I agree, Steve. I, too, own both - a Jaguar (XKR) and a Lexus (LS460). Comparing them is like apples and oranges - I like them both. We're not screwed up; we simply realize that you can't use a screwdriver to do a wrench's job. Both cars do what they were designed to do very well. .

Stuart
.

 

Stuart, Sjtyrer - I'm placing my fancy, faux-psychologist hat back on to save you guys!!! Please allow me to dig my carefully-dug hole a bit deeper and wider! So, here it goes:

Lexus and Jaguar mentioned, no less owned, at the same time by the same person? Oh, goodness....! Let's carefully diagnose the problems here;

Quite clear to me that what we have here is a bi-polar disorder (Lexus and Jaguar) and a tri-polar disorder (Lexus-BMW-Jaguar). How did I arrive to such diagnostics? Well, I'll share with you my leading-edge theories that should/will one day revolutionize the disciplines of human psychology. (I've always been most modest in the evaluations of my goals and achievements)

You see; the Jaguar is a Male machine. The male DNA prioritizes natural desire, shape and form, as well as acts and practices based on the spirits of the hunter and the warrior. Our choices in cars today still reflect our DNA and our primeval roles in society. Allow me to illustrate my points by introducing and explaining my present ownership choices in automotive:

1) A 500 HP - super-light weight street-fighter machine. The ultimate tool for the primeval spirits of the hunter and the hunted. The choice weapon of the young and wild warrior. Shaped by sensuous curves to excite the deep male cravings for what is female. As the hunter/warrior ages, this razor sharp rapier becomes a wall decoration surrounded by the trophies of past. It also serves as tool of reference for the young warriors for what it is and what to aim for. It is ALL MALE!

2) Jaguar XK - a transitional, heavy weapon for the warrior in his middle aged years. Just the display of its large, imposing size brings respect from the young and the wild, as the image imply strength, power and the aggressive shapes still make potential challengers think twice before they would dare an attack. Better fitting and more comfortable than the choice weapons of past, it better serves the changing needs of its Master. Still, curves galore to satisfy the deep yearnings for the fertile female figure. (Oh my Ghaad..., what a gorgeous rear-end!!!... NO, not that one, THE Jaguar, silly...!)

3) Jaguar XJL - The older hunter/warrior is now the Chief of the tribe. What he wears on himself now is more important than the weapon he still carries. The imposingly sized and styled XJL is still very Male, projecting the status, the power and the wealth of its wearer. The young and strong warriors will bow their heads in respect of this powerful and visible symbol of strength and achievement. Still enough sensuous curves to satisfy the old warrior's declining but, still obvious cravings for that shapely female corporeal structure. It also comes with "Jeannie" the beautiful female voice and spirit that lives behind the dashboard and politely and obediently executes all (nearly all) of the Chief's voice commands without arguing or talking back (Unlike his disobedient, argumentative, controlling, rapid-tongued... wives).

Thus, the above choices in automotives clearly indicate a truly healthy and consistent male DNA as well as that well balanced, natural male spirit.

Lexus: It is a most fitting machine for females. The female DNA prizes and seeks reliability first, quality second, while shape and form is further down on the list of priorities. They are more than willing to prioritize and settle for reliability and quality in a genetically formed, neutral package. The Lexus delivers well on such priorities and packaging which explains why most every time we look at a Lexus it is likely to be driven by a female.

So, having conclusively shown the polar differences between a Lexus and a Jaguar (Venus vs. Mars) my alarmed prognosis and recommendation for you two guys is for thorough, expert reviews of your true identities and the appropriate treatments necessary to obtain a healthy Male identity, as displayed by your automotive selections. (assuming both of you are, indeed, consider yourselves to be, "Males")

All right then, my pseudo-psychologist hat is off now.... oh Boy... this hole just got a whole lot deeper but....

.....what the heck, we shouldn't take life too seriously. Should we?

Albert

PS - Hmmm... what happened to the subject of this thread, Corvette vs. Jaguar? How did we side-track the real subject so much? Well, don't ask me, I'm not a psychologist now (hat is off)...

