I'm sure many of us have been to these marketing events put on by the manufacturers, but this one was noteworthy because this is supposedly the first weekend for anyone in the general public to drive the new R model. It is certainly a thrilling addition to the the XJ series and will no doubt show Jaguar in a very positive light. The vehicle handled like a much smaller car than it is, though I think they could have gone even a bit farther in tightening up the chassis - the exterior styling revisions seem to work. They also had on display an XK-RS GT, which just seems a little over the top boy racer for my taste.

 

I drove a LWB XJR today and I concur that the car feels smaller and is noticeably more responsive than my 2013 SuperSport.

 

Just returned from the Jaguar Performance Driving Academywhere I got to drive 2014 XFRs, XKRs and the new XJR, what a blast. In followme runs in the advanced Class I was able to drive the 2014 XJR on a road courseat Las Vegas motor speedway. The cat was amazingly stable and fast. I had no problem staying close to the lead instructors one in a 2014 XFR and another ina 2014 XKR. Down the straights I would be closing on them at a good rate of speed and through the corners stayed right with them. The car handled like it was on rails and could out accelerate any of the other cars. As an owner of a 2013 XJ SuperSport I was interested how the “big” sedan would handle itself on a roadcourse. The XJ is as fast as, if not faster, than most high performance luxury sedans out there. Oh and did I mention this XJR was a XJR-L.

 

Sounds like you had a great time! I would love an opportunity to do something like that

Could you tell us more on the handling, braking, steering characteristics on the R and R-S version. Did they differ one from another by a large margin?

 

First let me say that from a handling standpoint there is no wishy-washy transition feeling in the suspension or steering input from straight ahead to turn-in and throughout turns. On exiting a turn you roll into the accelerator and you start to accelerate better than the other “R”s. The XJR definitely has a better feel than the XKR and is easily a match to the XFR, but definitely more luxurious without excessive softness or vagueness. On braking you could climb on the binders as hard as needed to almost activating ABS and you just hauled the beast down as well as any sports car. The steering rack is more solidly mounted and results in slightly more immediate response to inputs. Compared to my SuperSport I would say the difference is like XKR to XKR-S and I attribute 50% of the handling performance to the larger tires and that they were Pirelli P Zeros that are 265s up front and 295s in the rear as opposed to my Dunlap’s that are 245 up front and 275s in the rear. Lastly we had no R-Ss or F Types to drive at this event, but they promised the next event that will be a Homestead in Florida will have F Types available to drive and I hope to be going there too.

I forgot to add we had all cars set to: Dynamic, Sport, and DSC Track for all activities at the event (Autocross, oval, and road course) except the skid pad and then DSC is Off, Sport, and 2nd gear.

This event gave me renewed respect for the R series.