Jaguar XJR vs the rest

[marksg]

I'm seeking some advice on the Jaguar XJR - hope some of you on the forum can help.

I'm looking for a V8 saloon for circa £15K with the following atributes:

fabulous sounding engine!
very good performance
very good levels of equipment

So far, at the top of my (not very) short-list is an XJR with a paramount performance exhaust. I've never really considered Jaguars before (currently on my third consecutive BMW), but an early V8 XKR just seems such amazing value, especially compared to something like an M5. For a similar price, the other cars on my list are 540i/740I BMW, 4.2 A6 or A8 Audi. Does anyone have any experience of these cars vs the Jag; certainly the XJR looks favourite on performance and value for money.

Also, I'm used to a manual gearbox, but all of these cars are autos. What is the XKR autobox like in terms of responsiveness - does it restrict performance - the 30-50 and 50-70mph times seem to suggest not!

Thanks very much.

[marksg]

Thanks everyone - well I'm convinced! Will keep you informed of progress in finding the right car. Don't know why I didn't think of looking at XJRs before!