Customer Reviews

Jaguar XK8 and XKR (Mrp Autoguide)

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John Blunsden, in his introduction, suggests this book is useful for prospective buyers of the Jaguar XK8 or XKR. If this was his purpose, then he has succeeded in giving a solid background on the car, so much so that I recently purchased one of these cars for myself. However, the book was published in 2000 and is somewhat dated because the new 2003 Jaguar XK8 and XKR's have evolved mechanically. For example, the 2003 XK8 and XKR feature a 6 speed automatic transmission, while in 2000 only 5 speeds were available. Nonetheless, for Jaguar lovers, I would highly recommend this book. Additionally, there is a fascinating section on the Jaguar F-Type, a truly beautiful prototype that Jaguar has not put into production.

The book has a nice balance of historical performance Jaguars, the protypes that brought the XK8 model from the E-type and XJS cars, along with vignettes into the designers as they brought it all about, a good survey of the XK8 and XKR models, and some insights into the future. Interesting photographs and colorful cutaway illustrations abound. Also included were data tables, lists of changes and options, tables of performance data and Jaguar model comparisons. I had already bought an XKR, and I was eagerly soaking up information about these alluring cars.

An informative book releying heavily on early Jaguar literature. It has an English slant to the text which adds some charm. If it hadn't been coupled with the Nigley Thorley XK8 book I wouldn't have bought it.