As mentioned in my E-Type post, the Americans really liked the E-Type. This loyalty was reflected almost immediately after Ford acquired Jaguar back in the 1990's when it launched the X100 model. The X100 series is the 1998 XKR we have here today; a tribute to the E-Type.
The X100 series were produced between 1996-2006. At the beginning there was only the XK8, which had a brand new 4,000cc V8 engine from Jaguar. In 1998, they introduced the XKR we have here today, which was a supercharged version increasing the power to 400hp. The most obvious difference between the XK8 and the XKR are the bigger wheels and bonnet vents, used to cool the supercharger of the latter.
Readers familiar with cars of the 90s would also recall that the same-period Aston Martin DB7 looks very similar to the XKR. That is because they were both owned by Ford back then and were both based on the platform of the Jaguar XJS – the model between the E-Type and X100 produced from 1975-1996. While the platform was old, the design of the X100 was not. Designers apparently designed the body first before dealing with the mechanical parts, which is uncommon as it is usually the other way around. The XKR’s design also benefited by avoiding the era of even more intrusive American car safety regulations after the X100's release, where pedestrian laws like requiring a 3 inch space between the engine and bonnet did not exist yet. As such, the XKR did not have to be bulbous and humongous like many of the front engine GT cars we see today (Ferrari 599, Aston DB11 etc.)
As one would expect, the XKR drives very differently from the E-Type (it is 30 years younger after all). While the E-Type was a light weight sports car, the XKR is a full blown grand tourer. The interior is comfortable, with lots of leather, wood, chrome, and electronic gadgets such as an electronically adjustable steering wheel. What makes it obvious that this car is a luxurious GT cruiser is the gearbox (all X100 cars only came in automatic); it has Jaguar’s iconic J-Gate transmission and I have never had an automatic gearbox where the gear knob takes so little effort to shift. By my second traffic light I already picked up the habit of using only one finger to go from D to N and vice versa – because I can.
Thanks to the brand new engine by Jaguar that the X100 has, the V8 does not sound like an American muscle V8, even though it was owned by Ford. The V8 sounds good but is not intrusive to the cabin ambiance. When stepping on it, power delivery is smooth and seamless but you do feel the weight of the car – something exactly opposite to the E-Type.
Sitting in the car you really feel the low flat shape of the car. Both the front and rear windshields are low, but head space and visibility remain fine. Being in Hong Kong, I do appreciate the relatively small size of the car. Grand tourer cars never made sense in Hong Kong as we only have a handful of highways and only one with the top speed limit of…110kmh (68 mph), and huge 700hp grand tourers we have from Ferrari and Aston Martin today are even more pointless here. To me, the GT cars most fitting for Hong Kong were all made from the late 90’s and throughout the 2000’s. This XKR, the Maserati Gransport, and the Aston Martin DB9 were all perfectly sized and powered (all between 400-500hp), but are all unfortunately extinct.
While on its own, you can’t really see much of the XKR’s resemblance to the E-Type, when you park the two together as we have today, the similarities become clear. Aside from the general long-front-short-rear shape of the two cars, the front ends in particular are quite obvious. The XKR has similarly small and roundy headlights placed at similar positions as the E-Type, while the shape of the front grille is close to identical. The engine bonnet of the two cars are strikingly similar, both with a bulge in the middle and cooling vents on both sides (cooling vents only on the supercharged XKR and not the XK8 model). While I think it would be impossible to make another car as beautiful as the E-Type again, I think we can all agree that the XKR's designers made a very respectable effort in giving a nod to the E-Type’s design. This feat may never be repeated again due to safety regulations that are only getting more stringent.
See the video of our review here:
Thanks to our crew as always for all the hard work in making this video!
Alex (http://www.taipanmedia.com)
Dave (Email: david@lemonadeandgiggles.com)
IcyJ (IG: @icyj95)