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| Road Test: Jaguar XK (2006-) |
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| Exotic Sports |
by: Gavin Conway |
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Jaguar XK (2006-) Gallery
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| SAFETY AND SECURITY RATING: |
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The headline news here will be of much more interest to those not inside the XK, but those unfortunate enough to be run over by one. Jaguar is claiming a world-first with its 'pyrotechnic pedestrian deployable bonnet'.
The system came about when designers looking for the lowest possible bonnet height for a sexy profile came up against future legislation that will demand that there be space between the bonnet and the hard points of the engine. So when your head hits the bonnet once you've been mown down by Mr XK, the bonnet will deform enough to give your head a chance of surviving terminal damage. That's achieved by sensors that detect an impact with a pedestrian and then fire charges that raise the bonnet a few inches to create the space between bonnet and engine.
On the passive safety front, the XK has an intelligent driver's airbag, which figures out whether the driver is wearing a seatbelt and how severe the crash is and deploys the 'bag accordingly. There are also two combined front head and thorax airbags to protect occupants in a big impact with stationary (and immovable) objects.
During an impact, the Jag's headrests are designed to move forward to give better protection against whiplash. And in the back, both seats benefit from Isofix child seat fittings.
The XK has a full armoury of stability and traction control programmes, as well as something called Trac DSC, which allows experienced drivers to get the XK a bit out of shape before stability control intervenes. In normal mode, the XK's stability programme is hugely impressive - we tried lifting off the throttle and braking hard during a fast corner and the XK just simply stopped. Try that in an early XJS and you'd be picking foliage out of your teeth (or worse).
The new XK has a Thatcham 1 category alarm system with microwave intrusion sensing and even tilt-sensing to detect whether the car is being lifted onto a low-loader.
The convertible also features roll-over hoops at the back that pop out automatically if the car's sensors detect an imminent inversion scenario.
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Introduction This new XK is lighter, faster and roomier than the car it replaces... |
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