Jaguar XK Review

More than three decades since the iconic XKE went to cat heaven, its spirit lives on in a new breed of sleek Jaguar coupes and convertibles. The latest Jaguar XK maintains classic design cues like the oval grille, but adds a modern all-aluminum body and high-tech features designed to better appeal to today's luxury car buyers.

Thanks to recent upgrades, the Jaguar XK boasts substantial performance capabilities that don't come at the cost of luxury or charm. Although it's certainly not perfect, Jag's much-improved XK deserves serious consideration.

Current Jaguar XK-Series
The current Jaguar XK and supercharged XKR are available as a two-door coupe and convertible. The standard XK comes with a 5.0-liter V8 good for 385 horsepower and 380 pound-feet of torque. The XKR offers a supercharged version of the same engine cranking out 510 hp and 461 lb-ft of torque.

Both engines are paired with a six-speed automatic with paddle shifters for manual shift control. Controlling the six-speed automatic is one of the XK's more distinctive features: the rotary shift knob that rises out of the center console when you press the pulsating start button. It's a bit gimmicky, but easy to use.

Every XK comes with a full leather interior, heated and ventilated seats, a heated and power-operated steering wheel and a Bowers & Wilkins sound system. The XKR adds sportier interior trim, different 19-inch wheels, a firmer suspension, retuned steering, larger front brakes and an aluminum mesh grille. The XK's standard stability control is reprogrammed for the XKR, allowing the driver more leeway and the option to shut it off completely.

With its robust 5.0-liter V8, the XKR exhibits awesome straight-line thrust. But both XKs also exhibit impressive composure in high-speed corners thanks to lightweight aluminum architecture and an automatically adjustable suspension, which prioritizes ride comfort or handling depending on the situation. With its suspension biased toward a plush ride, the XK isn't as responsive on a twisty road as, say, a Porsche 911. But if you want to comfortably eat up hundreds of highway miles and occasionally venture onto a back road, the XK is ideal.

Used Jaguar XK Models
The current-generation XK dates back to 2007. A used XK from this period is pretty similar to the current model, though there have been a few changes along the way. The most significant involves what's under the hood. For 2007-'09, the standard XK came with a 4.2-liter V8 churning out 300 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque, while the XKR's supercharged version of the same engine pumped out 420 hp and 418 lb-ft of torque. Also for that period, the six-speed automatic transmission was attached to an L-shaped version of Jag's quirky and mostly lamentable "J-gate" shifter. It was replaced by the rotary shifter for 2010.

In road tests and reviews, we found the 4.2-liter Jaguar XKs a little disappointing in terms of acceleration; the coupe's 0-60-mph time of 6.4 seconds is about a second slower than some competitors' times. The XKR model was naturally much quicker, going from zero to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds.

For more information on older, first-generation XKs, please see our review of the XK-Series.