2008 Jaguar XK Review

What do Carmen Electra, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Beyonce have in common? If you head off to Hollywood or New York or Las Vegas, you might be treated to their showmanship. It's a talent for commanding an audience, for tantalizing a crowd, for getting everyone in the groove.

Jaguar XK Interior

But this splashy attraction isn't limited to such spectacularly leggy ladies. Sometimes, as with the 2008 Jaguar XK, it's the manipulation of metal, leather, tawny wood, and dynamics into such an alluring sculpture it can set one's heart afire.

Jaguar is a car that has long claimed to be virtually synonymous with "passion," where owning one offers more than a frenetically fast, deliciously hedonistic driving experience. According to Jag, it becomes a mating of car and driver. With that backdrop, Jaguar's newest XK super sports car had a lot to live up to.

XK debuted last year as a lightweight aluminum sculpture with a 4.2-liter naturally-aspirated 300-HP V-8 that is faster and more agile, fuel efficient and earth friendly than previous Jags.

Refinements for 2008 include heightened performance and a precious few of its most elite version, the XKR Portfolio, where owning one becomes akin to winning a 255-person lottery. Talk about high rollers, baby.

But the XK Coupe and Convertible that started it aren't far behind, with a trail of smitten development designers and engineers attesting to its superiority as "most technically advanced ever," and "most visually gorgeous..." (We agree.) For 2008, besides the Portfolio, an integrated audio antenna in the rear spoiler, four new cloth top colors, available 19-inch runflat tires and new interior touches are among additions.

We can talk about fuel economy for a vehicle with a gas guzzler penalty a given. For the record, it get 16 city/25 highway mpg with supercharged versions recieving 15 city/23 highway mpg. For bragging rights, a quarter-mile in 14.4 seconds (coupe) and top speed limited to 155 miles an hour seem more relevant.

At a breathtaking pre-option entry price of $75,500 (coupe) or $81,500 (convertible), bottom lines can become wake-up calls. But if our banker and check book agree, we'll sign on the dotted line and let the chips fall where they may.