RE: Mike Cross On The New Jaguar XKR-S

[British Beef]

Am I the only one who would absolutely love this car with a nice 6 speed manual box and 3 pedals.

I would even pay extra to have a manual!!

[Zod]

me too.

[aeropilot]

British Beef said:

Am I the only one who would absolutely love this car with a nice 6 speed manual box and 3 pedals.

I would even pay extra to have a manual!!

You'd likely be paying quite a hefty bit extra for a bespoke designed 6MT that could cope with the torque output of that Jag V8.

Maybe Tremec or one of the other US specialists could supply one perhaps, but, essentially, traditional manual gearboxes tend to be a tad agricultural when having to cope with large torque output.... to say nothing of the clutch.
That's why auto's work better

[zthomasz]

Wouldn't the gearbox that aston martin use work?

[Zod]

zthomasz said:

Wouldn't the gearbox that aston martin use work?

Should do.

[aeropilot]

Zod said:

zthomasz said:

Wouldn't the gearbox that aston martin use work?

Should do.

Isn't the Aston a rear mounted/trans-axle gearbox though, so you'd need the whole Aston rear-end, assuming that would fit up to the Jag shell....????

[mylesmcd]

aeropilot said:

Zod said:

zthomasz said:

Wouldn't the gearbox that aston martin use work?

Should do.

Isn't the Aston a rear mounted/trans-axle gearbox though, so you'd need the whole Aston rear-end, assuming that would fit up to the Jag shell....????

I ll get the welder.

[Zod]

aeropilot said:

Isn't the Aston a rear mounted/trans-axle gearbox though, so you'd need the whole Aston rear-end, assuming that would fit up to the Jag shell....????

I'm no expert, but the gearbox is a Graziano and I'd imagine it could be adapted.

[xkrGiles]

Chaps

The problem isnt the physical gearbox & rear end.

As we older XKR owners (the car not me) are discovering on the XKEC forum, changing to a manual box brings huge problems for the electrics. The easiest thing to do is re-wire the whole car again as the standard box & ECU wont talk to any other combination.

Costs to retro fit a manual box to an X100 XKR are looking like 10-12k. I reckon it could be even more on the X150

You can retro fit gear change buttons on the wheel quite easily, still an auto, but in manual control. Works quite well

[CRB1]

Well done Jaguar, you're getting close, with this car, to getting me seriously considering one of yours soon.

What really hacked me off about 10 years ago was the understanding your main concern was designing a car that had a boot large enough to fit two sets of golf clubs. Was that really true?

But now, with this car, I'm listening again.

Well done. Suggest you test drive a Nissan GTR before you sign this one off.

Chris.

[bl5150]

Even with this Jag there's still not many Jag/Aston fans who'd be cross shopping a GTR - anyhow , interestingly enough Evo did a comparison test with an XKR and GTR Spec V (amongst others) and they were pretty clear on what they thought was the better car.....the Jag. That was the XKR75.

[British Beef]

Chalk and Cheese.

GTR - Race car for road

XKR - Super GT

I dount these cars share many prospective buyers.

[British Beef]

xkrGiles said:

Chaps

The problem isnt the physical gearbox & rear end.

As we older XKR owners (the car not me) are discovering on the XKEC forum, changing to a manual box brings huge problems for the electrics. The easiest thing to do is re-wire the whole car again as the standard box & ECU wont talk to any other combination.

I suspect a bigger problem is that there is simply not the demand from the global markets for manual gearboxes. I think us Brits and particular the ones on these forums are generally much more into the driving experience than your average Yank, Asian, Russian - which seem to make up the majority of the market these days.

[BlueEyedBoy]

bl5150 said:

Even with this Jag there's still not many Jag/Aston fans who'd be cross shopping a GTR - anyhow , interestingly enough Evo did a comparison test with an XKR and GTR Spec V (amongst others) and they were pretty clear on what they thought was the better car.....the Jag. That was the XKR75.

If I hadn't just bought a stupidly expensive house, they would both be on the potential list. Although the GTR would need to offer a hell of a lot in performance to win over the Jags looks. The Jags weakness for me is that the rear seats are useless in such a big car.

[aeropilot]

British Beef said:

I suspect a bigger problem is that there is simply not the demand from the global markets for manual gearboxes. I think us Brits and particular the ones on these forums are generally much more into the driving experience

Oh yeah, the driving experience..... .... stuck in traffic for hours going 1st to 2nd to 1st to 2nd to.......

bks to the driving experience, with road congestion getting ever worse, living in London, I gave up on a manual box for a daily driver some five or six years ago..... and I wouldn't go back to one.

[bl5150]

Agreed. I know a few diehard manual fans who after some prodding (and a drive of my 2010 XKR) have finally admitted that yeah - they would actually own a car with that ZF transmission. It truly is a brilliant driving experience regardless of whether you enjoy moving your feet around and strikes the perfect compromise for anyone outside of the track who wants a fast, brilliant sounding GT car. From my experience Jaguar seem to get the best out of it , moreso than Aston etc..

[Zod]

aeropilot said:

Oh yeah, the driving experience..... .... stuck in traffic for hours going 1st to 2nd to 1st to 2nd to.......

bks to the driving experience, with road congestion getting ever worse, living in London, I gave up on a manual box for a daily driver some five or six years ago..... and I wouldn't go back to one.

I have cars with auto, SMG and manual boxes. I drove the manual car into work in London today. I really don't mind it. The only time it's ever inconvenient is going home in traffic and having to wait on hills.

[Six Fiend]

Saw the XKR-S (blue roof then swirly stickers etc) this morning on the M5 south in Somerset. Hoped it'd stop in the services. Was making sensible progress

[designforlife]

Lol, me too, by cribbs causeway. was wondering what it was, but the front end kinda looked Jag-esque. Tried to take a couple of photos but failed fantastically!

[asw48]

I would like to say that possibly I am unusual in that am addicted to manual gearboxes and I have in the last 30 years had Marcos, MG's, Lotus,TWO XJ6 cars (with manual gearboxes). YES TWO Manual XJ6's, a 1990 and a 1996 XJ40 and XJ300. These cars are magnificent and totally different to the normal XJ6 with auto box.
I concur with Jeremy Clarkson's sentiments that 'If he were the chairman of Jaguar he would not let anything other than manual gearboxes out of the gates.'
After 20 years of driving manual gearbox Jags I have to agree. They are sublime.
But now I have a problem. You see most of the people on this forum are speculating. They never really experienced what they are talking about. They suffer from foot in mouth disease. Sit in an armchair and spout statistics.
I now own a 2006 Jaguar XKR-S. Yes I own a V8 4.2 Supercharged Jaguar and if you have not owned one. Then sit back and watch match of the day and shut up. Because you don't have a clue. The supercharger will make you incontinent.
These cars are Aston Martin DB7 with a Cohiba thrown in.
AND if you don't understand that last sentence then you should not be putting forward a comment.
This car is a dream that I live. And I have a few other cars too. Every day I walk from my place to this car and well, I live the XKR-S.
I have (still) MG, Lotus and have had Jaguar XJ6. This XKR-S car is a dream. Don't even talk to me about Aston Martin, Porche, Audi or even Ferrari. This car is the one.
When the scales are balance, say what you like. Put your backside in the Recaros and I tell you. This is it.