Jaguar XK

With production starting in 1996 and ending in 2006 this car is no longer produced by Jaguar but is still one of the most sort after sports cars due to its great looks and speed. Jaguar launched this car 1996, in the 90's era that brought us plenty of great cars such as the F series Ferrari's the F50 and F40. The humble British guys at jaguar launched the XK which was also known as the XK8 and was code named the X100 project. It was a grand tourer and it became Genesis for the XK series.

The XK 8 came in only two sport bodies which were the convertible and the coupe which were both fitted with an all new 4.0 liter Jaguar V8. The new v8 under the hood was a Jaguar AJ-V8 compact engine which went on to be used in other cars. The engine itself was early days for Jaguar as it was only the fourth type engine to be built by the company. This engine remained the only engine type at Jaguar after the launch of the XK8 until in 1999 we saw the launch of the Jaguar S type which was a major disappointment. To digress however, the AJ-V8 was a great engine and it provided the XK with lumps of power.

After 1998 the XKR was introduced into the family of XK and it had a supercharged engine which still featured the same engine. The XKR name is till used today and just as the car in days of old this version is a no-nonsense performance car.

After a long run of the old AJ -V8 engines , in 2003 there was a revamp and new 4.2 liter engines replaced the former engines in the XK. Whilst the first generation jags and Aston martin DB7 were technically the same chassis this was changed in the second generation of XK's. No longer being derived from the XJS , the new generation Xk's featured Independent rear suspension which made huge improvements to the handling of the car compared to the previous system.

Although the XK8 and the XKR vehicles were electronically limited to 150mph's test drivers reported to get 170+ from the XKR's on speed runs. Transmission came in the form of a 5 speed automatic and a 6 speed automatic which was a shame because this car would have been great with a manual transmission. Som of the feature on the car included alloy wheels and an in built sat nave system with xeon headlamps that would self level as standard.

Throughout the XK8's life there have been some special editions which have had adjustments to make the car that much better. Although some of them were pure marketing exercises compared to cars that had significant improvements made to them they all possessed some of that Jag magic.

The XKR 100

The 100 was built in celebration of Jaguar's founder William Lyons and William Walmsley. There were only 500 XKR 100's built and they came in both coupe and convertible bodies. The XKR 100 mainly included aesthetic improvements with a new paint finish , Racing seats , a custom interior and Brembo brakes to go with the alloy wheels.

XKR 4.2-S

The S was a model which was based upon the original design and featured some extras to the 4.2 liter engine of the normal XKR. Main features included a new instruments panel , new interior and exterior lighting and new Brembo disk plates and 19 inch alloy wheels.

• Manufactured by : Jaguar Cars
• Produced form : 1996 to 2006
• Predecessor: Jaguar XJS
• Successor : Jaguar XK 150
• Class : GT car
• Body Style : 2 door coupe/ 2 door convertible
• Layout : FR
• Engines : 4.0 ltr V8 , 4.2 ltr V8
• Transmission: 5 speed auto, 6 speed auto
• Designed by : Geoff Lawson (1992)