XK

Vehicle: 2012 Jaguar XKR-S Coupe with Bright Pkg and heated front windshield
Price as tested: CDN$143800

Performance: So how does a “S” combined with “R” in a XK come out with? It promises to be a fun ride.

When it comes to Jaguar, “R” stands for high-performance variant of an existing model similar to what “RS” is to Audi and “M” is for BMW. What an “S” on top of “R”, it promises to make a great car even better. In XKR-S’s case, its based on a XKR’s V8 supercharged which come with 32-valve, variable valve timing and electronic throttle. The messaged version of AJ-V8 Version #3 has 40 more ponies and lb/ft of torque, respectively. That comes to a healthy 550 stallion and 501 lb/ft of torque at driver’s dispoal. The biggest difference between having a supercharger versus a turbocharger is there is absolutely no lag in the process. With turbocharger, it has the annoying lag for a few seconds before the boost comes in. As for the supercharger, whenever driver mesh the throttle, supercharger steps in without any sort of hestiation. Along with its unlimited amount of power, XKR-S comes with healthy does of refinement which won’t be out of place in a Jag. While the engine note sounds pretty entertaining, thanks to the V8 which it is based on. The blower doesn’t have the rather irriating boring note with this kind of set-up. On the other hand, it doesn’t run out of breath at both middle and upper rev ranges. Along with the rather annoying JaguarDrive Selector shifter, which only god bless you, whenever any of those infamous electronics gone wrong, in a British car. It comes with a nicely ratio 6-speed manumatic through steering paddle shifters. The ratio has been engineered to be perfectly suit for XKR-S’s performance characteristics. The 1st and 2nd are low enough to launch this beast around, while 5th and 6th are tall enough for XK’s famous GT personality. The paddle shifters are able to override at any given gears, in order for enthuisasts to drop a cone when entering or exiting a corner. That’s if only Jaguar designers are able to come out with any initutive shifter design. Previous J-gate shifter certainly had character, latest knob shifter is just plain irriating as an understatement. Oh please……only god knows when will those annoying British electronic is going to bite in the ass…….:(

Handling: While the original XK8 has never known for being a true sports car, its only more than a sporting grand touring similar in style to those of Mercedes CL and BMW 6-Series. The XKR-S with recalibrated suspension really have able to transform from rather sedate GT into a real sports car. Whenever driver choose the “Dynamic” mode in the JaguarDrive Control, when those knob actually works acccordingly, according to British gods. Mind you. Its able to stiffen up the suspension, make the gearchange more eagerly and quicker throttle response. The whole concept is similar to Audi DriveSelect and Porsche PASM, which are the hallmark to this kind of adjustable dampers. The XKR-S is able to change its personality 180 degrees. The steering becomes sharper, more precise and responsive. The suspension calibrations have remarkably sharper without losing the British ride quality one associates with Cat. There are less body rolls, while its electronic stability control is able to let driver to have a pretty high threshold to have a bit of oversteer after a set of terminal understeer when pushed. The dynamic driving experience wrapped up with a nice perfect rear-wheel-drive 50/50 weight distribution. Whenever you push the XKR-S through corners or on track, it exhibits the level of driving fun which we haven’t experienced in Jaguar for a long while. While you won’t be mistaken a Jag as a Porsche with Zufferhensen’s razor sharpness and sensibilities, its able to put together a bit of sharpening fun in British gentleman fashion.

Brakes: With large 4-wheel discs and standard ABS, XKR-S has performed exceptionally well. The stopping distance is short, while pedal feels firm and solid. It remains fade-free after a couple of harsh stops. It doesn’t have the annoying pedal sponginess once associates with Jaguar of yesterday. All wrap up with ABS which acts up at the right time, at the right place.

Interior: If you have getting tired of all those German sensible interiors, XKR is where it is all about. Along with those superb sports bucket seats, which wrap the driver in the right place without feeling confining. Its interior ambience has a sense of British passion and elegance, which you won’t find anywhere else. As it got top-notch leather and plastic materials thoroughout the cabin. The Bowers and Wilkins stereo is simply a joy to hear.

