Palmball
MB Enthusiast
...on how long my newest purchase will last 
This is getting ridiculous now but I've now just set a new record for myself because my XFR, a car which I've rated particularly highly, is moving-on on Monday. It's replacement arrives at the end of this month so allow me to explain my last two weeks since having winning an XKR for the weekend a few weeks ago! And also why, this time, I'm calling time on my bi-monthly car buying patterns and (subject to not dying, losing my job or my licence) keeping this until well into 2013. Yeah, yeah
.....
So, going back a few weeks, I went to my local Jag dealer for an XF owners event and rather nee it was too. I was handed a raffe ticket at the start of the evening and my number, yellow number 19 (I remember it clearly) was called out. The prize wasn't a free keyring or bottle of plonk but a brand new 2012MY XKR for the weekend!
I actually approached that weekend with little or no expectation of the XKR; indeed, my previous experience of one a few years ago was underwhelming and I'd certainly not have previously chosen an XKR over my XFR based on that first experience. I wasn't really that fussed about it to be honest and even turned up late to pick it up
But....it became very clear within a few miles that either I'd got it wrong on my first XKR acquaintance or Jaguar had hugely improved the 2012 MY - either way, for a car that I had so little expectation of, it turned out to be the very best car I've driven. A bold statement given what I've had and there will be disbelievers but it really is a seriously competent piece of kit.
Really....I here you ask?
Well, yes....I can't stress just how good the new XKR is and it's absolutely everything I am looking for, even though I wasn't looking for it. It's bit like your ideal girl....you tend to find her when you're least looking and with this car, I wasn't expecting to find it just 5 weeks after buying my XFR!
Why so good?
It looks fabulous...the new XKR-S front-end styling looks so much better than the previous model and, with the wide 'wheels-pushed-right-out' stance, it's just gorgeous. Styling wise, I'd dare say it's easier on the eye than the Maserati (which although flashier, could be challenging from some angles)...in contrast, theres not a bad angle on the XKR but I appreciate that this is very subjective.
It sounds like an AMG! I always liked the sound of the AMG best (yep, better than the Maserati!) and this has a similar gurgling-God-like sound. Overlaid by the supercharger
It's proper fast - I know the official stats for it are similar to the XFR but the forces you feel as you accelerate are in the territory of the 911 Turbo. Not quite as crazy as that car but, once I've fitted my smaller supercharger pulley (already bought for the XFR but not fitted once I started looking elsewhere), I'm sure there'd be nothing in it (the pulley mechanically raises the power to about 560bhp!)
It does all this with proper refinement - it's probably too refined to be deemed a 'proper' sports car but it's just the right compromise for a daily driver. It's maybe not as quiet as the XFR but what noises you do get (exhaust mainly) are worth it.
It's also a ridiculously well-built car (but then so is the XFR) with a particularly solid structure (no flexing or creaking over lumps and bumps) and not a squeak or rattle to be heard.
Finally....how it 'feels'. It has what I now appreciate as a great Jag quality of a compliant and absorbent ride with flat, direct and playful handling. It handles most similarly to the M3 than anything else I've had yet rides like my XFR....what more could I ask for?
So, having decided that this car was 'the one' for me, I was still faced with the crazy option of getting rid of a car I've had for 5 weeks. This was not going to be cheap so would it be worth it?
Well, consider this for a minute.....for every other car I've had previously, I'd have high expectations to begin with and those expectations would often make it easier to overlook the less impressive areas of a particular car as I'd try and justify another change (the Maserati was a great example of this). In the XKR, I had no expectations to begin with so it's all the more splendid that it's ended up impressing me so much....there's nothing, absolutely nothing that I disliked about it during my 500 mile weekend drive of it.
However, having just bought my XFR at retail price it was never going to be pretty getting rid of it so quickly and I was also faced with the fact that the XKR is not a cheap car. But, the good news is that Jag dealers appear to be 'dealers' and whilst this is reflected in the dubious residuals, it means that you do get a hell of a deal up-front.
I've had my local dealer work on some figures for me over the last couple of weeks and in the meantime, I thought I'd give a 2011 model a go last weekend as theres a few of these with little more than delivery miles for sale at £20-22k less than list price (although there were few deals to be done at these prices).
