The jaguar XKR-S is the ultimate supercar from jaguar on offer today.
What exactly is it that makes it sospecial and sets it apart from the others? We get behind the wheel of one to find out
WHEN WE AUTOMOTIVE journalists talk of supercars, adjectives like ‘raw’, ‘powerful’, ‘mind-boggling’ or ‘roaring’ are usually followed by others like ‘impracticable’, ‘unsuitable’ or ‘insensible’, etc. And that is because most supercars are usually just that: absolutely stunning in looks, fabulous in performance, but completely impracticable for everyday use, especially in India. Are there exceptions to this rule? Indeed there are. The Jaguar XKR-S, for instance.
And there are strong reasons that prompt me to say this. A few months ago, I drove this car for the first time and was highly impressed by almost everything about it. The 5.0-litre supercharged mill powering this car is a gem of an engine. Made of aluminium, it pumps out 550 PS of peak power from its eight cylinders stacked in a V.
Even more exciting is the 680 Nm of maximum torque, which is enough to pull a train. What’s more, this maximum amount of torque starts playing up from as low as 2,500 revolutions per minute and makes its prowess felt all the way until 5,500 revs, thanks to the supercharger nestling in the V of the engine under the hood. This powerplant is mated to a six-speed gearbox and both together form a drivetrain that produces some excellent results: 0 to 100 km/h in 5.1 seconds and a top speed of 300 km/h. Although we could not see the 300 km/h mark ourselves, given the fact that we were in India where we do not have the privilege of tracks to test top speeds, we definitely went past 250 km/h and were highly impressed by the composition and stability that this car exhibited at that speed. Its Pirellis adhere to the road as if glued.
As we accelerated, the speeds were climbing rapidly and, simultaneously, the steering was getting weighted; and it gets weighted so well, that the feeling of being connected with the car is never lost. In fact, the steering on the XKR-S is one of the best we have tested: it feels nice and light at slow speed and becomes highly precise, giving accurate feedback, at high speed.
With great power comes great responsibility and this is an area that is taken care of by the chassis. Aluminium architecture has been used to achieve maximum rigidity with minimum weight. A double wishbone front suspension and linked rear suspension have been set up very well along with the chassis and together they offer excellent handling. Of course, to keep things under control there are a lot of electronics that have been coded to interfere every time the car thinks that it is losing traction. The Dynamic Stability Control System (DSC) takes data from the traction available, stability of the car and eDiff settings to continuously change the slip thresholds, differential torque distribution and intervenes only as much as required so that the driver can push himself to the limit. Braking is another department where the XKR-S excels and leaves absolutely no cause for complaint.
All of this proves the excellence of the XKR-S as an engineering product. But then there is a lot more to a car than just its engineering. It takes art and creativity, design and styling to make a car that is appreciable in the eye of one and all. The Jaguars have never really gone wrong in this department and the XKR-S is no exception. Look at the car from the front and it closely resembles the big cat that it derives its name from. The same kind of aggression, the same set of wild eyes ready to pounce on you, the same wickedness. All these design elements make up a car that is extremely stunning and highly desirable.
Having discussed all this, what brings me to the conclusion of this story is what I said in the beginning. No doubt this car is a supercar, but offers a higher level of practicality than most others in its segment. Its light steering ensures easy manoeuvrability in traffic, its ground clearance is enough to take you over speed humps without worrying about the underbody, its suspension is nicely adaptive and offers a comparatively comfortable ride over uneven surfaces and there is a huge boot with ample space. All this is quite rare to find in the supercar league and this is where the Jaguar KXR-S stands out. Impeccable performance to stand up to the others and some practicality to help you on an everyday basis – the XKR-S has them all!
The 5.0-litre supercharged mill powering this car is a gem of an engine. Made of aluminium, it pumps out 550 PS of peak power from its eight cylinders stacked in a V. Even more exciting is the 680 Nm of maximum torque, which is enough to pull a train
NEED TO KNOW
JAGUAR XKR-S
PRICE Rs 2 Crore(Approx OTR, Pune)
ENGINE 5.0-litre, 550PS, 680Nm
TRANSMISSION Six-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive
PERFORMANCE 5.1 secs 0-100km/h(tested), 300km/h top speed
Story: Adhish Alawani
Photography: Varun Kulkarni
