Looks really are everything
Let’s be honest: The only reason to buy the XKR is its looks. This is reason enough.
Never mind what the Internet tells you. This is the only aphrodisiac that comes in capsule form. Sleek and fervent, the XKR (the high-performance variant of the XK8) is the visual descendant of the Jaguar E-Type, a car that in the free-love ‘60s prompted more shedding of clothes than an Alabama heat wave.
The XKR isn’t quite the concupiscent torpedo that the E-Type was, but Jaguar’s coupe/convertible design -- now 9 years old -- is still as naughty as a game of tarts and vicars. This is not an uncommon car in Los Angeles, and yet it lives inside a gazing nimbus of longing and envy. People look just for the sheer decadent pleasure of looking.
As for buying one, well, that depends on how you calibrate your life. If horsepower numbers, 0-60 mph times and lateral G-force matter most to you -- or for that matter, repair bills or resale values -- then, no.
The XKR is a very expensive car. Our test model knocked on $100,000, rivaling only the Mercedes-Benz SL500 in its class.
The XK chassis feels its age in the way it trembles over imperfect asphalt. It certainly doesn’t have the bronze-cast solidity of some of its competitors, such as the Mercedes-Benz SL or the BMW 6-series. The powertrain -- a supercharged 4.2-liter V8 mated to a six-speed automatic transmission -- moves the car with authority, and when you dip deep into the throttle, the supercharger emits a piping whistle that sounds like the tea is ready. That’s fun.
Our test car -- a platinum XKR convertible -- was utterly relaxed on high-speed transits to Santa Barbara and back. The unequal-length A-arm suspension front and rear, supported with coil springs and electronically variable dampers, gives the car an oil-on-water ride worthy of a fine grand touring car. When things get tight, however, the car grows unhandy and seems to swell to take up more and more asphalt on both sides of the white line. There are lolling body motions to contend with and the steering yearns to take its own line through a corner.
What the XKR has, once the chassis settles down, is steady-state cornering grip. Our test car came with audacious 20-inch composite alloy rims wrapped with ultra-adhesive performance tires. These wheels -- which the BBS wheel company calls “Detroit” for inscrutable reasons -- are part of a general pimping of the ride, including a menacing mouthful of mesh in the car’s grille opening, deeper front and rear bumper fasciae with quad tailpipe finishers, and ground-skimming rocker panels -- all tuner-car touches.
Dubs? Has the XKR become the Ali G of British GT cars?
The dubs make room for massive cross-drilled Brembo brakes with nail-polish-red brake calipers offering the stopping power of a .308 Weatherby.
There is plenty to love on this car, including the automatic speed limiter system; the driver can preset a speed limit so as to avoid the unwanted attentions of the gendarmerie. The XKR also has an optional adaptive cruise control system ($2,200) that maintains a preset distance between it and traffic ahead. Both systems support the car’s mission as high-speed internodal transit.
Jaguar’s interior textures of leather and wood are lovely, though it’s clear the car is due for an ambience overhaul. In particular, the car’s LCD navigation display -- which works beautifully -- is fitted inelegantly in the central dash without any trim to set it off. The Jaguar is also the only car in its class not to offer a mechanized tonneau under which the powered soft-top hides.
The XKR edition gets a sprinkling of go-fast costuming, including aluminum pedals, a Momo leather gearshift with a big red R on it and a smaller “performance” steering wheel.
The next generation of XKs will debut in 2006, but they will not be built at Jaguar’s hallowed home of Browns Lane in Coventry. Ford announced last month that it will close the factory as part of a company-wide restructuring plan for Jaguar, a perennial money-loser for Ford. Jaguar is also retreating on its projections of worldwide sales volume; last week during the Paris auto show, Jaguar executive Mark Fields said the company would no longer aspire to 200,000-unit sales volume. The company also announced the ignominious withdrawal of Jaguar from Formula 1 racing. And just this week the company received news that its X-Type sedan fared worst among mid-size sedans in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s recent round of side-impact testing.
Ouch.
Jaguar North America sponsors the Jaguar Conservation Trust to protect habitat in Central America for the big cats, but it might be that the golden-eyed felines outlast the company named after them.
For now, the XK continues to seduce buyers with its combination of elegance and elan, brawn and beauty. Is it the rational choice? Probably not. But if you own one, you get to look at it every day.
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Automotive critic Dan Neil can be reached at dan.neill@latimes.com.
