2012 Jaguar XKR-S: Monterey Time Machine

Sure enough our Jaguar host Frank Klaas had raced in the Nürburgring 24 Hours almost 20 times and even finished in the top ten a couple of times. And when he mentioned the XKR-S’s composure even when it hops one of the tall, dangerous curbs at the Nordschleife, we knew he was speaking our language, as a proper car for a top speed of 186 mph (electronically limited) is far different than the kind of silly brutes that fan boys prefer for stunt driving at low speed.

The route to Monterey from the City is hardly the Nordschleife, so we have no special drama to report from our drive, unlike the First Drive of this car. Of course, maybe this Jaguar is most impressive because you can drive it like a car, not a rocket ship. The navigation system got us through the Mission District, the 20-inch Pirelli P Zeroes didn’t thrum much on Interstate 280, and the trick adaptive dampers shrugged off the deeply cambered curves of two-lane Skyline Drive (a former logging road).

We stopped at Alice’s Restaurant among the redwoods above Woodside and didn’t really need a coffee. You wouldn’t even know this car is a track day special at all until you really get serious about the throttle pedal, and when we did while pulling out of Davenport on CA Highway 1, the rear tires walked a little sideways just to remind us that some 550 hp is at work in this supercharged V8. 

It’s the 50th anniversary of the Jaguar E-Type’s introduction and a fine selection of these cars was placed at our disposal once we got to Monterey. We think of the E-Type as merely gorgeous today, but our drive of a deep-green 3.8-liter coupe confirmed that the power and composure which we associate with the brand these days are really part of a tradition that goes back decades.

And once we walked into the Jaguar celebration before the Pebble Beach Concours later that night, the sight of the E2A prototype raced by Briggs Cunningham and the Group 44 V12-powered E-Type raced by Bob Tullius also reminded us that the E-Type had been conceived by a company that dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the 1950s, and indeed the car’s first racing successes came at the expense of the Ferrari 250 GTO.

So maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that the XK has been transformed into a track car that’s up to the Nordschleife. After all, the company already has a strong racing heritage. It’s owned by the leading car company in India, which wants to run with the big dogs when it comes to prestige. And Jaguar is now being run by a German with excellent engineering credentials from BMW and Opel, and he knows what it takes to measure up against the world’s best cars.

But when we saw our XKR-S in the line of exclusive machines outside a Monterey hotel during Pebble Beach week, you knew that it wasn’t like the scaled-up toys parked nearby. The XKR-S can unexpectedly perform like a real automobile, something meant for going places. As a company, Jaguar might have changed a lot, but the idea for the cars has hardly changed at all. And that’s a good thing.

Michael Jordan, Executive Editor, Edmunds.com