchased my 2010 XK Coupe a few months ago with 4,800 miles! It still smells new inside. I purchased it up North a few days before the snow came and shipped it down South. Good luck with your car!

 

So, put 50 miles on the car on my way to do the required smog check. The engine was running so clean, according to the smog guy, that the results showed as if the engine was not even running. Nice to know! Now, onto CA registration.

So, about the car; In this very rural, very typical California Gold Rush town at about 3000' Sierra Nevada elevation, the XKR caused a sensation. I go there to do my smog mainly because the "good old boys" there do not pay very close attention to the mods on my RX-7 and let it slide to where some others might not when it comes to the strict smog laws. It is a village of trucks, horses and cowboy hats.

Upon arrival the shop guys used their phones to alert the tiny town to the presence of a Big Cat. People came over, took pictures and were very vocal about their admiration for the Black Cat. This is horse country but, real life big cats do live and roam in the surrounding forests and the people do hold them to high respect. The black Jaguar absolutely stole their hearts.

Now, onto to my observations. Again, since the pavements were still wet, I held back in the corners, given the old tires. Still, I got enough feel for the car to comment on it. The basic handling attitude is still understeer. In Dynamic mode, however, and keeping the revs up above 4000, the understeer was easily cancelled by the slightest throttle application. Bruce, you were correct when you tried repeatedly to get me into the XKR from the XK, suggesting that it is a different cat. It is. Thanks for your insistence, late I am to the XKR but, pretty happy .

I love the stock exhaust and likely will not attempt to change it. When I did change the XK exhaust I gained good upper RPM power but lost low RPM torque and got drone. What I always perceived in Jaguars was the attempts by the factory to actually emulate the behavior of the Big Cat. I just love how I can cruise around with no sounds from the engine; just like the almost unperceivably quiet and silky moves of the big cat. I loved it at 4000 RPM as I was just easily cruising around the corners; the cat still silky smooth and soft, and making just enough purring sounds to let me know that she was there with me, its gorgeous muscles loose but ready for the command to leap. When the road opened up and it looked safe to unleash the cat, I got into the pedal and she instantly changed character and now growled threateningly, the big teeth now clearly exposed as it just leaped in one fluid motion with great grace and speed, just as the real life Jaguar would when unleashing a devastating attack on its prey. That is what I get from Jaguars and that is why I'm on my 5th one in the row now, choosing it ahead of other fine cars.

So, did I say that I am extremely pleased with my Black Cat?

Time to pay the piper, and go out and clean her after a wet 50 mile trip. Black is beautiful but.... the cleaning it takes to keep her that way

Also, one of the cowboy hats told me he painted cars for the living and removing the bird dropping flaw would be easy. He offered to do it but, I said thanks, I would think about it... I think I want the input from a reputable shop.

 

My pleasure and thanks for the detailed report. Sounds like you are happy with it and i am sure it will serve you well!

 

I really wish you guys could get to experience what the XKR's top-end performance is like. What impressed me most on the autobahn is that the power is just as stonking over 120 MPH as it is below. Things only start to slacken at abut 160, but it only it took me 20s to get from 150 to 184. It's at these high speeds that the 'grand tourer' label really makes sense - the car is quite stable & comfortable, but it eats miles at an astonishing rate.

 

Yes, I wish we would have those "legal" opportunities here in the States. I have driven the autobahn in a fast car only once, decades back in an Opel Senator. Top speed was "only" 150 MPH but, like a kid in a candy store, I just could not get enough of the pedal being nailed to the floor.

Wonder how cars that are regularly driven long distances at top speeds hold up?

 

Albert, you are a man of conviction, and you did prove to be quite a challenge to nudge in the R direction. I'm delighted that you gave her a go, and thrilled that you love it. We both appreciate high performance, and I know you're going to enjoy this one every time you fire it up! So glad that I was able to help.

It's getting harder to imagine that old RX7 seeing much use now...maybe you should sell it to me!
Bruce