 

It must be fun to "challenge" people in an automatic car, especially one with as good an automatic as the XK. In my manual Mustang, if I were ever caught off guard by someone wanting to challenge me, I'd probably embarrass myself by being in the wrong gear!

 

I've just read in a new post over on the XJ forum the new specs for the 2013 cars. All WILL come with 8 sp transmissions and the shift response have been shortened from around 600 milliseconds to 200 milliseconds. Now, that is just about instantaneous. Not much reason to have fully manual trannies any more with this kind of shifting speeds and versatility. The Jag trannies are truly fantastic and getting even better. I ALMOST have buyer's remorse for not waiting for the 2013s but, really, for my driving routine the 2008XK and the 2012XJL are just about PERFECT.

Albert

 

Steve, you're not the only one with that combo of makes:

Lexus IS350 (Daily/"Practical" car), XKR (Definitely an emotional choice), and the wife's 128i round out the collection....

The Lexus is good combo of decent power, enough luxury, comfort, reliability, and lack of emotional attachment (by me to it) to use regularly for the more mundane driving... The 128, while having the least power, is fun to throw around occasionally, but mostly I just wash it... The XKR? It's incredible, but as a recent purchase, I've found myself saving it a little for "special occasions".


Christian

 

I'm driving my first Jag ('08 XK) and third Lexus (LS 600hL). My wife says the LS is her car and I'm happy with that. Both are perfect for what we want and need. LS for her local trips and our long cross-country drives. XK for my local trips, our nights out on the town, and short weekend trips. Both red with tan interiors and chrome wheels, so couldn't be a better match.

 

The thread title caught my attention because I own a Corvette too, but a classic 1969 model so I can't really talk about C6's. However, Albert's posts are most amusing and uncanny. After college, I bought an 85 Toyota Supra which began a quarter century love affair with Toyota sports cars and off-road vehicles (I still own that first Supra). I have always been impressed with Japanese quality - I've owned 12 Toyotas so far (and 3 Hondas). None particularly luxurious, just well-made and all suitable for a young warrior.

But somewhere I skipped the middle ages and went right to being an old man and driving old-people cars. I chose to buy an older XJ8 as sort of a solution for a "wounded warrior". Having had spinal surgery last year which was a total bust and just made me hurt worse, I needed something with a smooth ride. I first tried a 99 Lexus LS400, but it was destroyed in a rear-end collision. Having had a Lexus for five months, I decided that there were two things I didn't like about it. While it was smooth, the seats were obviously designed for fat people and little old me slid around on every corner. And second, even tho I specifically bought a BLACK Lexus, it was still way too common (I was planning to paint the silver bottom half black and get some custom wheels before it got hit). The old XJ8 looks decidedly "old fashioned" but more in a distinguished gentleman sort of way than a grandma (even tho I bought it from a grandma). Only once in five months did anyone notice my black Lexus, but at least once a week since purchase in April a stranger compliments me on this white Jag. Oh, and the seats are smaller.

I just hope this particular Jag doesn't live up to it unreliable reputation. My back-up vehicle is a Honda Ridgeline pickup which is not nearly as spine-friendly.

 

You sound just like me. I went from a Japanese sports car at at 20 (Miata) straight to an old man car (1997 Lexus LS400) to a Jaguar XJ8!

 

And to think I gave my older brother h#!! when at age 38 he bought a Buick. Now I understand. I drive my sports cars on the weekends purely for fun and choose only smooth roads. The rest of the week when we gotta drive on whatever roads life takes us, its nice to have some sidewall and supple suspension between me and the City of Fort Worth's thinly asphalted cattle trails.

 

"Cattle trails" - good description! On top of all, it's getting to be harder and harder to find a newer car with decent "sidewall" size and flex. Customers are demanding ever larger wheel diameters, perhaps not fully realizing the consequences, such as the requisite short, super stiff sidewalls and big, super heavy wheels, built like tanks to survive those many sharp hits from the "cattle trails". For heaven's sake, the XK's rear wheel/tire combo now weights something like 65 lbs!!! EACH!!!

