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By
EWAN KENNEDY
24 December 2007
In the world of Jaguars, the designation ‘R’ indicates
high-performance. High-performance in a civilised manner. The
Jaguar XKR is aimed at those shopping in the grand touring market,
not at the macho guy looking for a harsh no-holds-barred sports
machine. The Jaguar's suspension dynamics and refinement are about
midway between that of a standard XK and a raw-power beast. Thus
making a car that can be used on an everyday basis without setting
your teeth on edge.
Which is exactly the way that it should be because Jaguar
enthusiasts have always enjoyed a functional balance between
speed, cornering, convenience and comfort.
The big British car is sold in both fixed-head coupe and
soft-top convertible format. We had the good fortune to ‘own’
one of the latter for the past week as part of our road-test
program. I say ‘good fortune’ because at $250,300 the big Jag
sports is approximately $220,000 over my motoring budget!
Even in this performance Jaguar there's a healthy dash of
luxury. Including the traditional feel of stitched leather trim
and timber highlights. On our test car the timber had been
replaced by an aluminium finish to give a more technical look.
Call me a traditionalist, but if I did win the lottery the timber
finish would be my choice.
Handling is simply brilliant. To start with the mechanical
suspension components have been well sorted out and give a huge
amount of grip in their own right. But the really clever stuff is
in the electronic aids that adjust the characteristics of the
dampers (often mistakenly called shock absorbers) moment by
moment. They give comfort where possible, but firm up in a matter
of milliseconds when the car senses the need for added traction
due to prevailing road/weather/driving needs.
Comfort is great in the two front seats, but the back seats are
a bit of a joke. You can tolerate tiny back seats in a small or
medium-sized sports convertible, but the Jaguar is a big car and
can still only manage rear pews that are strictly for squashed-up,
very-temporary use.
The boot isn’t as tiny as the back seats, but is still rather
small for the size of the car. Try it for size if your golf club
selection is a large one.
Jaguar’s new XKR is instantly recognisable by its aluminium
mesh grille, with a deeper lower air intake. There are additional
air intakes for the cooling and supercharger in the outer surfaces
of the lower bumper, as well as heat extractors in the bonnet. The
latter have the word ‘supercharged’ moulded into them just to
make sure passers-by outside your favourite restaurant are in any
doubt as to the car’s full intentions.
The 4.2-litre V8 engine is supercharged to bring peak power up
to an impressive 306 kW, with torque being as high as 560 Nm.
Jaguar engineers opted for the fast response and more-linear
output of a supercharger to avoid the delay inherent in a
turbocharged engine.
It works to perfection. The big sporting machine leaps forward
the moment you hit the accelerator pedal, emitting firstly a
cat-like growl, then when the pedal hits the metal a huge roar
that shouts out that the big cat is very serious about its
intentions. There is arguably, no better feature of this Jaguar
than the bellow of its quad exhausts and the shriek from the
blower as it heads for the horizon.
The six-speed automatic transmission joins in the fun as well.
It quickly jumps down into a lower ratio, or two, when asked,
providing the extra torque and power required for maximum safety
while overtaking. Or off the line, because the sports Jag can leap
from rest to 100 km/h in just 5.2 seconds.
Even more impressive is its ability to reverse that speed and
time – the brakes can haul it back from 100 km/h to a standstill
in only 2.5 seconds. That sort of deceleration feels as though
your eyes are starting to bulge from your head.
You don’t buy a car like this to save fuel, or rather very
few people do. In any case good engine design makes the blown V8
efficient. Expect to use as few as nine to ten litres per hundred
kilometres in mild highway cruising. That climbs markedly when you
drive harder or put the car to commuting in traffic, perhaps to 14
to 16 litres per hundred if you really push it.
This big Jaguar sports is a car I would just love to own. The
combination of instant performance, styling (though I still can’t
come to grips with the shape of the headlights) and luxury is
pretty well perfect. Is it any wonder that there's a waiting list
stretching to the middle of 2008 for the new Jaguar XK series?
AT A GLANCE
FEATURES
ABS Brakes: Standard in both models
Air Conditioning: Standard in both models
Automatic Transmission: Standard in both models
CD Player: Standard in all models
Central Locking: Standard in both models
Cruise Control: Standard in both models
Dual Front Airbags: Standard in both models
Front Side Airbags: Standard in both models
Stability Control: Standard in both models
Traction Control: Standard in both models
MODEL RANGE
XKR 4.2-litre two-door coupe - $228,300
XKR 4.2-litre two-door convertible - $250,300
SPECIFICATIONS (Jaguar XKR 4.2-litre two-door convertible)
ENGINE:
Capacity: 4.196 litres
Configuration: V8
Head Design: DOHC, four valves per cylinder
Compression Ratio: 9.1:1
Bore/Stroke: 86.0 x 90.3 mm
Maximum Power: 306 kW @ 6250 rpm
Maximum Torque: 560 Nm @ 4000 rpm
DRIVELINE:
Driven Wheels: Front
Manual Transmission: Not offered
Automatic Transmission: Six-speed
Final Drive Ratio: 3.31:1
DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT AND CAPACITIES:
Length: 4791 mm
Wheelbase: 2752 mm
Width: 1892 mm
Height: 1329 mm
Turning Circle: 11.0 metres
Kerb Mass: 1715kg
Fuel Tank Capacity: 71 litres
Towing Ability: Not issued
SUSPENSION AND BRAKES:
Front Suspension: Independent, double wishbones, anti-roll bar
Rear Suspension: Independent, double wishbones, anti-roll bar
Front Brakes: Ventilated disc
Rear Brakes: Ventilated disc
PERFORMANCE:
0-100 km/h Acceleration: 5.2 secs
Standing 400 Metres: 13.6 secs
FUEL CONSUMPTION:
Fuel Type: Petrol 95RON
Fuel Consumption - Combined Cycle (EU): 12.3 L/100km
STANDARD WARRANTY:
Three years/unlimited km
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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