I am surprised at this, as most of the feedback I've seen from XK/XKR owners community show they do not find the F-Type very appealing for various reasons. (Although I do agree with the AWD option.)

As for a price point on the C-X75, I believe they would not have found too many buyers at anything over the $200K mark. The XKR-S GT was a very small market niche product (with just 45 sold worldwide) and I believe it was around $175K US when new. Heck, even the XKR-S was only able to move less than 1,400 units over four MY's.

 

I was one XKR lover that found the F Type impossible to resist. The XKR is a gorgeous car and I was seriously tempted to hold out for an XKR-S in IRR, but ultimately I went to the F Type mainly because the tech in the XK drove me mad and I hated the stereo with a passion, whereas the tech in the '16MY F Type is similar to the XE which I really like.

I'll wont that the F Type is overall a better car than the XKR, but it is truly awesome, a joy to drive and to look at, and to some extent practical if you take the spare wheel out. For my (limited) skill level, I'm able to extract more driving enjoyment out of the supercharged 6 which is quicker than the XKR was anyway, given the far better traction (but not as much sideways action, if that is your cuppa). But had it not been for the dated tech in the XKR, I'd be still driving it now. A silly foible, but there you go...

I've driven the 5.0 AWD and surprisingly enough I didnt like it as much as the RWD versions (it felt a bit heavy at the front), but then if I lived in an area where there was snow I'd rather have 90% of the fun for 12 months than 100% for 6.

 

I could not have said it better Bruce. Life is full of compromises and car purchasing is no different. We all have different needs to satisfy.

 

Those of us that are a bit older and who've driven 40 or 50 years find Bruce's reason (lower tech) for switching barely comprehensible as we couldn't care less about whether or not we could hook up an iphone or music storage of 10,000 songs to our "entertainment" center. In fact, I'd venture to say, many of us would prefer to skip the computer/info control center altogether as we'd prefer old fashioned knob controls and we find the computer/nav screen more of a distraction. I spent some time driving the F-type V8S when they first came out, and I thought it was great with some caveats. I wasn't impressed with the interior, the trunk space in the convertible is just a joke, gimmick HVAC vents are destined to become misaligned and/or break. But, it's a thrilling ride and more of a sports car than the XKR. It also added some options that should have been available on the XK/XKR (things like powered liftgate on the coupe). Unfortunately, Jaguar isn't a big enough company to offer both a refined GT 2 door and a sports/GT 2 door like for instance, Mercedes, BMW, and Audi. (Mercedes has so many 2 door sports, GT or personal luxury cars, it's downright confusing). The XK series filled a niche that many of us "advanced" age drivers liked, a little bigger, a little more comfortable GT car that has most of the performance parameters we crave while offering a more refined, luxurious ride.
Both cars offer terrific attributes and cater to slightly different markets.

 

Oh and I think the radio is great. I usually only listen to AM talk programs but once in a while flip to FM and it works just fine. As for technology I gotta say I like the BT phone and even the nav. system.

 

Funnily enough I dont use my smartphone for music at all, I'm still stuck in the USB era.