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"The XKR-S is likely the final iteration of this generation&amp;#039;s venerable XK, and it has taken a bold step back to Jaguar&amp;#039;s roots, when Sir William Lyons&amp;#039; creations were as likely to be tearing up the French countryside at Le Mans as they were cruising the streets of Mayfair. Its aluminum skin has been adorned with a parking-stop-vulnerable carbon-fiber splitter, along with a carbon diffuser and rear wing. Turning vanes at the front corners are visually striking and serve to differentiate this XK from all others, even more so than the previous 2008 Europe-only XKR-S. While the Italian Racing Red of this car seems a bit out of place and the French Racing Blue is intriguing, what&amp;#039;s sadly missing in the palette is British Racing Green.   Video window may take a few moments to load...          The XK is a visual descendant of the 1961 E-Type, or XKE as many know it, a car considered to be one of the most beautiful ever. This iteration of the XK  chassis came to life in 2006 and replaced the aged XK8. At introduction, its aluminum structure and aggressive styling were thoroughly modern. Still today, it&amp;#039;s clearly a capable platform. Although unlikely to be considered as beautiful as its 1960s forebear, the XKR-S has a presence and excitement that have been missing from Jaguar coupes since the exotic XJ220 made its debut in 1992. The sedans have evolved, and now the team is moving ahead with its sports cars. We can see exactly where they&amp;#039;re headed with the C-X16 Concept.        2012 Jaguar XKR-S    The red rocket borders on exotic, having the exact same power output as the aforementioned 220-mph XJ. The XKR-S is said to top out at a mere 186 mph...still bloody quick. Compared to the XK of 2006, the XKR-S almost doubles the power output with an impressive rating of 542 bhp. The 5.0-liter V-8, internally designated the AJ133, is direct injected and force-fed by an Eaton TVS series R1900 4-lobe supercharger. That&amp;#039;s the same magical air pump that debuted on the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1. Further enhancing the V-8 is an increased compression ratio that&amp;#039;s now 9.5:1 compared to 9.1:1, achievable thanks to a better spray-guided injection and use of quad-cam variable valve timing that responds three times quicker than that of the past design.        2012 Jaguar XKR-S    As a steroid-slurping jungle cat, the XKR-S has an element of intimidation. Its red leather-lined bucket seats replete with slots for racing harnesses are just another indicator that it&amp;#039;s something not to be trifled with. Red stitching throughout our test car&amp;#039;s charcoal leather-lined interior with piano-black center console and Dark Linear Aluminum dash is borderline bordello, but appropriately sassy for its grumbling at-idle exhaust burble. The mufflers are equipped with electronically actuated bypasses that activate when Sport mode is engaged. Unless you&amp;#039;re idling, these flaps open to give a greater aural presence. As the little red start button on the center console fires the engine to life, the gear selector knob rises up gently into one&amp;#039;s palm. Select drive and then press down and rotate one more click to access the transmission&amp;#039;s sport mode.        2012 Jaguar XKR-S    There is no manual gearbox, but the 6-speed torque-converter automatic is one of the best in the world. Not only is it superbly quick, it&amp;#039;s perfectly smooth, with gear selection achieved via conventional steering-wheel-mounted paddles. The seamlessness of shifts only encourages one to manually grab gears with finger pulls\u2014and I rarely left them alone\u2014for added oomph during a passing maneuver, or to decelerate with engine braking in traffic. In either instance, the transmission did not disappoint. It blips the throttle for rev-matching perfection every time, even emitting an occasional exhaust belch of unburned fuel with a pop and sputter.        2012 Jaguar XKR-S    On the highway, it&amp;#039;s as civil as any of its XK forebears. It&amp;#039;s superbly comfortable and the supportive 16-way heated seats only have a single weakness\u2014passengers wishing to recline their seat for a nap are limited to mostly upright angles. Even though there is plenty of space with the rear seats unoccupied, the sport seats&amp;#039; &amp;quot;wings&amp;quot; hinder recline rake. The stiffer springs (28 percent in front and 32 percent in rear) and 10 mm lower ride height should have kept my passengers awake, but the electrically adjustable dampers set in Normal mode impart an excellent snubbed yet compliant ride quality. Hit the button with a checkered flag on it and Dynamic mode activates providing a stiffer ride that&amp;#039;s enough to wake sleeping passengers, but more importantly, invigorates the driving experience.        2012 Jaguar XKR-S    To maximize rear grip and cornering ability, Jaguar uses an active differential. It predicts the necessary torque bias and drives an electric motor to adjust locking pressure on the differential&amp;#039;s clutch pack. In this way, it can control lockup between the rear wheels from 0\u2013100 percent. This enables braking and turning to be done with light lockup, but on corner exit the diff tightens to prevent spinning up the unloaded inside rear tire. The standard Pirelli P Zero tires provide something well beyond adequate grip on nearly any road surface and are wrapped around lightweight forged alloy wheels.        2012 Jaguar XKR-S    At our photo location, where the road bends around treeless hillsides and cliffs of imminent death are mere feet from the road&amp;#039;s sandy edge, I preferred to initially probe the cornering limits with the Jaguar&amp;#039;s stability control in Track mode. Safety net in place, I felt confident to wiggle the rear around a few bends, but with 502 lb.-ft. of torque at my discretion I wasn&amp;#039;t about to exaggerate any right pedal motions. Turns out I was worried without reason as the ferocious Jaguar is a pussycat at the limit of adhesion. Its steering is light on the street, but in Dynamic mode it stiffens up and gives clear feedback about available grip and the chassis&amp;#039; cornering attitude. Slow turns are subject to understeer that can&amp;#039;t easily be cured with throttle application, but high-speed kinks are taken like a cat through doglegs. Agility and throttle response are not lacking here.        2012 Jaguar XKR-S    Brake hard and the 2-ton 2+2 stops short, like it should. Its unusual sliding brake calipers of aluminum and steel construction provide a consistent bite that didn&amp;#039;t wane during testing or as we flogged the Jag down a mountain road.   As with its racing ancestors, there&amp;#039;s no wood on the dash and it&amp;#039;s got an abundance of performance and attitude. Its only flaw of concern is a modern one\u2014 the dreadfully slow touchscreen interface for navigation and other system functions. It&amp;#039;s slow to the point where we&amp;#039;ve learned to pause between actions, although with my short attention span, I occasionally forgot what I was waiting to do. That&amp;#039;s okay, as I can easily distract myself with the superb sounds emitted from the Bowers &amp;amp;amp; Wilkins audio system, or flick a downshift and listen to the V-8 purr. If only it came in green.        2012 Jaguar XKR-S   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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