Here's a data point for all of you who are looking for a great sound. I found a place in the UK called RPMotorsport who make exhausts for the 4.2 and 5.0 XKRs. They were the original manufacturers of the Spires exhaust which you can no longer buy. I was excited by this as from all accounts the Spires exhausts are some of the best you can get for the XKs. Mine was custom made and shipped to me in two weeks.




It's designed to use the original hangers and bolt to the stock system. I only ordered the backbox as I already have an X-pipe and no resonators on the middle. Stock cats. Fitment was easy. Most of the time spent was perfecting the alignment of everything to my taste. The whole system is stainless. Everything is fabricated in house, and I'm pleased to see that the valves are made in the UK. The valves are in the same place as the stock exhaust so the existing vacuum lines go on perfectly. I didn't have a stock exhaust, rather each side was muffled (previous owner used to have no mufflers at all and it failed an inspection for noise here). To me the sound was muddy, sort of like hearing a noisy 4 cylinder car. At higher RPM it sounded ok and it screamed at the top end, but not very V8 sounding.

Old nasty mufflers.

Finished Setup

Looking nice - 3.5" tips.




I knew roughly what sound I was after since my dad has owned multiple v6 and v8 F-types (currently on a 2020 v8) and the sound on that is (in my opinion) perfect. It sounds like 'British muscle' with a snarly sound down low and an unmistakable rumble up top.

The system has really changed the car for me, it makes it feel entirely different. The car now naturally burbles and can even have loud crackles on certain aggressive downshifts. It exudes the sense of power without being ignorant like with an F-Type. The car for lack of a better word has a lot of the 'wub-wub-wub' that a good V8 should at idle and cruise, with a stunning aggressive roar as it hits the upper range. Taking the car out of Dynamic mode closes the bypass pipes and drops the noise by a significant amount. Still enough to know that you're in a Jag, but if you cruise around at 50kmh in 5th the car is basically silent with the windows up. I didn't want to annoy my Wife on long road trips (this is a GT car after all). There isn't any drone at all with this setup.

Below is a video of a cold start, a few revs (hear the burbles!) and driving along. Sadly my iPhone mic can't really pick up the deeper tones while driving but you can get the point. If I get my hands on a proper mic or a setup I'll revisit the sound. Sorry for the portrait video! We are all here for the noise instead though.

 

Thanks for sharing. Was interested in their xpipe but never pulled the trigger.

Is there drone?

 

if you’re in a high gear up a hill with <2000rpm, there is a touch. Less than with the muffler shop special pipes I took off though. It’s minor at worst.

Very easy to talk in cabin and quiet when you want it with the switchable system too.