I purchased a used XK a week ago. I drove it roughly 6 hours home from the purchase location and about an hour's worth around my neighborhood/town. The following are my initial observations. A little backstory/point of reference may be helpful. I just sold my Acura NSX and this car was to be the replacement. I felt I knew that NSX through and through and could repair just about anything on it (with my skill or my checkbook.) I still have an E38 BMW sport - which I prefer driving in general. It is just an incredible vehicle. Onward to my observations...

Driving...the car feels stiff. Like too stiff. Suspension feels like I am riding on air shocks at full inflation with zero give. Could be the Hankook tires. Could be the struts and shocks. I will look into that later. Outbound visual is pretty decent - but that hood, boy is it long. Car is otherwise super comfortable.

Pulling off panels and looking at things. I have found several fuse boxes and now some little black boxes that appear to be an afterthought...but are wired into the main wiring via OEM connectors. Fuse box in back seat is an example. I found two of these 2x2x.5 black plastic boxes with velcro on them to hold them in place. No idea what they do. Makes me nervous, but I willl figure that out.

Door handles seem unreasonable loose. As in, don't ****** them...baby them or you'll be replacing them and the door glass that goes up/down when using the door. While I am on wear items...driver's side sun visor looks rigged up in place.

Brakes feel super sensitive/grabby. Like I could barely tap them at idle speed and darn near skid the fronts.

Center console control center - that is a mess. Not sure I won't upgrade to the Tesla screen I saw as a fix. How does one not have a screen with oil pressure, water temp, etc.? Seems to me a menu page for all things engine/transmissions systems should be an option.

NAV/phone and audio...see above. That is going to be fun mastering. Well, that and keeping a charge.

General observation is that I love the car. Fun to drive, Looks are stunning. Going to be fun fiddling with it.

 

SM,
I can’t help you with the boxes velcroed in. Some more experienced members will tell you all about those.

I can not say my XKR is rough or stiff. It’s very comfortable and smooth.

Cabrio Bob can supply an additional gauge unit that should (I think) offer the gauges you desire. I do have his set up in my 07. It is very nice.

One of the things I have to remind myself is that I’m now an English Gentleman driving an English “GentleCar”. It’s NOT a Japanese car with it’s refined technology, nor is it a German sedan with it Teutonic attributes. It’s a VERY comfortable English GT coupe/convertible designed for sophisticated travel.

Once you get that thought into your head, you’ll realize you have a fabulous vehicle that has essentially no peers. It’s a really really enjoyable ride with that thought in mind. I must look like a Cheshire Cat when I’m driving mine. It’s ear to ear all the time.

I turn the phone bluetooth off and don’t worry about getting an extra road into my trip. It’s amazing how much more comfortable and relaxed I am at the journey’s end.

 

Usually something you should notice during the test drive...

Let us know when you get to the oil dip stick ;]

Glad you're enjoying the car though!

 

Similarily I at one time also had the XJR. Big sedan. And coincidentally, it didn’t feel like the xkr either.

 

Thanks for the feedback - and I get the gentleman motoring aspect. The fellow I bought it from has an XKE and several Triumphs in his garage. He obviously got it. I will need some time to settle in to this. Maybe I need a Jackie Stewart cap or a tweed jacket with elbow patches.

It is a superb looking vehicle though!

 

A Jackie Stewart Cap, I like that.

 

I can relate to the ride but when I bought my 2012 XKR convert. I was coming off of a 1977 Ferrari 308GTB so the ride quality was a whole lot better. Found the car to be a gentleman's GT car with 510 hp of excitement. I enjoyed it and found it to be pretty much flawless in overall comfort. Get the cap and enjoy the ride.

 

For stiffness I never had that impression on the XK, but once on the XJ when I voluntarily overinflated the tyres before a long highway ride in Germany… maybe pressure is the first thing to check…

 

My XK is a 2012 model (convertible). Jaguars are famous for their suspension, and I love the feel of mine. Does not feel stiff to me, just right. Are you running in sport mode? Fuse boxes I have no idea. My doors are solid, think that must be wear on your car. Takes a while to get used to how to check the oil, I must admit....and I have never liked this feature.
Persevere....it's a fabulous car and (as you have already discovered) quite different to an NSX.

 

Best way to keep a charge on a modern Jaguar is to double lock it. The first push on the remote will lock the car, set the alarm. The second push will put the electronics in "sleep" mode. When you re-enter the car, just remember it may take up to 30 seconds before some items function, such as the back-up cam and Sirius radio. Other than a bit of boot-up time, no issue. I learned this when I was on the XF launch team over a decade ago from the engineers. Have fun!!

