2014 Jaguar XKR-S GT: The Cat Takes a Giant Leap Forward! - Ignition Ep. 96 - video Dailymotion

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On this episode of Ignition

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 What makes the XKR-S GT?

00:08 Well, there's a lot of what you can't see

00:10 and a lot of what you can.

00:11 The engine and transmission are basically unchanged,

00:14 but the steering system and the suspension

00:16 are either brand new or totally revised.

00:18 This hood is also completely new,

00:20 helps evacuate heat, and with some aerodynamic functions.

00:24 Now, the aerodynamic upgrades are rather comprehensive.

00:27 We have this big front splitter, those big canards and large

00:30 spats in the rear, an aluminum under-train, of course,

00:33 that massive rear wing and diffuser.

00:35 Jaguar says that gives you 320 pounds of downforce

00:39 at 186 miles an hour, but the downforce is there.

00:42 As for brakes, we have these big carbon ceramic rotors,

00:45 15.7 inches in the front, 15 inches in the rear,

00:48 six piston calipers in front, four piston calipers

00:51 in the rear.

00:51 This is all the hardware you need

00:53 to be a weapon at the track.

00:54 And here we should be able to find out

00:56 how well it all works.

00:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:01,

01:27 The GT requires a careful right foot during launch.

01:31 Get it right and you'll reach 60 in 4.1 seconds

01:34 in the quarter mile at 12.3 seconds at 119.7 miles an hour.

01:39 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:43 The GT's 23.7 second figure eight lap time

01:47 and average lateral acceleration of 1G

01:49 is a massive improvement over previous Jaguars we tested.

01:54 It matches the best we've recorded from the Porsche 911

01:57 and Chevy Corvette Z51.

02:01 A car like this is best experienced on the track.

02:04 [MUSIC PLAYING]

02:14 XKRS GT on the track.

02:17 So we've already gone over what this car has,

02:20 the changes that Jaguars made to the XKRS GT

02:24 to make it more of a track car.

02:25 [ENGINE REVVING]

02:28 And I think the best way to think of this car is sort

02:30 of like a GT3 version of the XKRS.

02:35 Now it's an interesting thing because this car

02:38 doesn't have any more power.

02:39 [ENGINE REVVING]

02:41 But I don't think modern Jaguars need any more power.

02:45 This supercharged five liter V8 makes 550 horsepower.

02:49 And I think 450 pound feet of torque, that's plenty.

02:52 That's way more than you need.

02:54 What you need to be able to do is apply

02:56 that power to the rear tires.

02:58 And that's something Jaguars, or the modern Jaguars,

03:01 have had a lot of difficulty doing.

03:02 [TIRES SCREECHING]

03:06 They have this handling tendency that I've

03:08 gone on about great length, which is minor understeer

03:13 into a corner and then crazy nonsensical oversteer

03:17 as soon as you even think about touching the gas pedal.

03:21 Now that's fine for a street car.

03:23 And that's fine if you're just trying to show off your friends

03:26 and say, hold my beer, watch what I can do.

03:29 But when you're really concentrating on driving fast,

03:32 it's frustrating and not that fun.

03:35 Thankfully, this XKRS GT does away with all of that.

03:40 This thing is absolutely delightful.

03:43 And part of my shock is that this is finally

03:46 a really good handling Jaguar.

03:48 This is the Jaguar sports car that I've been

03:51 looking for for a long time.

03:54 The front end feels precise, sharp, accurate.

03:57 You feel like you can keep turning in and turning

03:59 into corners.

04:00 The steering feel is very good, very responsive.

04:03 Feels like it's working exactly in line with the front tires.

04:07 You still have some power oversteer.

04:09 You still have to be judicious with the throttle.

04:12 But it's nowhere near the extremes

04:14 of the current Jaguar lineup.

04:16 And we're still working with a ZF six-speed automatic.

04:22 And you know what?

04:22 It's fine.

04:23 I don't want a manual in this.

04:24 This transmission works.

04:25 This powertrain works.