Because of the poor sightlines, the standard back-up camera is a godsent.

Conclusion: British jokes aside, the XKR-S could well be the best Jaguar ever built. Along with the great powertrain, comes excellent dynamic abilities while loading up with the usual British elegant fashion. What makes it really impressed is XKR-S can finally be competing with the best of the world, as a bona-fida sports car. Which we can’t be said for previous XKs.

Competitions:
Audi R8 V10
Mercedes SLS AMG
Porsche 911 Turbo S

OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2012 Jaguar XKR-S Coupe
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Performance: 5/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 5/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 3/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 4.5/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 3/5
Value-for-money: 4/5

Overall rating: 4/5

Vehicle: 2010 Jaguar XKR Convertible with High Performance Brakes and Wheels Pkg
Price as tested: CDN$120795

Performance: Jaguar’s R performance division has always produced some sweet rides, ranging from the early XJR to S-Type R. The XKR is the latest entrant into the performance coupe and convertible categories. Will the new XKR live up to Jaguar’s reputation of putting elegance and performance together in a neat package? We intend to find out after this test drive.

Jaguar’s AJ-V8 has always been a nice engine. Mated it with an Eaton supercharge in their 3rd generation evolution and it becomes a true sweetheart. This 5.0 liter DOHC 32-valve V8 has plenty of power. 510 horses and 461 lb/ft of torque to be exact. Unlike a turbo, supercharge doesn’t have any lag. All it delivers is instant power right after driver drops the anchor. Instant throttle response without any nasty lag usually associated with a turbocharger. Even when our tester weights in at 1800kg of British luxury lined of luxury, it manages to get off-the-line with authority. With 510 hp on tap, it never run out of breath even at high rpm. This supercharge V8 is really as good as anything else come from Germany. Both the refinement, smoothness and flexability are world-class. 6-speed automatic is the only gearbox mated with this blower. Its equally smooth and coordinated. Other than a short low gears for excellent bottom-end acceleration, the top gears are tall enough for comfortable highway cruising. On XK’s latest redesign, Jaguar finally ditched their outdated and awkward J-Gate for the knob. The knob is much more user-friendly than the outgoing J-Gate. It also features paddle shifters on the steering, which encourage manumatic mode, in order to fully use this cat’s potential. As a team, the powertrain works in rare harmony.

Handling: The XKR is based on a stiff and rigid platform, which is completely free of any cracks and rattles. In convertible’s case, it also means the lack of those annoying cowl shakes. With rear-wheel-drive and nearly ideal 50/50 weight distribution, XKR is surprisingly balanced consider its status-of-life as a comfortable highway cruiser. Even if XKR got stifter suspension, springs and shocks than standard XK8. XKR remains drives more like a blvd cruiser than a capable handler as what Jaguar would like you to think. The forte of XKR has to be its exceptional ride comfort. Its suspension is compliant to absorb all those roughness and patholes. For a Jaguar, it also supple and firm enough to attack corners without lots of body rolls. If you treat the XKR as a highway cruiser, its handling capabilities are more than live up to its reputation. Its just the steering doesn’t have enough feel and feedback when its time to have fun. Yes, it remains precise and track on path correctly. But it lacks the edgy feel in some of its rivals. The Dynamic Stability Control is uninstrusive enough consider its a Jaguar, which usually have a system that steps in quite abruptly in the past. What it works best is it acts as an active safety feature whenever a driver rears the cat’s ugly head. That means the oversteer and understeer are well-tempted, although for a rear-driver, a little bit of oversteer wouldn’t amiss in a car with this performance prowess for any enthuisasts.

Brakes: Our XKR has an optional High Performance Brake Package. The larger brakes really help to haul this heavy cat to a stop without any drama. The stopping distance is short while the pedal feel is excellent. The ABS acts wonderfully, as it doesn’t instrusive much until the right moment. An added bonus is fade-free after a couple of hard stops.

