Why, oh why did Jaguar assume that all XK8/XKR owners would regularly need to place two (!) golf bags in the back of their car? Giving an otherwise svelte design a mahoossive **** ruins the lines and makes me lust after an Aston Martin.

Look at how nice the XK would have looked if they'd given it a more reasonable sized rear.

OK, so it's hardly the world's greatest Photoshop, but as I was moving our vehicles around yesterday, I turned round and caught the XKR hiding behind the van. Wow, I thought, if only it looked like this...



Same basic shape, but with better proportioned rear:

 

I like your **** just the way it is, frog. you have the best looking XK* I've seen.

 

Aston has to have a reason to charge 2-3X what Jag does per vehicle, and there it is.

 

There is also about 6 years difference in time

 

Hey now, I own this thing because you can get two sets of golf clubs in the boot with the top down! ...

 

I agree, the DB9 is stupidly expensive compared to the Jag, but all that extra metal must have cost Jaguar money. I don't play golf, but if I did, I would would probably carry my clubs in the Transit van pictured above. I want my XKR to be sexy, not to carry stuff in...

When I want to impress, I find myself reversing the car into a parking space so people just see the front and sides

 

Hopefully your business, spinns off pretty well and you can go to the dealer and order your DB9 just the way you want!

 

actually, that's one of my pet peeves about most new car designs; I prefer the longer flowing lines of a good sized trunk/boot on a car. to me the rear of the DB9 (and also the current generation XK's) more resembles a hatchback than a coupe.

I think what really bothers me more than the overall shape is the location of the rear wheels relative to the rear bumper; it looks too assymetrical compared to the distance between the front bumper and the front wheels.

 

Very quick PS, taking about 4" out of the rear overhang. It looks so much better, IMO:

 

Seems like if you shorten the rear, you have to shorten the front to balance things:


I like the look, but it loses some of its sleekness since the length makes the car appear shorter and without it, the car seems taller.

 

Gee, some interesting views here.

Good thing that we all have different tastes, or we would all want to marry the same woman, live in the same house, have the same boat and cars, etc.....

Personally, I prefer the original design that Jaguar put out.

Shortening the back (overhang) makes it look bob tailed, and not sleek, like a proper Jag should look.

Shortening the front and rear makes it look more like a squatty looking little Miata or something.

I like it just the way it is.

 

So from the previous chop, we chop and channel the body, raising the wheel arches to get back to more of the original porportions:


I know there is no way I'd fit in the car anymore and I doubt the AJ-V8 fits anymore, but it looks pretty good. The wheels now appear a little big.

I agree with Kevin D, the original design is good enough for me.

 

Frog, start saving your pennies and put your order in for one of the new 2 seat roadsters coming out soon. Jack

 

Then, maybe you decided that chopping the car isn't enough, so you lower it a little, maybe tint the windows, shave the door handles, and go a little nuts with a ghosted in leaper and a larger rear spoiler:


Ok, maybe I'm just bored at work now

 

Keith, what if you took the original, and instead of chopping it, made it lower and more sleek?

 

The one design change that I always wondered about was if it had the "coke bottle look". That came from the original 1968 Dodge Charger (one of my favorite cars ever) that actually had a bulge at the front and back wheel wells, instead of a straight line down the side of the body.

When looking at my Jag from the front, I always thought that the one thing that I might do is to have it have a bit of a "haunch" at the rear wheels, where rear fender actually bulged out just a bit from the straight line.

 

Ok, Kevin. I will take that challenge. Here is something you could reasonably do. Lower the car a little, remove the R badge, larger spoiler, and taking a cue from Porsche, painting the lower a darker color to minimize it and emphasize horizontal motion.



EDIT: Saw your second post. I'll see what I can do with some flared wheel wells.

 

Zeemax actually makes a wide body kit, but it's too over the top. If it just flared the wheels, they may be on to something:

 

Oh great, just when I gained some confidence in fixing things on my own Jag, I have to become a Photoshop Pro. Great thread. Love all the permutations.

 

Thanks, if you took away all of the other crap and just had a moderate flare on the rear fenders, that is the only modification that I would consider making to this design.