31 Aug 06
Through the tunnel we hurtle. The roof is down and the sound effects from the convertible version of Jaguar's new XKR are, well, unique. The rat-tat-tat part of the V8 beat is particularly crisp - a hi-fi buff might say it has well-defined transients - and there's a deep bass underlay complemented by the muted whine of the supercharger. The whole soundscape is more precise, higher in the tech than a US muscle car's beating bellow, and somehow more cultured than the chopped-metal rumble of an SL55 AMG. Think Aston Martin V8 Vantage without the induction gulps. For the car that the XKR is, it's just right.
And what, exactly, is that? Pricewise, we're in sub-SL500 and BMW M6 territory. Sportiness-wise, we're with the M6 and approaching the SL55 and the 911 Turbo, for these are the cars Jaguar's engineers had in mind when creating the XKR. That doesn't mean the XKR is meant to emulate them, though. Instead it gives a taste of what they can do while making it more 'accessible'.
This has several meanings. The price is part of it, making a car which costs £67,495 (coupe) or £73,495 (convertible) seem conspicuously good value (it's an £8495 premium over the regular XK). Another part is that you can get into an XKR, feel instantly at home in it and enjoy the feel of its supercharged performance without having to risk an automotive ASBO. That's the problem with the 911 Turbo, for example: driven at licence-preserving speeds, it feels lazy and turbo-laggardly. Only when you squeeze the accelerator hard and engage warp drive can you feel what it can do. The rest of the time is just frustration.
The XKR has 416bhp (up from the standard car's 300) and 413lb-ft of torque, which in a 1665kg car of all-aluminium construction is probably sufficient. It lets you surge to 60mph in 4.9 seconds, and were there not a 155mph speed limiter it would probably be good for about 180. An exhaust bypass valve which opens under speed and load, like an Aston's or a Ferrari's, adds to the sense of aural occasion, but the intake noise is silenced to mute that supercharger whine, disliked by some past buyers of blown Jaguars. Enough remains to let you know it's there, but it meant that the engineers have had to rely on the exhaust alone for mechanical music. They seem to have cracked it, though.
