2006/7 XK v. XKR as daily driver

[notax]

I am in the market for one of the above to replace my Aston Vantage as a daily driver. I am after a low mileage coupe and wondered if there are any disadvantages to choosing the XKR beyond slightly worse economy and higher insurance. Does the extra power result in any reliability issues? Thanks.

[NormanD]

I use my XKR every day




Even with all the 'Further development'

[kibbbs]

Agreed, same here. I do a 30 - 40 min commute (depending on mood) every day in my XKR. For me it is just perfect as half the commute is on twisty country roads and the other on A roads. The XKR allows me to hoon the country roads (if in the mood) and cruise the A roads. It's the best of both worlds.

[rpgk]

I went from AMV8 to XKR and did not regret it - XKR is fantastic car - used mine for 2 years, 70 miles a day, apart from an annoying hand brake cable problem which took 3 attempts to fix - it never skipped a beat - and it was brilliant in the snow!! Don't ask me why, i couldn't answer, maybe i was lucky, but used it in every heavy snow dump and whilst it got a little stuck, it was always able to power its way out, when other cars failed!

[MPowerMark]

I've had my 2008 XKR Coupe for a few months now and so far so good. I went from owning a 987 Porsche Boxster S and it does not handle anywhere near as good as the Porsche but then not many cars do. Recently i've not had much of a chance to take the car on a long drive and have been doing alot of urban driving and im measuring around 16 MPG.
I would imagine the performance difference between the two would be huge. The XK only has 300 BHP and for what is a large car that would seem underpowered in my opinion however i have never driven the standard XK.
The performance of the XKR is impressive and the power delivery is smooth unlike what you would experiance in a BMW M3 for example.
They are very comfy cars and the 4.2 litre V8 is considered a very good and reliable engine. If i was you i would get the XKR. With all the extra trimmings you get with the R it makes the car look more attractive in my opinion plus you get the added fun of it being supercharged.

[notax]

Thanks for all the comments. I had thought an XK would be the sensible choice - afterall it is as quick as the previous generation XKR I owned. Having said that, if the only downside to an XKR is a few less mpg I can live with that

[Palmball]

The only other downside to the 'R' is the constant risk of getting to jail-sentence speeds. As neither the n/a or s/c engine are what you'd call frugal cars, thereby making economy an irrelevant consideration, and if the price of the 'R' is within budget then it's got to be a no-brainer....the R makes the normal XK largely irrelevant.

Then again I am biased and in an excitable mood this morning because in two hours I'm about to swap my current 'R'....




For my new 'R' .....








Ive only owned my XFR for a few weeks and never really considered an XKR (mainly because I coudnt get on with the standard seats which are so out of place in such a car...the XFRs are much better).

Then, a couple of weeks after getting the XFR, I attended an owners event one evening at my local dealer and on arrival I was handed a raffle ticket. I've never won a raffle so was quite shocked to have had my number called out at the end of the night and even more shocked when I found out I hadn't won a bottle of plonk or free key ring but a new XKR!

For the weekend

I didnt actually expect much of it to be honest but the XKR they loaned to me was a new 2012 model with the XKR-S sports seat option. These transformed the experience of the car for me which, after some serious negotiating and discount has led me to collecting my new car today!

It's quite a rare example....it has the dynamic pack meaning its suspension and dynamics are all XKR-S spec so I get to enjoy the more focused drive of that car (less the 40hp increase ) without putting up with the dubious bodykit!

Apologies for the thread hijack....im jus ta bit excited with just 2hrs to go!

[tonys]

That does look rather nice. I looked at the XKR-S (if that's the correct form) a while ago and wasn't too keen on (some of) the body mods; but I did like the seats. Those seats in the XKR are a good choice.
Doesn't answer the OP's question though

[hand of clod]

Your new xkr looks great though I would not turn my nose up at your "old xfr.

[Ubernoober]

I've had my n/a XK for around 6 months now after swapping my Chimaera 450. I deliberately chose the XK over the XKR as the intent is for it be by our only car, so my daily driver, which means I'm going to be doing around 25k miles pa in it once the E250 goes back.

So an improved mpg rate, however small, is worth it - so is the lower insurance, the (hopefully) lower service costs and the lower purchase cost. Got a nice '08 with 18k miles on it. Done just over 9k in it so far.

As for fuel consumption, for the first 5000 I averaged 27.something mpg and have maxed out on my 50 mile each way commute at normal motorway/dual carriageway speeds with 30 mpg. Mind you, the flappy paddles are fun and the changes under power are lightening quick, very impressive stuff. Sounds glorious too.

Reliability-wise, I've had a steering column bearing fail (!!), replaced under warranty with no issue. Fortunately, the only symptom was a knocking when turning into/out of side roads and the car got me home and to the garage ok. Apart than that, I've had no issues at all (unlike the E250, flaming thing!).

And there really is plenty enough power for a daily driver.