Jaguar XKR: Relaxing speed can still be fast
Sometimes being fast isn't enough. Sometimes a fast car needs to carry the entire weight of a company on its metal haunches. If it succeeds, great. If not, then that company might falter. We're talking about the Jaguar XKR, a car that at last managed to prove that Jag could make attractive and, crucially, modern fast cars.
The thing the XKR does isn't out-and-out speed - what it does better is lithe and relaxed pace. The aluminium in it cuts weight, increasing agility, but the most pleasing aspect of pushing on in this is interaction of the auto gearbox; it responds almost as keenly as a paddle-shift manual, only much smoother. Fast and a totem of Jag's salvation - worthy, we think.