2012 Jaguar XKR-S - First Drive Review - Car and Driver (blog)
Jaguar calls the XKR-S the company’s “most responsive, powerful, agile, and driver-focused production car. Stout claim, but the numbers back it up. The twin-turbo 3. 5-liter V-6 in the XJ220 we tested 18 years ago [November 1993] generated 542 horsepower and 475 pound-feet of torque. The supercharged and direct-injected 5. 0-liter AJ V-8 propelling the XKR-S huffs up 550 horsepower at 6500 rpm and 502 pound-feet of torque between 2500 and 5500 rpm. Like the other XKs, the XKR-S employs a responsive six-speed automatic (with paddle shifters for manual operation). Jaguar expects the car to reach a mile per minute in 4. 2 seconds (the XJ220 did 4. 4), with a governed top speed of 186 mph. After a day herding this quickest of all cats over mountain roads, we’re inclined to doubt Jaguar’s performance claims. Hell, last time we tested an XKR , it did the deed in 4. Thanks largely to revised exhaust plumbing—which allowed attendant tweaks to the fuel mapping—the S version of the engine tops the XKR’s output by 40 ponies. Applying the old dollars-per-horsepower formula, the XKR-S price premium may look a little steep. The 2012 XKR coupe will start at $97,500. the XKR-S coupe (a convertible may come along later) will be $132,875 when it reaches showrooms in October. Source: www.caranddriver.com
