Some final thoughts:

Like a lot of you, I'm a car guy. And like you, some of my great relationships have been with these hunks of aluminum and rubber and God-knows-what. And my favorite was this XKR. It was a keeper.

Three times, it carried me across the United States and back. It carried me to the Sundance film festival in the Wasatch mountains during an unusually mild spell in January, then carried me back four days later during a blizzard. It carried friends and fiances and trees and bags of sod. But no matter what, everyone, always, loved that car. (And I had the World's Greatest Warranty, which had just expired.)

But it was also a 12 year old car that had passed the 100,000 mile mark. And as some of you know, I was beginning to consider the unthinkable: letting it go. It needed rear brakes, and since I'd already gotten away with a pad slap it def would've been a pads-and-rotors job, and the supercharger was knocking, which was getting worse. And the ongoing battery-dies-after-three-days gremlin was still an issue. On startup after a few days of not driving, the exhaust had started smelling a little of gasoline.

Who knows-- maybe this was the Universe's way of saying "...you want it gone? Hold my beer..."

So. I've got my Sportbrake. Cool, but not the same.

Make no mistake: I want another XKR. But I'm thinking about the most recent work I had done to the car, and how mightily the great people at Rusnak Jaguar had scoured the nation to source parts. While I still love that the second-to-last thing done was a new A/C compressor that had to be shipped from Coventry, I fear that situation will only get worse. (And I hate the fact that the very last thing done, a new crossover pipe, was done a month after the warranty ran out. Two thousand bucks on my own dime.)

So, I don't know. I've looked around, and there's still not car out there that hits that sweet spot of price, performance, design, and just a kind of X Factor that caused everyone who saw it to love it.
I'm stalking a few of them; maybe, in a few months, I'll pull the trigger. My plan all along was to drive the sportbrake to New England and leave the XKR here as my daily in Los Angeles-- who knows? Come May, that might end up being true.

In the meantime, so long for now. Don't worry, I'll still lurk and provide needless and overly long comments.

PK

(And f*** the ******* who stole this beautiful machine, and drove it like an animal straight to its demise.)

 

What a sad story…
… I can only report my case - that after two XKR convertibles, I had moved to Porsche only to keep thinking about the most beautifil cars I ever had driven.

… end of story: last November I sold the 991 Turbo and bought a used cat (yes, risky, I know). No doubt, the technology in the 991 is superb, and no doubt, superior to that in any Jag, I suppose. Bat I don’t care, the XKR offers all I need (and a bit more), but does so with grace and style beyond compare.

Think about it. And make no mistake you are going to regret…

 

Usually, I prefer to ignore those that annoy me as opposed to wish them bad omens. But I have to admit I’m right with you, @pk4144 .
And I feel very saddened for you about this whole episode.
Chin up, it will come to pass. And hopefully there are more great toys ahead.