It's amazing how I find myself behind the wheel of these monumental cars of the beginning of the 21st century, but there's nothing like fine motoring for a real car nut, or "enthusiast" for the politcally correct of us.

Today we had a go behind the wheel of a brand new 2007 Jaguar XK convertible, complete w/ 20" Senta chrome wheels, exterior paint was "Radiance" (a dark red color) w/ the interior trimmed in Carmel. A very nice look, but for sure one could go one better in selecting "Ivory", a much lighter and richer color for a British luxury GT drop top, wood trim was in Carmel as well which could be thought of as mohogany. If it were up to me I'd have a real dilema picking one of the 19 exterior colors, luckily enough the interior only comes in three. Seats are of first rate comfort though a little cushy and the side bolsters are a little low for most drivers (here in the states at least), compared to the last model there is also legroom in abundance. The overall feel is that of high quality as only Jaguar can deliver such fine craftsmanship and design, the door panel design reminded me a lot of the Aston Martin D89. I didn't spend too much time listening to the radio or tinkering around with the touch sceen sat/nav, however I can tell you that the latter is fairly easy to operate while fhe former is one of the best sound systems avaialble in any luxury car though not necessarily an audio system I'd be expecting to win awards and accolades in auto journals.

Next up, the exterior, this is where things get interesting: When you look at the rear you see how well the haunches define the rear of the car and carry the bulk of the XK's masculinity, but when you get to the front, the car looses a lot of inspiration and anything you may have felt in anticipation of seeing the XK up close fizzles down to... well, all is not completely lost... once you get on with the drive...

Simply drop the key fob into the aluminum bottomed cupholder up front and hit the start button, let go quickly and listen to the tried and true AJ 4.2L V8 roar to life. It's a nice sound, this engine and it's specially designed exhuast system that blips your downshifts when selecting gears one through six via the paddle shifts located directly behind the steering wheel. Pulling off and cruising at street speeds the steering has a nicely weighted feel to it, not extremely feelsome, say like a Porsche, but adequate. This car is a very relaxed cruiser that will flex its muscle at your beckon call once you depress the throttle, here you discover that this isn't so much a sportscar as Jaguar calls it, but a very grand luxury GT drop top that will do 80 in a very hairless and not so careless manner. The chassis is incredibly rigid with absolutely NO hint of scuttle shake going over any surface. Impeccable engineering this car is.

If you're looking for a fine piece of British engineering at inexpensive entry, this is it. Not quite an Aston or Bentley, but much more when you consider the value. It's not outrageously fast since the engine isn't all that powerful considering the XK's competitors, but it's just fine for what it is. It's in the talk that Jaguar is soon to release a new generation V8 engine with much more power than todays current engine, once the new XK recieves this more powerful engine upgrade I'm more than sure it will devestate much of the oppisition. The R is expected for release at the end of this year in Paris. With out a doubt that will be the star of the XK lineup and a very in demand model that will deliver more on the performance end over the base XK. At $97k, this particular example without a doubt is not cheap, and in reflection I'd be much more happier with the up and coming 3er coupe/convertible. You won't have that feel of "Britishness" but the much more solid feel of and invidivualized driving experience so typical BMW, especially with the meaty/telepathic steering, all for what will be a much much lower cost than $97k. 335i C/C for me please.

I sat in the XK just yesterday, though we didn't get a drive in it.

I was disappointed in both the interior and exterior.

Interior - some materials used are really indeniably hideous, for example, the headliner of the roof still uses the material used for the E46/W140 era. The door handles are also shaped wierdly. Otherwise, points must go towards the wood, which looks exquisite. Also, quality is not too bad, but not the best in the business either. An SL or a 6 Series trumphs it in this regard. German practicality & sensibility doesn't get beaten here, nor does German quality.

Exterior - I walked into the showroom and the first thing I saw was the rear of the car - good gracious! It looks like a mess of lines, badging, lighting all mashed together. I just don't like it. The rear window is quite old-school.

The front's 'fish-mouth' is scathingly obvious in real life, because it extends beyond where the headlights are. Again, I wasn't impressed. The side profile continues to impress, however. It does hint a little at DB9 in all its entirety.

Overall, I'm disappointed because I expected so much more from Jaguar. Perhaps, what I need to do is to expect less of what Jaguar is capable of... After all, it isn't a German car.

Seems like both you guys were disappointed with the car!

I have yet to sit in the car, but having seen its exterior, I really liked it!

I think the faults that you found in the interior, are there because Jaguar don't have a big budget, hense the reason why they didn't manage to update the engines!

i think ford will sell jaguar if they dont start to sell better..and when they do we can see a new rover story..
honestly i wouldnt care if they died..cause during my life time they havent build one car that can be called gr8..

Jaguar is conected with other parts of PAG, especialy the now profitable LR/RR, and probably selling it will impact PAG just when it's turning around.

And Jaguar has been having problems more or less since it was swalowed into BMH.

What ever happens, Ford needs to do something until it's too late, they can't have too many cars running in the red!