Engine & Gearbox
The guttural roar from the active exhaust is intoxicating. My best memory of the XK-R is driving through a tunnel with the top down and accelerator pedal mashed to the floor
All the bells and whistles aside, the drivetrain is the real heart of any sports or GT car. And this is where the XK-R leaves you in no doubt about the seriousness of its intentions – the engine and transmission are very much in keeping with the aggressive visual nature of the car. The propulsion provided by the 420 horsepower supercharged V8 is nothing short of epic. The power delivery isn’t manic as you’d expect in a car that produces this much power, instead it’s linear and refined – very much like a naturally aspirated engine. Its feels effortless at cruising speed.
At first, you begin to question if it really produces the claimed 420 horses. It’s only when you display a real sense of urgency with your right foot that the character of the car completely changes. The guttural roar from the active exhaust is intoxicating. While it’s normally very silent, on hard acceleration butterfly valves in the quad exhausts open to provide sensational sound. In fact, my best memory of the XK-R is driving through a tunnel with the top down and accelerator pedal mashed to the floor.
The transmission, which is a regular torque converter automatic, is, surprisingly, even better. It features a sport mode that allows higher shift points and more driver adaptation, which means the transmission adjusts to your driving style. It also offers the now ubiquitous paddle shifts, allowing you to change gears manually if you so choose. Like a semi-automatic gearbox, the XK’s transmission blips the throttle on downshifts, which is a nice touch. The shifts themselves are also just as quick, taking only 600 milliseconds. And thankfully, unlike several semi-automatics, gear changes are extremely smooth and comfortable – offering the best of both worlds.
Ride & Handling
Jaguars have always been famous for their impeccable ride quality. And the XK is no different, it’s almost sublime – that’s despite the massive 19-inch wheels, as well as the fact that Jaguar’s Computer Active Technology Suspension (CATS) is recalibrated on the XK-R to provide more stiffness and better body control.
The all-aluminum chassis means that it feels extremely well put together and responsive. It also gives you the impression of being athletic and light on its feet, but is let down by a suspension set up that errors too much on the side of ride comfort. The end result is that it’s a little too soft to really explore the chassis limits on some of the very tight and snaking mountain roads.
A switch within the cabin to control the stiffness of the suspension would have been a welcome option. In its current set up, the XK-R feels like a very fast and refined GT car, which is really what it is as opposed to a real sports car. For that, perhaps we’ll have to wait for Jaguar to actually build the F-Type – a concept car revealed in 2000 as a real successor to the iconic E-Type. The F Type appears to be an extremely desirable proposition, and is something that Ratan Tata has already hinted that he’d like to see happen. It’s also something that a number of Jaguar insiders have wanted for some time.
The XK-R, meanwhile, is exceptional when cruising on the boulevard, and just as good when hammering along at 85% on any other piece of road – it’s only a little bit that keeps it from being a true sports car. Perhaps the recently introduced, limited edition, XKR-S is better suited to fulfill those needs.
Verdict
All said and done, the XK-R does live up to its hype. It’s very much in keeping with Jaguars rich heritage. It’s exquisite, refined and very fast, making it more than capable of taking the fight to the 6 series BMW and SL Mercedes – it’s also more exclusive at the moment. In many ways, the XK appears to be ultimate GT car.
That apart, Jaguar does need to invest in an intensive public relations campaign to ensure that people know what the brand really stands for – especially in light of its new owners. And while the company does have its hands full tackling issues such as fuel economy and CO2 emissions, which are at the forefront of people’s minds, its new range of cars look very promising indeed. And that bodes well for the future.