Interior: As one would expect from a Jaguar, there are plenty of firmly contoured Connolly leather covered seats. Those seats have plenty of support for the back but need more for side. The instrumentation gauges are clear and analog, same goes for the climate control and navigation system, which is surprisingly user-friendly for a British ride. In terms of materials, XKR matches up to the rest of the class.

Conclusion: The new XKR certainly lives up to its reputation as a performance cat. Its comfortable, got plenty of power, handles decently and, best of all, its very comfortable for a sunny cruise around the beach.

OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2010 Jaguar XKR Convertible
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Performance: 5/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 4/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 4/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 4/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 2/5
Value-for-money: 2/5

Overall rating: 4/5

Vehicle: 2007 Jaguar XK8 coupe
Price as tested: Est. CDN$120000

Performance: The new XK is currently powered by only 1 engine. Its the silky-smooth “AJ-V8″ 4.2 liter DOHC V8 with 300 hp and 300 lb/ft of torque. This engine is very capable as it provides exceptional refinement and flexability right from the bottom to top end. Since the 310 lb/ft of torque available at 4100 rpm, it feels somewhat sluggish in the low-end for V8 of this caliber. One really has to rev it pass 4300 rpm before reaching this engine’s climax. On the other hand, its more willing to rev at high rpm than the same V8 in previous XK8. Matched with this engine is the smooth-shifting 6-speed automatic transmission with manumatic function. This gearbox provides decent highway driving gear ratios. Jaguar finally abandoned its annoying J-Gate shifter in flavor of paddle shifters on the steering wheel, as well as a gate for manumatic mode. This system works trillion times better than the J-Gate design that Jaguar used in the last 2 decades.

Handling: The XK continues its tradition as a comfortable luxury grand touring coupe. Its suspension remains soft and supple, even though its handling has been tuned to be more forgiving and less floaty than its predecessor. Gone are all the floatiness and chassis flex during high-speed cruising. The steering has much better response and turn-in, however, its still not sharp enough when compare to its much more sporty competitors in its price range. In terms of steering feedback, it feels kind of vague off-center and numb on-center. When pushed into a corner enthuisastically, there are some body rolls. Its Computer Active Technology Suspension, or CATS, have given this cat finally a sense of stability thanks to its new caliberation of shock absorber setting. On a contrary, its Dymanic Stability Control kicks in frequently during enthuisastic driving. That’s disappointed consider Jag wants to place new XK among the sportiest of all the sports cars in this caliber.

Brakes: With 4-wheel discs, standard ABS and electronic braking force distribution. XK8′s braking performance is among some of the best consider its 1665 kg curb weight. The pedal feels firm and solid, while the braking distance is surprisingly short.

Interior: Slip inside the new XK8, you will be surprise by Jaguar designers have given aluminum trim in flavor of more traditional wood trim. The aluminum trim works pretty well with Jaguar’s Connolly leather and traditional interior configuration. Aluminum trim and Connolly leather aside, one still found plenty of Ford-influenced plastic trim pieces which are totally unacceptable for a car costing 100 grand. While these plastic trims already much higher tactical quality than those craps in X-Type, S-Type even underwhelming XJ interior, its still not on par with interiors from Porsche and Maserati. In terms of ergonomics, Jaguar designs have addressed outgoing car’s shortcomings. They finally placed navigational system and climate control on the right places. The instrumentation gauges are clear and analog.

With the advant of run-flat technology, XK finally got the cargo space it desperately needed. That’s despite of its high liftover and weird side cut-line.

Conclusion: There are lots to going for in the new XK8 despite of its controversial styling. After the 1st generation of porky XJS and 2nd generation of beauty-over-substance XK8, the new XK8 finally got all the ingredients for it to compete with other luxury GTs of its caliber. However, if you are looking for an XK that has plenty of low-end torque to run with 911 Carrera. You better wait for the XKR with Eaton blower. That’s because XK8 needs a firmer setting and more powerful engine to be a performance GT. Remember its a performance GT not a performance car!!

OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2007 JAGUAR XK8 COUPE
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Performance: 4/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 3/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 3.5/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 3.5/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 4/5
Value-for-money: 2/5

Overall rating: 3/5