cobradav

Stopped by Jag dealer to see if they had brochures on new model. Vert arrived about 4 hours earlier, so I got first test drive at dealer. Nice drive, nice sound, same ZF STEP tranny as ours but to Jag specs. Shifts faster in D, Sport and has paddle shifters as well. Does throttle blip on downshift in manual mode. Nice sound. Top down up faster than 6er. Can also go up / down at up to 10 MPH (handy for sudden inclement weather at stop light, etc ? 6er does this but Audi does not). Nice interior but? Screen too low, touch screen, dash gauges and screen hard to see in bright light, no HUD available. Does have 6 cd changer in dash, has all bells and whistles, Bluetooth, NAV (by NAVTEQ), plays MP3s, Comfort Access std. Heated steering wheel, SIRIUS, 525 watt Alpine stereo, Active headlights and ACC.

Excellent suspension, excellent steering feel, good seating, hard to read dash. Good view all around with top down. Exact same wheel/tire dimensions as my sport package 6er 19? 245/40 F and 275/35 rear) Decent power, claimed 0-60 of 6.0 for vert. Supercharged version out late this year- 400+ HP. Will test later with top up (they are bringing car to house to have my wife test drive). Had a hard time taking the side mirrors out to the proper driving position as I wanted to look at the haunches on this thing ? really nice looking. Most every view is really nice looking, except rear to me. A little too busy, not enough open surface (am I spoilt by a Bangle Butt???)

The sales guy was impressed with my 6er and I made it VERY clear that it was not going away; the Jag MAY replace my wife?s Audi vert. He had not had chance to test car yet so he was riding for first time as well. When we got back we talked to the other sales guy that was trained and had spent time in California at dealer intro driving experience. We talked. They learned I had a gtech meter. They want us to go testing with meter. So when they bring car for my wife to test we will go take my gtech and go flog this XK out in the boonies (wild life preserve). Not sure when this will take place but will report when I do. Unlike with the 6er, all JAG dealers are required to take the first car and keep as demo for 120 days. I could not find a 6er to test drive for over 5 months after they started selling them.

All in all I found the car easy to drive save for the difficulty with reading dash. Need to try with top up and in darker conditions. I have to say my 6er has the best dash and the best day / dusk / night automatic change to appropriate levels I have ever seen.

Centurion

Thanks for the feedback and looking forward to more once you get the gtech with it.

I agree. Love the placement of the iDrive screen on the 5 and 6 series. It's just a glance away from the speedo, tach, and windsheild. I don't like how some Audi's and Merc's put it lower down the center console.
I think the car looks classy but I'd like better performance figures for the money Jag wants for one of these.

Still, I know it's mighty tempting if you've got one right in front of you.

e60darkness

i never had a jag before but from my understanding jag's and range rovers are made by ford right now. i brought a range rover sport last summer right after my first test drive, thought the suv drove great and everything but as time went by my car is making more noise from engines to the doors to wind sounds coming into the car :thumbsdown: maybe they used some cheap parts? i suggest u think twice before getting urself into one it just seems like it wears down really fast and feels old and i only drove it for 15k and ofcourse my e60 still feels like new!

cobradav

Yes Ford in involved. But they put up some big bucks to turn the Jag mfr plant into a showcase of lean mfr process and have won some prestige awards in so doing. Although I am not super keen on Jag, they are scoring very high in quality ratings as well. Some of the bad vibes most think of are the old electronic gremlins they had. But they have really improved over the past few years. I really did think they had the best looking vert with top up in the previous XK? but that silly top down look with the big camel hump and manual cover was ludicrous. Now they seem to have hit a pretty good sweet spot. I do believe its better in many ways than its other competitors outside of BMW. Several folks have pointed out how they think it has a Taurus (Ford) look to its nose. I do feel it is more true to its Jag heritage than to some perceived Taurus tie in. What I think is the Taurus took some styling cues from Jag way back and now when we look at Jags some see the Taurus tie in. I still think its just more variations on heritage Jag. As to its look I find that almost every car has some similarity to some other car or cars in some facet. Its true with the 6er and many others that I like. After all there is just so much you can do to separate one design from another at every angle. Fully 80-90% of the angles I viewed were very pleasing, with only the full rear being the least attractive IMO. Certainly not all are going to agree with my view - at least I hope not

