2007 Jaguar XK8
At 130 mph I thumbed the paddle-shifter to grab fifth gear. The Jaguar XK8 coupe continued its steady climb toward maximum velocity. As I reached 156 mph, the electronic limiter gently intervened, allowing that speed to be sustained but permitting no more. The crude fuel-cutoff limiters used by many manufacturers make the car seem like you've just driven into a peat bog. But the Jag's system allows maximum speed to be sustained while acting as if the engine is completely wound-out and has nothing more to offer. The sensation is no different than having the cruise control set to 156 mph, and the car willingly maintains that speed without protest.
The subtlety of the XK8's speed limiter is emblematic of Jaguar's approach to refined, rapid cross-country road cars. The fact that I was covering 229 feet per second over a wavy two-lane road was notable principally by its lack of drama. At a more sedate 130 mph the car is hardly more demanding of the skilled driver than many lesser cars are at half that speed. True, the rush of air is more intrusive but thanks to careful airflow management (Cd is a very reasonable 0.33), interior noise levels are still low enough to permit normal conversation. This behavior was precisely the design goal-combine the best qualities of a premium GT with those of a pure sports car.
Jag's been trying for well over four decades to emulate the classic beauty of the original E-type and I'd say this is the closest they've yet come to succeeding. The Ian Callum-led design team penned the new body with a longer wheelbase, slightly increased overall length and track but much shorter overhangs. The wheels are pushed out to the edges of the muscular haunches and the high beltline, long hood and low roofline help give the car a far more aggressive stance. The oval grille area is pure E-Type while the artfully sculpted taillights flow upward from the rear quarter's trailing edge around to the rear end. The old model was merely pretty; this one is both stunning and aggressive. It's not the radical redesign Jag really needed, but it'll do. More than a few admirers mistook it for an Aston Martin or Maserati.
The body now is all-aluminum and there is extensive use of the material in powertrain and suspension. The monocoque body is bonded by clever, self-piercing rivets along with advanced structural adhesives. There's only one welded joint. This helps the new XK coupe to shed about 150 pounds of curb weight, the convertible somewhat more. And while the coupe has always been my choice for serious road work due to its much stiffer body structure, lighter weight, better handling and quieter interior, the convertible's body now is claimed to have 50 percent more torsional rigidity and the coupe 30 percent more. The net result is an impressive isolation from impact harshness and the intrusion of road noise and powertrain vibrations.
Reduced curb weight contributes the usual advantages-greater agility, faster acceleration and improved fuel economy. It also induces the new XK to change direction with more enthusiasm than before. As usual, suspension tuning is superb. The ride is supple and composed, ignoring cratered pavement and soaking up big road irregularities with aplomb.
The redesigned body sports a liftback that finally allows easy access to the cargo area. Crack it open and gas struts automatically raise it the rest of the way. The old model's wafer-thin trunk lid was scarcely wide enough to slip a briefcase inside without skinning your knuckles. Cargo room is little changed: adequate for two golf bags and a single Kleenex. Opting for run-flat tires frees up the space occupied by the mini-spare tire but I'd rather the vestigial and useless rear seat disappear entirely or at least fold flat for cargo, with access through the rear bulkhead. Even a pass-through feature would be nice. But that's unlikely since carving up the extensively reinforced bulkhead would undoubtedly compromise structural integrity.
Stretching the wheelbase adds 2.1 inches of legroom, now sufficient to accommodate one of my six-foot-three friends. At least if the seat is slid fully back. Try more rearward adjustment and the four inches of rear "legroom" disappear, the front seat hits the rear's lower cushion and automatically starts moving bolt upright. Shoulder room is up by 1.3 inches and headroom by 0.8 inch, courtesy of the slightly higher roofline.
Jaguar has traditionally excelled at sumptuous cockpits and the new one's no different. A big round tach and speedo flank a driver information center that displays gear selection, cruise control info, trip-computer functions, tire pressures and other data plus icons to warn of various problems. When fitted with the optional radar-based adaptive cruise control, separation distance is also displayed. Get too close and engine power is reduced and when needed, braking applied to maintain a safe distance.
The center stack in the test car had burl veneer accents and was dominated by a 7-inch TFT touch-screen display. The latter controls HVAC, sound system, vehicle settings, telephone and the DVD nav system's functions. It's one of the better ones I've seen. Instead of hunting for a button, just tapping your finger in the proximity of a desired icon is enough to select it. Audible confirmation is provided, a nice touch that lets you concentrate on more pressing matters, like keeping the car on the road.
Use of a trendy red start/stop button on the console is required to operate the engine. I could live without it. The keyfob transmitter is intended to unlock doors and energize the electricals, starting circuit included. The start button may be trendy but I'd settle for a key, particularly on those occasions when the keyfob in my pocket was somehow unable to communicate with the car.
Suspension layout is unchanged: coil springs and monotube shocks all around with unequal-length A-arms in front and rear lower control arms with the halfshafts acting as upper lateral links, classic Jag architecture. Computer Active Technology Suspension (dubbed CATS, not surprisingly) has been revised. It still switches between two damper settings in near-realtime based on a variety of parameters-pitch and yaw rates, steering wheel angle and braking force among them. But the previous CATS controlled the shocks in pairs, front and rear, allowing control only of pitch. The revised system allows individual shock control and roll control now is possible.
To a knowledgeable driver the addition of active roll control is evident. Dive into a curve at double the posted limit and the unnatural lack of body roll suggests that either Newton's Second Law of Motion has been revised or some type of electromechanical intervention is taking place. If you're fond of terrifying your passenger, divert their attention from the outside world just prior to pitching the car into a turn. When their head pops up in reaction to the G forces, their gaze inevitably shifts to the speedo as they try to put the blurred scenery into a mph context. They'll see numbers that'll have many of them leaving fingernails embedded in the door pulls.
