Hi,

I have a 98 XJR and an 86 XJ6.

I am interested in An XK8 or and XKR.

I know they will be fast, but how do they handle?

John

 

IMHO, not very well... but that's not the point of a Jaguar. My previous car was a 2009 VW Golf GTI. This was not nearly as powerful as my 2005 XKR, but it was lighter and a lot nimbler. I also have a 1998 Mazda MX5 and I take every opportunity to throw it around and have fun. The XKR handles perfectly safely, but it's no sports car and even less a track car. It's a car for effortless wafting

 

I think you'll have to refine the question a bit as "[good] handling" means different things to different people.

Frog, for example, considers being nimble an important element of good handling.

So, are you asking about maximum cornering adhesion? Flat cornering? Steering response? General feel on the road? Stability in an emergency situation?

For some people a car that is easy to park, easy to drive, and which rides smoothly is a car that "handles" well :-).

Cheers
DD

 

Do you want a comparison of the xk8 or R in relation to your other Xjs? Or something else on the road?

 

To compare a XK8/R to a Golf GTI is a little like comparing an Indy car to a Formula 1 car. ..they're just two different kinds of animal. The fact is that you can hussle an XK8/R through the corners pretty well if you've got a decent set of performance tires. I drive my car pretty hard sometimes and if you turn off the traction control, you can promote enough oversteer to get you through most corners damn quick. In truth, short of trackday work, I can't imagine how much more handeling you would want on our public roads.

 

The XK8 is a 4000 pound car. It's not going to perform like a 2300 pound Miata. That's not what it was designed to do. It's a GT, not a sports car. Having said that, I love taking it up to the mountains and driving on the twisty roads. It can haul *** through the curves.

 

Well, a GTI is going to naturally feel quicker in transitioning because of it's light weight and front wheel drive. The XKR will put up better ultimate grip and cornering, though.

I find my XKR handles surprisingly well when pushed. I can feel the weight, but the suspension stiffens up very quickly after initial roll, and overall handling is quite good. The cars do not beg to be driven hard like a GTI or something like that, though.

 

Driving hard in a XK8/R means driving smooth. Do that and you can cover the ground on a twisty road very rapidly. BTW, remember that a GTI is FWD that gives the car a "zippy" feeling going around turns...but it doesn't necessarily mean it going faster!

 

Govatos, funny you should say that, because I saw the thread a while ago but did not have the time to respond. What I was going to say is that the XKs hold the curves remarkably well, IF you set them up properly for the curve and you keep them in balance. However, if you come in too hot, as was mentioned, it is a relatively heavy car for its size and it does not like to be tossed around. I don't really drive it hard as a rule, but I did find an old almost unused road to test it out on and I was a bit surprised how well it stuck to the curves. I kept going faster until I was up to about 95 on this 45 mph road and saw a gradual curve coming, so I did not slow down very much. The thing is that there was another, much sharper curve right there as I was coming out of the first one. There was a moment of excitement, and the tires squalled a bit, but the car took it very well. With good tires and on a dry road, you would really have to mess up to put this car in the trees.

 

I've tried but never have found the limit with my XJR....which is probably a good thing as reeling in a 4200 pound car that has gone loose isn't an easy task and would require lots of road :-).

I can't complain, though. For a large sedan it does really well and stays surprising flat and secure. I'd have to go way beyond "agressive" to get it out of shape.

A few years a go I diced it up with a WRX over some mountain twisities. After about 15 minutes I was exhausted and I suspect the WRX driving was yawning from boredom. It ain't easy hustling a big car around the really tight stuff. A slalom car it ain't. I'd like to think the WRX driver at least gave me full credit for trying :-)


Cheers
DD

 

When I picked up my XKR I drove it back to GA by way of the Tail of the Dragon. It didn't handle like our Vette, but like everyone has said, for what it is, I was impressed. For a 11 year old car with over 99k it mixed it up quite well. The tires are very important and it has a new set of P Zero's that were very sticky. As I pushed harder and harder by about curve 150 out of 311, I got saved a few times by the CATS and eased up. There's something about pushing a XKR and having so much fun and then considering that it's not a sports car and all the other things it brings to the table.

 

The Dragon as in Deal's Gap? A 2-wheel right-of-passage of sorts. Fun, exhausting, scary. Glad I did it once at speed (or what I thought of as speed) but I was younger and stupider then. Anyway, I digress.

Our cars are, IMO, firmly in the Grand Touring category handling-wise. Not sloppy by any means, by not a sports car either. A nice surprise is how rigid the rag top model feels, for a rag top.

 

On the Tail of the Dragon..Honda S 2000s were practically running over me on my Kawasaki cruiser. I can't imagine taking the Jag to its limit up there. My brother lost it on his Honda Valkyrie...being too aggressive. He broke a rib, finger and ankle, and his bike. Not smart to mess with the Dragon. I wouldn't risk putting my beloved Jag over the edge.

 

I did the Tail of the Dragon last October and had a blast. I was in between to groups of motorcycles and kept up with them. Sure was a lot of brake dust on the wheels when I got home!!

 

Honda S2000's are girls cars.

 

 

Not as girly as those "Hello Kitty" Ferrari's. Lol.

 

Men drive coupes/fixed roof cars. Women drive open cars/convertibles. It's that simple.

:-) :-)

The only exception is the Triumph TR6. It's Ok for a man to drive one of those.


Cheers
DD

Running for cover......

 

XK's handle great... IF you know how to drive. It definitely isn't a beginner's sports car. It drives much closer to my 69 Dart or 70 Challenger than it did to my RX7, 280Z or other lightweight sports cars.

Then again, with ASC off, I've purposely pitched myself in a 25mph turn going about 65 and the front did not push at all. (Note: The car wouldn't have lost traction if I didn't purposely gun it... 9 out of 10 times you can do 65 around a 25 without breaking traction, I just happened to throttle it). The steering while the rear end was loose actually felt wonderful. To my surprise I barely had to correct for it. In a car of this weight class, it handled well. And I have a 97 that doesn't have the beefed up suspension.

But then again, I'm one of those guys that sees a corner and I think 'accelerate' not 'brake'.

 

That's the charm of rear wheel drive cars. Even better if it has a real LSD, because it is so predictable unlike the traction control system.