Two weeks in and !!

[lady topaz]

Well so far the XKR hasn't been the luckiest of cars. On the 5th day a chip in windscreen. I had Autoglass round the following day and to be fair they did a great job.

A few days later crossing the Dartford Bridge and one hell of a bang nearside rear. Limped off at Dartford to see what had occured. I could see a flat piece of metal sticking out from tyre which hadnt deflated. I managed to crawl to my local tyre place where, I kid you not, he extracted a 6" screwdriver blade. The noise I had heard was it smashing against the arch protector which is now damaged and I also have two chips from the paintwork which I will sort. So a new tyre was bought less than two weeks into ownership.

So I faced a trip to Wales last Thursday with some trepidation.

I neednt have worried, the car drove like a dream. Plenty of room for luggage (but only with roof up).
It is far smoother than my Aston, but in fairness I shouldnt really compare a GT to a 2 seater sportscar. I found the power delivery brilliant, especially when needing to execute a swift overtake and the sound of that engine is superb. It does actually growl. Fuel consumption including motorway cruising and driving around the valleys averaged 23mpg which I think is pretty good. This included some periods of briskness, so I am pleased with that.

Overall after 1,500 miles I am very impressed and really falling for this car. It looks stunning, drives superbly and in spite of early setbacks I'm loving it.

One gripe is I hate the display. It seems old fashioned compared to the XF, I only wish they had upgraded to that one.

1st pic showing the Amethyst



Now filthy in Wales







Roll on the next miles.

Di

Edited by lady topaz on Monday 19th August 10:22

[Tresco]

Sorry to hear you've been a liitle unlucky but the car looks great, I've read your posts with interest, currently driving a 57 plate xkr cab and just debating whether to jump up to a 5.0, year old cars are early £50's but when I read what you paid for yours it makes me wonder whether to push the boat out and go new.. Decisions decisions....

Look forward to your future updates.

[silverspeed]

Tresco said:

Sorry to hear you've been a liitle unlucky but the car looks great, I've read your posts with interest, currently driving a 57 plate xkr cab and just debating whether to jump up to a 5.0, year old cars are early £50's but when I read what you paid for yours it makes me wonder whether to push the boat out and go new.. Decisions decisions....

Look forward to your future updates.

A bargain motor car at those prices compared to F type ! Love the colour

[Ashley1111]

Tresco said:

Sorry to hear you've been a liitle unlucky but the car looks great, I've read your posts with interest, currently driving a 57 plate xkr cab and just debating whether to jump up to a 5.0, year old cars are early £50's but when I read what you paid for yours it makes me wonder whether to push the boat out and go new.. Decisions decisions....

Look forward to your future updates.

Feel free to drop me a line..... :-)

Did one for another member last week and he was very happy with the deal.

[anonymous-user]

lady topaz said:

Well One gripe is I hate the display. It seems old fashioned compared to the XF, I only wish they had upgraded to that one.

Yeah, I know what you mean Di. I went from the 12 XJ to the 13 XKR and it was like going back 10 years. They didn't upgrade because the model is close to the end and it wouldn't make sense to invest. The same was true of the 12 Range Rover. The Sport, Disco and Evoque had all the new technology and the big boy soldiered on with all the previous gen stuff.

Colour looks great, saw an F Type in it yesterday, stunning.

[jrinns]

unrepentant said:

Yeah, I know what you mean Di. I went from the 12 XJ to the 13 XKR and it was like going back 10 years. They didn't upgrade because the model is close to the end and it wouldn't make sense to invest. The same was true of the 12 Range Rover. The Sport, Disco and Evoque had all the new technology and the big boy soldiered on with all the previous gen stuff.

Colour looks great, saw an F Type in it yesterday, stunning.

Hi unrepentant,

How is the transition, I'm looking to go from a 61 XJ Portfolio to a GT car. Maybe XKR / S, not sure yet. I realise the mutlimedia is poor, used it on an XF but it has the functionality I need, DAB and IPOD.

[Triple7]

jrinns said:

Hi unrepentant,

How is the transition, I'm looking to go from a 61 XJ Portfolio to a GT car. Maybe XKR / S, not sure yet. I realise the mutlimedia is poor, used it on an XF but it has the functionality I need, DAB and IPOD.

All standard on the XK

[anonymous-user]

jrinns said:

unrepentant said:

Yeah, I know what you mean Di. I went from the 12 XJ to the 13 XKR and it was like going back 10 years. They didn't upgrade because the model is close to the end and it wouldn't make sense to invest. The same was true of the 12 Range Rover. The Sport, Disco and Evoque had all the new technology and the big boy soldiered on with all the previous gen stuff.

Colour looks great, saw an F Type in it yesterday, stunning.

Hi unrepentant,

How is the transition, I'm looking to go from a 61 XJ Portfolio to a GT car. Maybe XKR / S, not sure yet. I realise the mutlimedia is poor, used it on an XF but it has the functionality I need, DAB and IPOD.

There are some things that you get used to on the XJ that are not there or are not as good on the XK. There's no massage seats on the XK (a bigger deal for MrsU than for me but she loved'em) and if you go for the XKR-S you don't get cooled seats either. There's no blind spot monitors but the visibility on the drivers side is great thanks to the tiny B pillar. It's more of an issue on the passenger side but you get used to it and it's maybe more of an issue for me because we overtake on both sides in the US. I miss the voice activation, especially for the phone and also for the nav which I use more than most as I am not a native. I had the B&W audio in my XJ and it was the best audio I have ever heard. The XKR has B&W but it's not a patch on the XJ system. Audio and nav are not as user friendly but are adequate.

On the plus side the XKR looks fantastic and the 510 BHP engine is sublime. The car is great to drive and the performance is awesome. I would have gone for the active exhaust had I been able to find one but it sounds great anyway, especially in dynamic mode. The XKR-S has the active exhaust as standard and it pops and bangs much more. I drove one a couple of times and found myself seeking out tunnels, down shifting and lifing off just to listen to it. It was like being back in a TVR.

The XKR has some things as standard in the US that are options in the UK. They include adaptive headlights, reversing camera, homelink and TPMS.

All in all I love my XKR and will probably keep it until the F Type coupe is available on partner terms.

[lowdrag]

A similar tale of woe in a way. I had had my shiny brand new X300 exactly 10 minutes when white van man launched a stone which split the screen from top to bottom. The replacement wasn't sealed properly and created loud wind howl. So in two days she was on her third screen!