Jag XKR

So I got to play around with a few cars on Friday courtesy of Ford. A couple stood out... the Bullet Edition Mustang was VERY cool to drive around San Fran (I was encouraged NOT to re-enact certain parts of the movie that give the car is name) , the Saleen 302 Extreeme with 620 HP was just stooooooooooopid amounts of fun, although completely unusable in SF traffic (more on that later). The one that stood out, and fitted the situation best was the Supercharged Jag XKR. 420 HP from a supercharged 4.2-liter V8 engine hooked up to a 6-speed ZF automatic transmission with Jaguar Sequential Shift steering wheel mounted paddle shifting. The paddle shifting bit is very addictive. I think I need this set up in the Volvo . The car is everything you would expect a high end Jag to be. Its fast a snot, in a very understated way. Its very plush inside with everything in easy reach. And there is plenty of room inside even for a big German/Scottish galloot like me.

Fast? Abso-friggin-lutely. But delivered in a VERY refined way. Even when you do hammer the throttle the sound in the cabin is never too loud. Only at the upper end of the rev counter does a pleasing roar accompany the shredding tire contrameldoy emanating from the rear or the car. All of the leather in the car gives those sounds a nice mellow edge. One wouldnt want to drown out the classical music on the very well done sound system with the nastiness going outside the cabin, what what? I found myself going through the Presido Tunnel time and again with the windows down, downshifting like mad with the flappy paddles and hammering the throttle to really get a feel for sound. Fabulous. So I've gone on about the sound of fast, how about the feel?

Its perfect. The XKR will propel you to ludicrous speeds at will, but at no time does it get out of shape. The much needed traction control is practically unnoticeable, you just get launched in whatever direction you wish to go, at whatever speed you dial up with no drama. The Jag is capable of mildly violent acceleration, but cradled in the luxurious cabin the worst of the impact is filtered out. San Francisco traffic is no place to play with a nearly $100k 420 hp car with the traction control off, so I will have to leave that evaluation for another day. Even if it does get out the shape the Jag handles very well for anything up to trackday pace so I imagine it would be fairly easy to reign in all those horses and get it all going in the right direction.

The interior appointments are top notch. The sound system is great, the nav system fairly easy to use and the controls well laid out. At 6'7" I dont fit in more than a few sporty cars, but the Jag offered enough adjustment to make it usable not only for short trips but as a GT car. The only problem being swinging your feet over the somewhat tall door sill. Thats the price you pay for the low seating position, and is a minor issue.

All in all I find the XKR a very viable GT type car that offers up plenty of go, a refined driving experience and a nice pedigree to top it all off.