Sometimes you see a car where you don’t really get the point of it. Mostly, this are cars we drive and review on Autogespot. Cars which move you in the ultimate luxury of a supersportcar for the fastest laptimes on the racetrack. This time, it is a supercar which is gone completely insane. The Jaguar XKR-S.
Some time ago, the XKR-S was introduced. This car was an even more powerful, aggressive and tougher car than the standard XKR. What is very striking, is that the DNA of this car is very different compared to the XKR. Sound, looks, handling all got very serious in this car. It doesn’t matter in which color you order one, this car is a complete eyecatcher. But when you order it in French Racing Blue like the car we drove, you really can’t complain about the attention your car will get. The car is easy to find on the street or a parking lot with its nice color. And then there’s the sound, it keeps staggering! Even a jetfighter would be more anonymous to move yourself. But, it’s not the color which is the ‘wrongdoer’. We think it is the complete modified and widened body of the XKR-S. Only looking to the big front bumper, you’ll see two gills and a big carbon fiber splitter to show that this is a wildcat. Looking to the side of the 550 bhp monster, you can see big sideskirts. At the back there is a enormous spoiler, 4 extremely loud and big exhausts and a big carbon fiber diffuser. The last few years, carbon fiber is the number one material for manufacturers of sporty cars. Here in the Jag, nothing is less true. Inside, extremely much is made from carbon fiber. Door handles, glove compartment, pretty much everything, to save as much weight as possible.
That this XKR-S is a real monster, that’s no strange story. Accelerating to 62 mph in just 4.4 seconds is no problem for this car. To 125 mph it won’t be a problem either, the explosive acceleration will stop around 155 mph. The top speed of the XKR-S is 185 mph, but it won’t surprise us if this car will go on to even faster speeds. Of course you won’t keep up with a Lamborghini Aventador or something, but then is a car with two faces. You can go completely mad with this car on the racetrack, and then, when you’re going home get stuck in a traffic jam without any trouble. The easy way this car drives is so amazing. Of course your mother-in-law wouldn’t do shopping in this car, but still. On wet surface, it still keeps searching for traction. The power on the back wheels sometimes is frightening, the tail slides away and in a fraction of a second you have made spin, or worse, you have crashed into the crash barriers. Of course, the DSC system will try to prevent this, but with a car like this, it’s always wise to keep your head cool. With these written words it still is fun to drive the Jag in the rain. In the dynamic mode of this car, the DSC is much more tolerant. Put the throttle down some earlier in corners en de backend will come out. Also accelerating is fun, especially with the cars gearbox and the small bangs in the exhaust when shifting gear. With the window opened a little bit, this is joy in its purest form in this Jag. A great leap forward if you keep in mind that Jaguars were very boring. However now, this car is great expertise from Great Britain. They still have the expertise in themselves and you can feel that in this Jag. It got to be even greater to drive the convertible version of this car, something we want very quickly. The lovely sound of the supercharged V8 then is an even bigger sensation. You then will enjoy as much as the people on the street do.
The moment is there. The tarmac of Zandvoort is drying, the tires and engine are warmed up and the temperature rises. To discover the real personality of the Jag, you have to put the Jaguar Drive into mode S. You will have to control the gearbox all yourself, and will only listen to the flappy pedals at the back of the steering wheel. Don’t shift up but just keep driving with the rev limiter if you want. Then change the Jaguar Drive into the dynamic mode and the beast is unleashed! Just awesome! The roaring engine and handling of this blue monster! It would be even better if this car had semi-slicks. The tires are much more on their edge than the car itself. It’s absurd how much this car is improved by the racing department of Jaguar. Even tighter trough bends, even faster and even more direct steering. Jaguar is back, and how! Jaguar has proved itself with this XKR-S and if the rumors are true we maybe can expect a XFR-S, which would really great, a worthy opponent for the BMW M5 or even better. The numbers that we controlled this engine isn’t countable on one hand. Despite the power upgrade, this engine is as smooth as in the XFR, Range Rover Supercharged and XKR. Only in the dynamic mode its wild personality is recognizable. As we said, when you get stuck in a traffic jam with this car, you won’t have even a small problem.
In the interior, there aren’t any radical changes. The standard seats of this car are just sublime and movable in every direction you want. Get a backache in this car is a difficult exercise. A nice detail is the blue stitches. This gives a nice contrast and the finishing is very nice, everywhere. The only drawback is Jaguars multimedia system. It doesn’t work intinitive and also very slow. At every touch of the screen it takes a little time to come to the next screen. When is finally works, it works good but set the controls for the navigation can make you quite nervous. About the quality of the audio system, there is nothing to complain about. No strange transformation when you boost up the sound.
What’s a pity is that there aren’t many copies sold in the Netherlands. For the price of 151.000 pounds is totally worth the money. We won’t talk about the fuel consumption, we shall save heart attacks from Prius drivers. An average of 12 miles mpg is not impossible. This way of entertaining is expensive, but worth it. You don’t have to worry about that, and next to that, the XKR-S isn’t bad in daily use.
Photo's and video by: Adam van Noort
