Reading sports car specifications and descriptions of features can be entertaining but compared to driving, it’s like love letters versus being there. Which is why we looked forward to getting behind the wheel of the 2010 Jaguar XKR Coupe.
We had already seen the new Jaguar XKR Coupe at the Detroit Auto Show and reported the details. The body is unchanged though a new front bumper/fascia give the 2010 XKR, along with the Jaguar XK, a new face and, with LED taillights, the XKR and XK have a new look from the rear as well. Both the XK and XKR have functional “cheek scoops” that direct cooling air to the front disc brakes though only the XKR have little hood vents that read “SUPERCHARGED”, lest there be any doubt. The two models can also be distinguished by the chromed lower grille on the XKR–it’s black on the Jaguar XK–and the small spoiler on the rear decklid of the XKR.
Review with driving impressions originally published in Examiner.com July 13, 2010.
The big change, however, is under the hood. Both the 2010 Jaguar XK and XKR (available in coupe and convertible) have a truly all-new V-8, the latter supercharged like its predecessor. These new 5.0-liter engines AJ-V8 Gen III direct injection engines, utilizing the same new high-pressure die-cast aluminum block, are the first developed for joint use by Jaguar and Land Rover (as in the 2010 Range Rover HSE we tested recently). The new features are extensive, including a new supercharger for the XKR and a new variable valve timing system using camshaft torque instead of oil pressure for both engines. The new engine for the 2010 Jaguar XKR is rated at 510 horsepower, a huge increase over the 420 horses of its predecessor.
To handle the added torque of the new engines–461 lb-ft for the supercharged engine, the Jaguar XK and XKR get a new, stronger transmission with additional clutch plates and an uprated torque converter. It shows up in the cockpit as the conventional automatic transmission shifter being replaced by JaguarDrive Selector, the stubby cylinder that rises from the center console. First seen in the Jaguar XF, the driver rotates it to change between park, reverse, neutral and drive and to select the manual mode to use the steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters.
To sports car traditionalists, JaguarDrive seems more heretical than a conventional automatic shift lever, but once one accepts and automatic transmission and shifting manually via the wheel-mounted shifters, it really doesn’t matter. What matters is how quickly and smoothly the gear changes come and how well.
It works very well in neutral. The 5.0-liter supercharged starts up with an appropriate roar. It’s perhaps orchestrated–in all senses of the word, as Jaguar has a tuned trumpet to direct intake sounds to the passenger compartment under full throttle and seemingly on startup.
Do we have to tell you that the 2010 Jaguar XKR Coupe is fast? Jaguar claims the Jaguar XKR hits 60 from a dead stop in 4.6 seconds. That almost a half second faster than the 2009 XKR. It doesn’t sound like much but in car lengths it works out to, well, someone else do the math. The difference is real and it keeps on going well past the mile per minute mark.
The 2010 Jaguar XKR Coupe has a selection of buttons around the JaguarDrive cylinder that limit various functions of traction and stability control systems. Our experimentation proved that one can leave parallel black stripes on the pavement, despite the wide and sticky rear tires. One intriguing button is a checkered flag. Says the owner’s manual: “Setting enhances key vehicle systems so that the vehicle…” And blah, blah, blah. What it comes down to is that the 2010 Jaguar XKR has so much capability that one should approach its limits on the public road, particularly with the electronic nannies given the afternoon off. Take the XKR to a track day, if you must.
Of course, even in default mode, the 2010 Jaguar XKR Coupe has the ability and stability to be completely naughty, giving drivers well deserved confidence. Not surprisingly, however, the ride is firm, not to the point being harsh to enough so that passengers will comment
The 2010 Jaguar XLR Coupe sport seats, however, have an extra adjustability. The front seatback’s bolsters can be set narrower or wider to accommodate passengers who are, well, narrower or wider. There’s a back seat but he’s mean one, Mr. Grinch, if he expects anyone larger than Cindy Lou Who to ride in back. Jaguar is optimistic–or perhaps realistic–with a warning label on the rear hatch warning against hitting the head of a taller person sitting in the deeply pocketed back seat when closing the hatch. Where, it’s fair to ask, would the legs of anyone that tall fit to begin with? And once there, how would said person get out?
The cargo cover of the trunk, which has generous volume numbers, closes over a space that isn’t very tall. Paper grocery bags, for example, won’t stand straight up. With the proper luggage, however, the trunk is sufficient for long distance touring, unless of course, Cindy Lou has unreasonable wardrobe requirements.
Fuel expectations, according to the EPA, are 15 mpg city and 22 mpg highway. Perhaps the latter is accurate. We’ll never know. Combine our normal hilly test drive environs with what one might consider enthusiastic driving–which one might consider how the enthusiast owner might drive, including the exploitation of right foot activities combined with gear ratios selected more for sonorific effect than fuel economy–and our fuel consumption, according to the trip computer of our test 2010 Jaguar XKR, came to 15.2 mpg. Some might, under the circumstances, consider that remarkable.
Still, that’s the effect of driving rather than sending love letters, that and the effect of being there, and the delightful effect of using the 2010 Jaguar XKR Coupe in the way it was intended.
Addendum: The 2010 Jaguar XKR Coupe, depending on particular options and equipment sold for around $100,000. If you want to buy one today, Classic.com calculates the average auction price at $23,363, with a high of just over $31,000.
I drove an earlier iteration of the XKR in the 1993 Jaguar XJR-S was powered by a mighty Jag V-12 engine. Well, mighty in 1993 terms, when a six-liter 318 horsepower twelve-cylinder still mighty. You can get that much push in a pickup today.
About the same time I reviewed the 2010 Jaguar XKR Coupe and I was also able to write about the 2011 Aston Martin Rapide. It’s a four-door but with snug seating–but not as tight as the XKR–in the second row, it was about double the price of the Jag.
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