Verdict: 2007 Jaguar XK and 2008 Jaguar XKR - MotorTrend Magazine
Back when some of the more senior Motor Trend staffers started in this business, the running gag was, if you wanted a Jaguar coupe, you'd better buy two-one to drive while the other was in the shop being fixed. Quality was not Job One at Jaguar, as Ford exec Bill Hayden declared not long after Ford took over the British maker in 1989: "Apart from some Russian factories in Gorky, Jaguar's were the worst I'd seen. In 14 months of Jaguar "ownership" (we had a naturally aspirated XK coupe for six months and the supercharged XKR for eight months), we had an air-temperature sensor replaced under warranty, spent $5 on a new battery for the key fob, and replaced... The only time either car was in the shop was for the XKR's first complimentary service at 10,000 miles. In addition to the air-temperature sensor failure, the airbag-warning light flashed a few times on the red XK at 4858 miles, and an engine-warning light came on once in the titanium gray XKR at 2283 miles. " That was Jaguar design chief Ian Callum's advice when he found out we were getting a $75,500 XK. Unfortunately, the Ferrari -like hue wasn't readily available, so we settled for Radiance, a softer, darker-metallic red, combined with caramel... Although convertibles account for the majority of XK sales in the U. S. , we opted to stay with a coupe when we switched to the $86,035 supercharged R version. Source: www.motortrend.com
