I wouldn’t replace I’d just remove them

 

I removed the cats on my '07 XKR because one failed a few days before Xmas so I wasn't able to sort out a replacement. I ended up with a stupidly loud exhaust and my wife complaining that me and my clothes reeked of exhaust fumes after simply parking the car in the garage.

I got some custom resonators made up to try and dampen the noise but went with replacement hi flow cats in the end as the smell of the exhaust fumes was too much.

 

Another thought just occurred to me about the cause of the smell after driving your XKR hard. The acceleration can be pretty scary for the uninitiated. Have you checked your passenger seat? ...

 

I got my XKR about a month ago and I smelled the same thing. It's not an issue. I drive the hell out of mine at all times. It didn't smell bad, just a little oily but no leaks. It's hot as hell where you are, so I would assume the same.

 

Theres something called a full load breather valve on the top of the engine, that vents to your engine bay under
hard acceleration, its venting oil vapors and a little smoke and is connected to EGR as well.
perfectly normal.

 

That is the smell of envy from all the cars you passed.

 

i have a small oil leak that only drips onto the driver side cat housing (and then below that onto, i think, the steering rack) when revving high; in this case the smell is burning oil. probably just an aging valve cover gasket.

 

When you say driving hard, was it just in a straight line or were you hard on the brakes and suspension, and how long for? The most I can do on a track day in my Dynamic R 2015 is 15-20 mins before the brakes start to fade. At that point you will also get a burning smell, for me it was just the brakes getting hot, especially discs, also the brake fluid boils a little. So I would worry and investigate if it was in a straight line for a short period of time, if you were pushing it on some twisty roads, probably not a worry - just check the brakes and brake fluid