The main difference I could see was the seats - this is the one thing that put me off previously as the standard seats in the XKR are utter cr@p but I wondered how bad they could be if the rest of the car remained so good (the 2012MY I drove had £3k's worth of sports seat option which has only been available in the last month or two). Well, the seats didn't end up being a deal-breaker but the rest of the car was Strangely, even a brand-new 2011 MY version seemed a much inferior car in that it didn't sound as good, feel as good, look as good and, it still had the rubbish seats. It sure wasn't a car that I'd have swapped my XFR for and I found this particularly odd given Jag have not claimed any mechanical changes from one model year to the next. In reality, the 2012MY facelift is definitely more than skin deep because the new model 'feels' like a totally different and better engineered car.
This meant if I wanted a car that was like the 2012MY version I drove, I'd have to buy a brand new one and this wasn't a path I really wanted to go down given the residual performance of the car.....
...until the dealer came back with the final figures yesterday.
We've been going back a forth almost daily and in that time they used a tactic I've not seen before. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with my local dealer, Sturgess in Leicester, being an independent company who appear to have close links with the factory but, the sales director got his Jaguar regional manager to come to the dealer and discuss support over and above their max discount for my particular deal.
I've never seen this before but the end deal was pretty special in that I got 14% discount from the dealer and Jaguar agreed to put in a further £4,000 discount. This is on top of a 5.9% APR subsidies finance rate so it's actually cost me very little more to buy a brand new 2012MY car than a 1 year old one at around £50k.
This was enough to convince me that the 2012MY deal was an incredible deal and now all I need to do now is just choose the car....the original deal is for a metallic red one with black leather and red stitching and a bit of kit (DAB, rear camera).
But, for just a 'bit' more (as the discount % is even higher on this car) they have a metallic black one with red/black two-tone leather (much more 'me'), almost every option including, the winner for me, a 'dynamic' pack which is effectively the XKR-S suspension set-up and speed limit removal. This includes some trick bits like forged wheels, 10mm lower suspension, uprated dampers, strengthened suspension uprights and forged steering components. You know what I'm like with suspension...this is kind of under-arch trickery has me salivating!
The dealer have even lent me their demo XKR again this weekend for me to have another play with which I thought particularly nice - I'll take some pics and bang them up at some point. I've just got to decide on which car I finally decide to go for on Monday.....choices, choices
This is getting ridiculous now but I've now just set a new record for myself because my XFR, a car which I've rated particularly highly, is moving-on on Monday. It's replacement arrives at the end of this month so allow me to explain my last two weeks since having winning an XKR for the weekend a few weeks ago! And also why, this time, I'm calling time on my bi-monthly car buying patterns and (subject to not dying, losing my job or my licence) keeping this until well into 2013. Yeah, yeah
.....So, going back a few weeks, I went to my local Jag dealer for an XF owners event and rather nee it was too. I was handed a raffe ticket at the start of the evening and my number, yellow number 19 (I remember it clearly) was called out. The prize wasn't a free keyring or bottle of plonk but a brand new 2012MY XKR for the weekend!
I actually approached that weekend with little or no expectation of the XKR; indeed, my previous experience of one a few years ago was underwhelming and I'd certainly not have previously chosen an XKR over my XFR based on that first experience. I wasn't really that fussed about it to be honest and even turned up late to pick it up
But....it became very clear within a few miles that either I'd got it wrong on my first XKR acquaintance or Jaguar had hugely improved the 2012 MY - either way, for a car that I had so little expectation of, it turned out to be the very best car I've driven. A bold statement given what I've had and there will be disbelievers but it really is a seriously competent piece of kit.Really
....I here you ask? Well, yes....I can't stress just how good the new XKR is and it's absolutely everything I am looking for, even though I wasn't looking for it.
It's bit like your ideal girl....you tend to find her when you're least looking and with this car, I wasn't expecting to find it just 5 weeks after buying my XFR!Why so good?
It looks fabulous...the new XKR-S front-end styling looks so much better than the previous model and, with the wide 'wheels-pushed-right-out' stance, it's just gorgeous. Styling wise, I'd dare say it's easier on the eye than the Maserati (which although flashier, could be challenging from some angles)...in contrast, theres not a bad angle on the XKR but I appreciate that this is very subjective.
