Category: Exotic Sports 
Price Range: £69,505 to £78,400
Fantastic performance, great to drive, glamorous looks.
Expensive to run, ride can be quite firm in the 'Dynamic' setting.
The XKR is furiously fast, fun to drive, yet still comfortable and sumptuous when you just want to cruise. It's a great GT.
It's clear where Jaguar's priorities lay when it decided the XK range needed a facelift. Few will be able to pick old from new in the flesh, with only the addition of a pair of large air intakes on the Jag's chin to give it away.
The real changes are under the skin. Jaguar's engineers have replaced the old 4.2-litre V8 with a new potent direct fuel injection five-litre supercharged V8 from the recent XFR. They also added a continuously adaptable suspension and a limited slip differential.
This evolution has allowed Jaguar to reposition the XKR. It had to, since the base 5.0 litre XK (launched next month) packs the same performance as the outgoing XKR. That means the new XKR, with its thundering 503bhp, can target far more expensive GTs that used to leave it trailing.
To help the XKR match up to its glamorous Italian rivals, Jaguar has also taken the opportunity to tweak the interior, boosting the feeling of quality. The supercharger's whine is much less intrusive now, too.
Now may not seem the best time to be re-launching a big, thirsty GT, but when you consider how much we liked the old car, we can't help but be excited about this aggressive new version.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Jaguar XKR
wrote on 24 03 2007