Final thoughts: Jaguar XK

As I sit typing this, snowflakes are swirling around my window. My summer clothes are boxed away. It seems like I’ve been driving mostly SUVs or minivans for weeks, either for their winter traction or to haul stuff to work on my newly-purchased house. Practicality especially rules in the winter.

Summer seems to be a long way away, and it’s been a long time since I’ve driven our Jaguar XK. (CR road tests are available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers.) It sits forlorn in the test garage, waiting for its new owner to pick it up. Summer tires mean that driving it now is a no-no.

The snowy ground here is a far sight from the green grassy fields of the Carlisle, Pennsylvania fairgrounds. There, I entered the big red cat in the Import-Kit/Replicar Nationals, parking it in the show field. Whether it was the long highway haul to Pennsylvania or profiling around town, the Jaguar proved to be a very satisfying surprise. Other than in packaging efficiency--this is a seriously large car for what is essentially a two-seater--the Jag is thoroughly modern, yet bewitching at the same time. It’s comfortable, athletic to drive, and sounds great.

But parking next to the more vintage cars on the Carlisle show field, I heard some older Jag owners comment that it didn’t look like a Jag. As I drove the car on the field, some wag loudly said “The front DOES look like a Taurus,” a comment right from the pages of the enthusiast magazines about the car’s front fascia. (I wasn’t offended, given that it wasn’t my $86,000 that I used to buy our test car.) An owner of the previous generation XK8 liked his car better, finding it shapelier. At least there was a seven-year-old who found the car cool: “Look! It has a starter button!”

The Jag did keep to one Jaguar tradition--our test car had some odd electrical quirks. The electric fuel door didn’t always open, the outside temperature display would flash 0 degrees (gee, maybe I should put the top up…), and the top jammed halfway through its cycle just before we were to sell the car. We don’t know yet if the redesigned XK will be reliable in our annual survey, although other Jags haven’t been too reliable according to our subscribers.

The Jaguar exceeded our expectations in most regards, and it probably does the same for owners. Hopefully all of their days are warm and sunny…

--Tom Mutchler