I also think the vert looks better with top down as does our 6er vert IMO. Jag kept a pretty conventional soft top design unlike the 6er so it does not flow as well as the Jag coupe in comparison. Also I thought trunk space was limited compared to both 6er and Audi verts, especially in the height area. Top down only 7.1 cu. ft.
BTW, far more exterior color choices than the 6er. 15 colors now and 4 more in June (2 of these replace 2 outgoing colors). Four vert top colors, four interior colors, 2 wood and one Aluminum trip options.

The Supercharged version will be a beast. The sales folks (and I do not know if this is true) say this NA 300 HP version now is only 0.1 sec slower to 60 than the outgoing XKR.


My wife has already poo pooed the Jag idea, saying she does need to haul a third/fourth person now and then and the Jag will just not do that. I really know she wants to haul manure, flowers, the odd piece of furniture from a yard sale, etc. She treats her verts like a pickup.

But while the sales guys seems eager to want to check this thing out with my gtech I'll try to string them along to get more seat/test time.


The JAG configurator is up and running so you can see some of the options prior to going to dealer.

jet190rs

How did it handle compared to your 6?

Can you elaborate on when you said the Jag has exellent steering and suspension? How do they compare to the 6's?

Does the Jag feel hunkered down? Glued to the road? Confidence-inspiring?

Which is sportier and gives your more feedback of what's going?
Which is more luxurious and isolates you more from the road?

cobradav

Smooth, less harsh than the 6er, but I do not consider the 6er (mine is Sport PKG with AS) as harsh to begin with. The steering had good feel, but at this time I could not find enough twisties yet to challenge the JAG. Maybe later.

Again here I could not get enough top speed to give a good comparison. I've been to 140 in the 6er and 120-130 frequently - up and down as quick as you can -. I need to do that in the JAG to make any qualified comment and that has not happened yet. Also I tested the vert, but... it was planted well at 80 and no qualms what so ever.

I can only add to my opening paragraph that I felt everthing, but it felt like less impact to chassis, nothing upset it. I purposely found bumps, pot holes, etc to get that impression and I was impressed with the vert - felt great. I could possibly imagine the coupe to be even better. Before I admitt the JAG feels better I would have to get a lot more driving impressions. I have never complained about my 6er and it would hard to believe better, but understand, I do not have a history in BMWs so the 6er IS my yardstick.

6er is still more involved in my estimation even with AS. But this JAG feels good. It DOES need more HP in my estimation and I would not consider it for my car unless and until it gets more whether with the "R" supercharged version or later with a more powerful NA engine. It is more than enough for my wife and in the calm cool collected analysis of what she wants out of a car, probably more than she wants or needs.

For outright luxo I think the JAG may have it by a nose. Although there is plenty I find not to my liking in the readability and ease of use in the controls/dash. I'm sure there will be more folks that do like it - but probably not coming from BMWs. And the luxo may be a false impression. It may take the test of time.

I'll add or update any impressions if/when I do any more testing.

swajames

TopGear (magazine) just gave the new XK convertible an 18 out of 20 review - an almost unprecedented score. Before anyone posts the obvious "it's a British mag, of course they would give a good review" that's not the case, TopGear is all too happy to put the boot in on brit cars when deserved. They go as far as to rate the new XK as the best GT in the world.

colejl

Jesus! I bet they're expensive! They'd only be room for one!

ICEMAN 316

XK jag is a really nice car.. but i think i would still pick a 6er

cobradav

I had to look hard at what you were telling me before I found it. I fixed it - Thanks (darn eagle eyed forum members).