In early February this year I had the good fortune to have an extended test drive in the new 5.0 litre XKR convertible and struggle to find superlatives good enough to describe the car and to do it justice!
Jaguar's original motto ‘Grace, Space, and Pace' is epitomised in its entirety by this splendid beast of a car; its graceful sporty lines attracted much admiration and attention, the interior is well appointed with superb seats that are both comfortable and supportive, and access for those over six feet tall with larger than average frames is no problem at all. Pace, well this is something else. The performance is quite exceptional, the words wicked and exhilarating, come to mind but in truth I have to ask who in their right mind would want an everyday car with performance like this for use on the open roads of the UK?
Over the past eleven years I have had two XK8 coupes, a 4.0 and a 4.2 litre, both of which by comparison can be said to be very staid and conventional and that is why my first thoughts about the car, after I had been given the key fob for the convertible was, how am I going to be able to cope with the mass of technology that was soon to confront me? I felt a bit like someone that was about to make their first solo flight without having had the benefit of many hours extensive training and practical hands-on experience! I should not have worried because soon after I had worked out that the reason the car door was not locked was because the car knew it was me, the fob in the pocket told it so, we were becoming intuitive to each other's needs; a couple of presses of the start button revealed everything I wanted, to select the direction of travel, to tune the radio, to set the sat.nav. and no doubt many other functions as well!
I have always been critical of the small rear window in the convertible so those of you who know already won't be surprised when I say that the rear view mirror works wonders with what can be actually be seen, and the window size is no hardship after all, somebody should have told me, or perhaps I didn't ask!
My first impressions of the car are that the brakes are superb, notwithstanding the 20inch wheels the comfort is fantastic, the steering precise, the controls are good and the operation to raise and lower the hood could not be more simple. The boot size is a bit restricted, the gearbox automatic and manual paddle selection is a dream, the 5.0 litre engine is so smooth, so responsive, so powerful and certainly puts the cars performance in the super car class and what is more, the lower end of the super car class price range.
You will have gathered that I like the car, it's terrific and a credit to all those involved in its design and development and if all of the other cars in the Jaguar range are as good then Jaguar has a great future and will certainly lead the competition for a long time to come. I would like to thank P V Dobson of Levens Bridge, Cumbria, for giving me the opportunity to drive this fantastic car.