 

We still have both a 95 NSX-T (wife's daily driver) and a '10 XKR Convertible (my daily driver). It is difficult to compare cars that were designed 20-25 years apart, but give me the Jag any day for the creature comforts like heated/cooled seats, 510HP and different traction modes. The NSX is probably one of the most rigid chassis of any aluminum vehicle ever made and the ride reflects that (the seats and seating position help mask the ride) however the Jag's adaptive suspension that responds based on your driving style while you are driving beats the NSX as the ride is a lot smoother when you are just driving around town. The good news is that both get a lot of compliments when you're filling them up at gas stations.

 

I found that a phone positioned handily in the ashtray compartment and coupled to a Bluetooth OBD reader and a good app gives you all the gauges you could want without messing with the OEM head units. Plus the phone's screen can give you modern navigation.

You will want to have an iPod adapter with a BoVee WMA1000 plugged into it so you can scroll the tunes in Apple Music on an iPhone using the OEM head unit.

I am working on an adapter that props up a phone dropped into the ashtray compartment, and includes a Qi charger that also keeps the phone charged without wires. I would think most XK owners would want one? I will take some prototype photos for everyone's interest.

 

There are many of us that do not have an ashtray anymore, as we're using Cabrio Bob's unit to provide various readouts from the ECM. It takes the place of the ashtray.

 

I will be in touch with Cabrio Bob. Thank you.

 

Incredible...I just sold my 1995 Brooklands Green NSX. I loved, LOVED that car. It was my fourth NSX (kept upgrading for condition) and fifth if you count the NSX I bought disassembled for parts. But I digress. I agree with all your comments. I bought the XK because I always wanted a Jag and the XK8 was the one I really knew most about. When I saw this 2012 XK come up for sale, I called a fellow car-enthusiast pilot (my enabler-in-chief) and we flew up that morning to northern Wisconsin and bought this. I probably should have done a PPI, raised it up and walked through it all but for the gamble ($$) I thought I could deal with anything so long as it wasn't frame-related. I drove the car back so that answers that. Back to the NSX...I will get another one when prices drop again (I sold because of the ridiculous, overhyped market). If I could replace mine with a higher-mileage model, I'd get one again and throw it in the garage for my girls to drive stick on.

Thanks for posting your comments...they made my day.

 

Thank you madams727 - just tried this. Will see how it works now. Appreciate your post.

 

You will find if you are a sport minded driver the suspension is excellent. Holds the road and curves. Might be bouncy on the crappy streets we all live with but open it up a nice back road and enjoy.

 

I have owned a 2012 XKRS since new with 18k miles on it. Still like new. Not one issue. Thought about selling it until I put Michelins on it. Transformed the car. Doesn't break traction now. Just goes. MIne is a convertible. It's 2012 so technology is outdated. Nav works fine. Radio bad but I listen to the exhaust. British racing green. Car gets lots of attention. Never used a drop of oil, etc. Pulled a fuse so exhaust is open all the time. I also have a Ferrari F12, 1986 911, owned since new. Drive them all almost every week.

 

When I bought my 2010 XKR in 2019, it had the original tires on it. With only 35k miles, there was plenty of tread left. But, the tires were dry and also run-flat. This made the ride very bumpy and stiff. Also, with the tires being so dried out, it would lose grip often. I was afraid to drive it. About 150 miles into my new ownership, I replaced them with Hankook Ventus V12 evo2 tires. The result was night and day compared before new tires. When in regular drive mode, the car glides along over the bumps.

So, be sure if you want a comfortable ride, you are not in Dynamic or Sport mode and that you don't have old, dry, stiff tires. I am not sure if they still used run-flat in 2012, but those make things really stiff.

Some of my issues -

Yes, I wish there were more engine-related info available through either gauges or the infotainment system. And although it would be nice to be built-in, these issues can be easily overcome through an OBD2 reader system like Torque Pro.

The audio system seems to lack some bass that would be nice. But, I really don't listen to the radio much while driving the XKR, as it is just my fun car and I enjoy hearing the symphony of the engine, SC, trans, and the rest of the sounds of the car when I drive it.

Kind of nit-picky, but I wish the 3-blink lane change signal would be more like 5 or 6. 3-blinks is barely enough to get about halfway into the next lane during regular driving.

I also wish the door handles felt a bit more...beefy. They do feel a bit flimsy, especially those on the outside of the door. I'm always easy to pull on it because of how weak it feels.

Lastly, I wish my 2010 had a back-up camera.

 

In markets that don't have deadlocks the beep on the second push is to tell you that the car is already locked. Nothing else happens!

In markets such as the UK, the second push engages the deadlock system so that the car can't be opened from the inside using the door levers. That is an anti-theft thing.

Locking the car will put the electronics to sleep quicker but you only need to push the button once.