It sounds like an AMG! I always liked the sound of the AMG best (yep, better than the Maserati!) and this has a similar gurgling-God-like sound. Overlaid by the supercharger
It's proper fast - I know the official stats for it are similar to the XFR but the forces you feel as you accelerate are in the territory of the 911 Turbo. Not quite as crazy as that car but, once I've fitted my smaller supercharger pulley (already bought for the XFR but not fitted once I started looking elsewhere
), I'm sure there'd be nothing in it (the pulley mechanically raises the power to about 560bhp!)It does all this with proper refinement - it's probably too refined to be deemed a 'proper' sports car but it's just the right compromise for a daily driver. It's maybe not as quiet as the XFR but what noises you do get (exhaust mainly) are worth it.
It's also a ridiculously well-built car (but then so is the XFR) with a particularly solid structure (no flexing or creaking over lumps and bumps) and not a squeak or rattle to be heard.
Finally....how it 'feels'. It has what I now appreciate as a great Jag quality of a compliant and absorbent ride with flat, direct and playful handling. It handles most similarly to the M3 than anything else I've had yet rides like my XFR....what more could I ask for?
So, having decided that this car was 'the one' for me, I was still faced with the crazy option of getting rid of a car I've had for 5 weeks. This was not going to be cheap so would it be worth it?
Well, consider this for a minute.....for every other car I've had previously, I'd have high expectations to begin with and those expectations would often make it easier to overlook the less impressive areas of a particular car as I'd try and justify another change (the Maserati was a great example of this). In the XKR, I had no expectations to begin with so it's all the more splendid that it's ended up impressing me so much....there's nothing, absolutely nothing that I disliked about it during my 500 mile weekend drive of it.
However, having just bought my XFR at retail price it was never going to be pretty getting rid of it so quickly and I was also faced with the fact that the XKR is not a cheap car. But, the good news is that Jag dealers appear to be 'dealers' and whilst this is reflected in the dubious residuals, it means that you do get a hell of a deal up-front.
I've had my local dealer work on some figures for me over the last couple of weeks and in the meantime, I thought I'd give a 2011 model a go last weekend as theres a few of these with little more than delivery miles for sale at £20-22k less than list price (although there were few deals to be done at these prices).
The main difference I could see was the seats - this is the one thing that put me off previously as the standard seats in the XKR are utter cr@p but I wondered how bad they could be if the rest of the car remained so good (the 2012MY I drove had £3k's worth of sports seat option which has only been available in the last month or two). Well, the seats didn't end up being a deal-breaker but the rest of the car was
Strangely, even a brand-new 2011 MY version seemed a much inferior car in that it didn't sound as good, feel as good, look as good and, it still had the rubbish seats. It sure wasn't a car that I'd have swapped my XFR for and I found this particularly odd given Jag have not claimed any mechanical changes from one model year to the next. In reality, the 2012MY facelift is definitely more than skin deep because the new model 'feels' like a totally different and better engineered car. This meant if I wanted a car that was like the 2012MY version I drove, I'd have to buy a brand new one and this wasn't a path I really wanted to go down given the residual performance of the car.....
...until the dealer came back with the final figures yesterday.
We've been going back a forth almost daily and in that time they used a tactic I've not seen before. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with my local dealer, Sturgess in Leicester, being an independent company who appear to have close links with the factory but, the sales director got his Jaguar regional manager to come to the dealer and discuss support over and above their max discount for my particular deal.
I've never seen this before but the end deal was pretty special in that I got 14% discount from the dealer and Jaguar agreed to put in a further £4,000 discount. This is on top of a 5.9% APR subsidies finance rate so it's actually cost me very little more to buy a brand new 2012MY car than a 1 year old one at around £50k.
This was enough to convince me that the 2012MY deal was an incredible deal and now all I need to do now is just choose the car....the original deal is for a metallic red one with black leather and red stitching and a bit of kit (DAB, rear camera).
But, for just a 'bit' more (as the discount % is even higher on this car) they have a metallic black one with red/black two-tone leather (much more 'me'), almost every option including, the winner for me, a 'dynamic' pack which is effectively the XKR-S suspension set-up and speed limit removal. This includes some trick bits like forged wheels, 10mm lower suspension, uprated dampers, strengthened suspension uprights and forged steering components. You know what I'm like with suspension...this is kind of under-arch trickery has me salivating!
The dealer have even lent me their demo XKR again this weekend for me to have another play with which I thought particularly nice - I'll take some pics and bang them up at some point. I've just got to decide on which car I finally decide to go for on Monday.....choices, choices
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