JAGUAR XK COUPE REVIEW

My car

Having taken delivery of my car 2 weeks ago, I have travelled 1700 miles - mainly just for the sheer pleasure! The performance is breathtaking, handling exceptional and it remains comfortable and quiet (except for the lovely V8 noise and supercharger whine) at all times.

I tried a DB9 and V8 Vantage - both of which looked stunning but were ultimately disappointing (poor quality, unusable day to day). The 6 series BMW was too soulless and the Porsche 911 has never really appealed. I considered a Maserati Granturismo however my local dealer (JCT 600) are somewhat lacking in any form of customer service skills, and I think I am still a bit young for a Bentley (at heart anyway).

Anyway back to the XKR - the interior is a great place to be, superbly made from high quality materials, intuative touch screen controls and a fantastic Hi Fi (Bowers & Wilkins). The dealer I bought the car from have been great (Hatfields of Wakefield) with a superb handover and introduction to all the staff. Running costs are high but to complain about running costs on a car like this would be ridiculous.

There really is nothing else that compares to this car, I thought I might regret not getting the Aston however that has not been the case even once. I will update the report once I have covered a few more miles if I can drag myself out of the car.

My car

I have owned this car for four months and, frankly, it would be pedantic to quote my insignificant criticisms.

Basically it is a fabulously built car and a delight to drive. It has so many enjoyable facets - the driving position, the sight of that long bonnet stretching out in front, the sound of the exhausts, the visual feast of design details when walking to or away from it and the simplicity of the touch-screen for every function (absolutely no need to read the manual whatsoever)... I could go on!

To whoever wrote "my father currently has a Porsche 911"... Well, so did I - an 02-registered 911 Carrera 4, and I was disappointed in almost every aspect from the moment I purchased it (I got carried away with the image and associated kudos).

It never satisfied in any area from quality, equipment, or finish - the one exception was the handling, but in that the Jaguar comes very, very close.

My car

I bought the XKR in Lunar Grey last week and it was the best decision I have made in a long time.

I had to chuckle at a previous review: 'Daddy drove a 911' - I traded my Porsche in for the Jaguar, which was not comparable in terms of prestige and comfort in the cabin.

It's the best-looking car on the market and comes highly recommended to anybody.

My car

Having owned the previous shape XK8 for 5 years, I have now owned the new shape since launch in March 2006. The car has exceeded my expectations. The handling has a very secure feeling and no compromise to the ride quality. Performance is more than adequate although the chassis could handle a lot more power. Auto gearbox is seemless with paddles for gearchange that are wonderful, intuitive to use and as good as a manual box when you want control. The quality of the interior is high with a very easy to use SatNav/Audio etc system - no need to read the hand book - just 20 minutes with my excellent dealer on hand over told me all I needed to know and the rest is common sense. Criticisms - the secondhand value is dropping rather too quickly already and the oft criticised radio aerial gets oily when down so this oil can get on clothing when reaching into the boot. The bluetooth connection now works most of the time and Jaguar's reaction to my initial problems with it was shocking - I had just paid £65,000 and expected the technology to work - their reply was that they had launched the car to work with mobile phones designed in 2004 not 2006!! Luckily the dealer persisted and solved the issue. My message - in my view, every bit as good as an Aston. I had a V8 Vantage on order and took delivery of the XK through choice - I simply felt it was the better car to use every day.