Jaguar had done an admirable job with those electronic dampers in making the cars ride fairly well on 19" and even 20" wheels but, the trend can only go so long before we run out of tire sidewall and ride on solid steel rims.

I can just picture the manufacturing engineers shaking and holding their heads in pain at the public's demands for ever larger wheels. They supposed to provide what the customer wants but, they know better... which is the reason for their headaches.

A sports car ride is one thing but, even my new XJL, a really plush sedan, comes with those silly 19" or 20" wheels. Naturally, they can not equal the plush rides of times past when a Jaguar saloon rode on 15 or 16" wheels with much taller sidewalls while still providing all the handling that the average driver could ever want.

Albert

 

Not to make this a political argument, but I think the trend will have to reverse because of the state of the roads we're driving on. The government at all levels claims not to have the money to maintain the roads, there isn't the political will to increase taxes to cover it and so the roads will continue to deteriorate. As our roads get worse, I think the public will demand new cars that can better deal with it and one of the cheaper weapons in the engineer's arsenal is taller sidewalls.

 

Interesting thought.

Even Honda (which avoided low profile tires for a long time) is on board with the trend (low profiles) and they've said solely based on consumer demand, not performance. I don't see a reversal insight, nor do I see our road getting better.

 

Now we're starting to sound like old farts, although I bought an XK because the XKR rode more firmly.

 

I'm not sure if it is the public demanding huge wheels so much as the design directors of these car companies thinking it's a bright idea. Also, as performance cars get bigger and heavier, they require bigger and bigger brakes to maintain the same level of braking performance. Heck, on the Mustang GT, you can't fit a wheel smaller than 18", and that's with very little clearance!

I bet that eventually car manufacturers will have to revert to inboard brakes just to be able to fit all that hardware!

 

Yeah my XKR is a portfolio ed. so it comes with 20" wheels, 6 pot brakes and massive 400mm discs on the front as standard. There's only 2 finger widths between the disc outer edge and the inside of the rim so I doubt I could even fit 18's. It really does stop sweetly though.

Jag made such a big deal in their marketing about all the weight saving that switching to aluminum for chassis and bodies give. Yet the reality is that the new shape (2006+) XKR is 3670 lbs and the pre-2006 steel body XKR is 3785 lbs. Thats just a 115 lbs difference! Certainly not enough to justify the massive benefits in handling that Jaguar claim, in fact it would probably be hardly noticeable at all in handling. Aluminum is way lighter than steel so Its mind-boggling to me where all the savings that switch gave actually went.

Maybe other than the brakes/wheels, Its certainly on nothing obviously extra or beneficial. In fact the new car has way more plastic (lighter) trim than the old one, It also has a smaller gas tank and apparently quite a lot less soundproofing (which is also quite heavy) too. Even the wiring loom is probably simpler (so lighter) as the new car uses far more CAN bus (2 wire) bus.
1665 kg / 3670 lbs

 

I dunno, the aluminum chassis not only brings "lightness" but also a huge amount of rigidity compared to the old steel chassis.

But yes, all other things being equal, 115 lbs isn't a whole lot.

 

Seemingly all cars and models got much porkier over the decades. I remember that my Italian exotic from the 1970s was chastised by the press for being too heavy. It was an all steel 2+2 GT with a steel hood that alone weighted 52 lbs. (I molded a 7 lbs one out of carbon fiber to replace it.) With the large V12 engine the total weight was still under 3500 lbs. Now, a similar size and model is way over 4000 lbs. Sure, there are many additional mandated safety equipment since but, I think, manufacturers just got careless in keeping the weighs under control.

There are a number of large luxury sedans (Mercedes, Equus etc) that are well over 5000 lbs now. Compared to them the Jaguar XJ at less than 4100 lbs is a light weight champion.

Must add, since this is a thread regarding about Corvette and the XKR, that the Vette still demonstrates that not all cars have to weigh 4000 lbs+. With a ZO6 being around 3200 lbs, including those huge brakes and steamroller wheels/tires, it is still possible to keep the weight quite reasonable.

Albert

 

I liked my C6 vette, but heard body flexing noises constantly. I have heard no body/chassis noises whatsoever in my XKR.