Picked up my "new" XKR175 in the San Francisco a week ago, and find myself this morning at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL - where a DE event (Just Track It) is getting underway.
My reason for stopping here - after a glorious day ambling up the Natchez Trace from Vicksburg - is a simple pilgrimage to the Barber Museum. Perhaps the world's premier motorcycle collection, Barber also hosts exhibits of the four wheeled variety; classic F1, history of Lotus, etc. My intent is to regain momentum for two languishing restoration projects - a 1970 Moto Guzzi Ambassador, and a 1982 BMW R100 Airhead
How is the XK175? In a word, sublime. Like most truly fine cars, it impresses more and more as the miles go by. And - for long distance travel (my forte) - I dare say that it is among the very best:
- Gazelle in a Herd of Water Buffalo (Quickness and agility on a level quite apart from almost anything else on the open road today in this country)
- Short Leash (Big motor, small gas tank. Effective range about 250 miles. Lots of 10 gallon fill ups. Kind of like my C14 sport tourer)
- Tight Composure (Excellent balance of composure and road holding. Ride quality was my biggest unknown, and I am delighted with it - having feared the prospect of yet another danged skateboard, banging and crashing between expansion joints. In this respect, the XKR175 approaches the gold standard of the very best German cars
- Edgy Throttle (Interestingly, this cat has pretty short gearing, plus ridiculously amplified accelerator pedal mapping. This makes for artificially edgy throttle feel over the long haul. Nothing a couple more trans gears and a sport mode "Off" button wouldn't fix. And, alas, no ACC)
- Hidden Spaces? (The german shephard at a border inspection stop point just west of El Paso took an immediate liking to Bagheera, though his bored handler simply waved me through with a polite nod. While perhaps simply good taste, I'm wondering whether the dog suspects - like I do - that there must be secret compartments everywhere in these cars. Otherwise, where did all the space go?
- Simple Elegance (Spent a couple of nights enroute at the Cambria Pines Lodge visiting central CA coast family. Also there was some kind of corvette gathering, with plenty of US muscle cars thrown in. Please know that aesthetics were another personal unknown, and I had feared garishness. Suffice to observe that 'Bag appeared simple, understated, and elegant amid all the tarted up pushrod riff-raff)

Good story, great writing.
Enjoy!
WJ

Photographs!!!

Totally agreed with these points. My XKR is one of the most comfortable cars I've ever driven - shame the tank range is so short. It's a big car, though, so while the roadholding is good, it's definitely got inertia and doesn't change directions like a subcompact. The throttle took some getting used to, but after the muscle memory develops, it's fine. I also do wonder where all the space went; it's 90% the size of my last car, a Dodge Charger, but there's seemingly no room inside. As for the looks...there's nothing like it. I've been daily driving it for six months and still sometimes just stop to look at it.

Congrats on the 175! and an 07 xkr? Nicely done.

A few years ago I stopped at a Dodge dealer to see a car that interested me, until I got inside. It seemed to be made of tin foil and plastic wrap.
My Jag’s doors are ‘beefy’. Those thicker walls come at a price… interior space is reduced.
It isn’t a rug rat hauler. It’s a beautiful cruiser, built for two.

… in short, a great gran turismo - not really meant to be a race car.
To me, on public raods the better choice even compared to my previous 991 Turbo.

So glad you have been having such a good time making your epic journey, and that Bagheera has been treating you so well. What an adventure!

I found the throttle to be linear and easy to modulate... once you get used to the massive power available. As I used to tell my wife: To pass, just curl your toes, don't mash the throttle. But putting the pedal down at 30MPH was sure fun.