04:29 Sure, I can understand some disappointment

04:31 that you're paying $170,000 or so for this car,

04:36 and the powertrain is no more special.

04:39 It doesn't sound any different.

04:41 It doesn't have any more power.

04:42 It doesn't look any different or anything.

04:44 There's nothing in the powertrain

04:46 that has improved or changed in this car.

04:49 But the handling is so improved that it almost seems worth it.

04:57 Now, the two most recent Jaguars we've featured

05:00 have been the F-Type and the XFR-S.

05:02 The XFR-S is the more sporting one of the two,

05:05 if you're going to believe the name.

05:07 So let's compare this to that.

05:10 Well, this definitely is more of a track-ready car.

05:14 The RS part of the name on the XF

05:17 may lead you to believe that it's for tracks, but it's not.

05:21 It's for drifting and showing off to your friends

05:24 how awesome you can power slide.

05:26 This GT is such a better button-down car.

05:29 It handles so sharply, so much more sharp than the XF.

05:35 It feels like a car you could take around a racetrack,

05:38 that you would want to take around a racetrack,

05:39 and you would enjoy doing so.

05:41 Everything they've done to this car

05:44 is just such a dramatic improvement over pretty much

05:47 any Jaguar I can think.

05:48 This may be the best handling Jaguar I've driven.

05:51 Now, of course, to set a proper lap time,

05:56 we're going to hand this car over to racing driver Randy

05:59 Post.

05:59 All right, we're at Streets of Willow in the new Jaguar XK-RS

06:06 GT.

06:08 Strong, strong, supercharged engine, 550 horse.

06:14 Balance is good through the first corner.

06:16 It's a fast sweeper.

06:17 Excellent turn in.

06:19 Little push in the middle.

06:21 Hey, unlike most Jaguars, this car's putting the power down.

06:25 Very unusual.

06:27 Different from any Jaguar I've driven

06:29 for the past four or five years.

06:30 Wow.

06:37 So far, I'm really impressed.

06:40 [ENGINE REVVING]

06:44 [ENGINE REVVING]

06:47 [ENGINE REVVING]

06:51 [ENGINE REVVING]

06:55 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:04 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:12 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:21 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:24 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:38 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:50 [ENGINE REVVING]

07:53 [ENGINE REVVING]

08:05 The GT is a giant leap forward for the Jaguar.

08:17 The GT is a giant leap forward for the cat.

08:20 The future 25 owners of the XKR-S GT in North America

08:33 are going to be some very happy people.

08:37 They're receiving a car that Jaguar

08:39 has paid careful attention to, one

08:41 that has a broad range of handling characteristics.

08:44 It's a far better behaved Jaguar,

08:46 something so precise and automated

08:48 when you want it to be, but a flick of the wheel

08:50 and a bit of throttle away from the mischief we're used to.

08:53 And it's this controllability that makes

08:57 the GT so fast and so much fun.

09:01 Jaguar has made this car work.

09:03 This GT transformation is worthy of high praise.

09:06 And we hope this indicates what the company

09:08 has planned for the future.

09:10 [ENGINE REVVING]

09:13 [ENGINE REVVING]

09:16 Braking a little too late.

09:18 Because you actually knocked the recorder into stop

09:21 for your cornering so hard.

09:22 Oh, no.

09:23 That's OK.

09:24 Did you get my leap forward for the cat?

09:26 We'll do that line one more time.

09:27 Yeah, that was good.

09:29 [ENGINE REVVING]

09:32 This is kind of like the F-type black series,

09:34 or the XKR black series.

09:36 And that's great.

09:37 The more of these cars in the world, the better.

09:39 But if you've got a 200 grade to spend on a track day car,

09:44 that would never go to the track.

09:47 It's a really old chassis, though.

09:49 It's fine.

09:50 I mean, it works.

09:52 (car engine roaring)

09:55 (lion roaring)

2014 Jaguar XKR-S GT: The Cat Takes a Giant Leap Forward! - Ignition Ep. 96

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