franki68
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jaguar xk8 convertbile 05Drove on eof these briefly the other day and here are some thoughts.
Firstly I must in its defence point out that the car had been stationary for 4-5 months ,so it was not ideal.
Basically an utterly loathsome car,it is pretty and the engine is nice and that is all I can that is nice about it.
The car is a reverse tardis,it is quite big yet inside contains no space.Why do they put rear seats in,unless you have children with no legs, no form of human can fit in them,not only that but the car is claustraphobic,this was LHD and if I turned the wheel left my elbow banged into the door.
The switchgear was crap and illogical and my initial impressions were very poor,however I was looking forward to experiencing the magic jaguar ride/handling combo so all was not lost,well that is what I thought until I got onto the road.Oh my god,the ride was horrible it jiggled about and the wheel just vibrated in my hands,it was the soggiest car I have ever driven.
I got out so disappointed ,I wanted to like it but it is up there with the dodge viper as the worst car I have ever driven.
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garry
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I drove a coupe version of the old xk8. Agree with the space and the switchgear - they might as well have smeared a piece of wood with glue and thrown random switchgear at it. The coupe rode OK though, even on some monster tyres.
I've driven a current generation xkr coupe and it's a much nicer thing. It's much better inside (still not special, but not offensive), with a lovely turn of speed. Although for me it doesn't quite fit, being neither comfy cruiser or sportscar.
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franki68
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| garry wrote: | I drove a coupe version of the old xk8. Agree with the space and the switchgear - they might as well have smeared a piece of wood with glue and thrown random switchgear at it. The coupe rode OK though, even on some monster tyres.
I've driven a current generation xkr coupe and it's a much nicer thing. It's much better inside (still not special, but not offensive), with a lovely turn of speed. Although for me it doesn't quite fit, being neither comfy cruiser or sportscar. |
Maybe the cab suffered in the ride department.Not driven the coupe so hard to say,or maybe this was duff one.
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Guitar Zero
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The X100 cabriolet has all the structural rigidity of a slightly damp digestive biscuit, they all suffer from appalling scuttle and column shake which gets worse as you up the alloy diameter. They were bought by tarts who want to look good and not by people interested in a quality drive. The engine and gearbox in post 02 examples is the 4.2 V8 and 6 speed ZF auto used today in all current rwd Jaguars - and yes, it is peachy even if the headline outputs are now a tad anaemic.
The coupe was a much better car to drive, class leading in the late 90s and early noughties but outdated by the end.
The latest XK is superb - the ride quality in the XKR (mit 20s) is astonishingly good (stiffest coupe/cab bodyshells in the world) and I've never understood the alleged issues with the interior given that the entire dash and doors are trimmed in leather. The black/cream with walnut or blue/cream with poplar combinations are gorgeous.
New 5.0 GDI V8s for early 2009 and some interior revisions will keep it bang up to date.
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