Front and rear wheel width and tire sizes are staggered to compensate for the coupe's 53/47 front/rear weight distribution. Standard 18-inch and optional 19-inch alloys wear ZR-rated Pirellis, 245/45s on 8.5-inch-wide rims in front. The rears are 275/40s on 9.5-inch rims. Those in desperate need of some additional bling can opt for the $5000 upgrade to 20-inchers wearing 255/35 fronts and 295/30 rears. But I fully expect the dubs' ultra-low-aspect-ratio tires will generate more noise and a harsher ride. It's your call on whether those drawbacks and the price tag are worth it.
The payoff of the hotshot computerized suspension technology, lighter weight and big, sticky footwear is optimized grip and benign handling qualities. The Jag willingly shrugs off mid-corner potholes and major pavement irregularities, allowing steering corrections without losing its composure. In fact, the chassis is so unflappable that only the truly inept will ever experience crisis intervention from the two-stage electronic stability control system. (The driver-selectable second stage raises the threshold, allowing a bit of tail-out driving style if you really insist on it.) Driven smoothly, the XK8's grip is so substantial, its limits so high that you'll need to corner at truly hair-raising velocities before experiencing any hint of electronic intrusion by the stability control system. And it's comforting to know that the already superb brakes have bigger vented rotors for even quicker stops and improved pedal feel.
The 4.2-liter DOHC V-8 all-alloy powerplant now has variable valve timing for the intakes plus new, multi-hole injectors with improved spray patterns. Along with revised engine-mapping software, the tweaks help deliver 85 percent of its 310 pound-feet (up 7 pound-feet from before) between 2000 and 6000 rpm. Toe deep into the throttle and the 300 hp V-8 responds with an enthusiastic growl from the big twin chromed rear pipes, a pleasant change from the previous car, whose exhaust note sounded like a Crown Victoria taxi. The powertrain guys went to great lengths to produce this mellifluous exhaust sound which included adding a variable-flow muffler, twin resonators and a crossover pipe. (Now you know why cars like this cost so much.)
It's a commendably fuel-efficient powertrain. I routinely saw 25.5 mpg at 75 mph freeway speeds and 22.4 mpg in congested urban driving. On a 325-mile, four-hour flog over twisty mountain two-lane roads and despite frequent trips to the redline, it still returned 20.4 mpg, the same as the 177 hp 4-cylinder Pontiac Solstice I drove over the same route the week before.
The excellent 6-speed ZF automatic now is controlled by paddle shifters and a proper dual-path console shift gate that replaces the antediluvian and much-hated J-gate. In sport mode the transmission swaps gears nearly instantaneously, much faster than most of the competing manumatics I've driven. A manual downshift is accompanied by a precise blip of the throttle to exactly match road speed to engine revs. The paddle shifters will still function with the selector in drive, although gear changes are somewhat slower and the transmission automatically upshifts at the redline if you can't be bothered. In sport mode it'll remain in gear until you decide otherwise or the engine grenades, whichever comes first.
The paddle shifters are positioned on the back of the steering wheel at 3 and 9 o'clock, perfectly placed so long as you're dialing-in a moderate amount of steering lock. But on lower-speed, sharper corners and particularly if you shuffle-steer, they're often impossible to locate when you're in a hurry. Now the engine's needlessly screaming along at the 6500 rpm redline while puzzled bystanders scratch their heads, wondering why the moron in the pretty car seems so intent on blowing up his engine. A better idea would be stalk-mounted shifters that stay put, never mind where the wheel is pointed.
Fuzzy logic transmission-control software tries hard to adapt to your driving style, holding onto a lower gear if it senses a continued demand for hard acceleration or imminent entry into a corner. It's probably better than nothing at all but its ideas on when to shift were often different than mine. Doing a hard launch from rest, grabbing, say, second gear and then backing off sharply will have the trans clinging to second seemingly forever, oblivious to the fact that you've already had your fun and now only want a higher gear and to get on with life. Still, Jaguar has taken pains to make the XK8 more of a driver's car and I'll cut them some slack on that one.
Straight-line performance is marginally improved, making the XK8 coupe a mid-14-second car with 0-60 mph rolling by in about 6 seconds. It somehow doesn't feel outrageously fast but the sensation of speed is muted by the excellent NVH control. I measured 72 db(A) at 70 mph on textured pavement; it's even quieter on smooth roads.
The adaptive cruise control (part of the $2,500 Advanced Technology Package that also includes self-leveling bi-xenon headlights) works quite well, chopping power and adding braking if necessary to maintain a safe following distance. Unfortunately, there's no way to deactivate the adaptive part, meaning you'll forever be at the mercy of the computer's idea of what constitutes safe driving behavior.
Another option on my car was the Luxury Package ($3300) that adds the stylish Carelia 19-inch, 10-spoke alloys, 16-way adjustable seats covered in softgrain leather and more cowhide on a heated steering wheel, the IP, door panels, console and shifter knob.
With a base price of $74,835 ($81,300 as tested), the XK8 coupe squares off against the 302 hp Mercedes CL500 ($95,500) and 360 hp BMW 650i ($71,800), its two closest competitors. Both are larger, heavier and offer few significant advantages in performance or driving dynamics. More important, they're far different in character than the Brit. That remains the Jaguar XK8's biggest selling point. It's always been different. And in its latest incarnation, it's also far better sorted out than its predecessors, making the Jaguar XK8 even more desirable.
