BUYING AFFORDABLECONVERTIBLES
34 |JaguarWorld/July 2019
D
ebutingin 19 96,thefirst
generationofXK8–usually
knownbyitsinternal
codename,X1 00 –wasa
verydifferentcartotheone
itreplaced.Itfeaturedsmooth,softlines
thatwerehighlyreminiscentoftheE-type,
whileanall-new4.0-litreV8satunderthe
bonnet.Moreimportantly,the30,946XJ-S
convertiblessoldbetween 1988 and 1996
provedtherewasstillamarketforanopen
Jaguar.So,thistime,onewasdesignedat
thesametimeasthecoupe.
With290bhp,the3,996ccV8–designed
byJaguarbutbuiltatFord’sBridgend
factory–madetheXK8fasterthanthe
outgoingXJS6.0V12;60mphcould
bereachedin6.5secondsandithada
topspeedof 15 5mph.Theseearly4.0
convertiblesaregreatvalue;£5kisenough
foragood,cleanexamplewithsensible
miles(100,000-130,000).XXXKKKKRRR 444 ... 000
Jaguar’sfirstsports carin twodecadessetnew
standardsforride,comfortandperformance
However,wewouldsuggestgoingforthe
XKRversionthatfollowedin 19 98.Thanksto
anEatonsupercharger,powerwaspushedto
37 0bhp,loweringthe0-60mphtimeto5.2
seconds–impressivebytoday’sstandards,
nevermind 20 yearsago.Yetthere’smoreto
thecarthanjustpower.Withits20inalloy
wheels,meshgrilleandbonnetvents,the
XKRhasamuchharderimagethantheXK8.
Worthanywherebetween£5,000and
£18,000,these4.0-litreXKRsofferthe
bestvalueofanyX 10 0.A4.2version
oftheV8arrivedin 2002 aspartofthe
X100’sfacelift,andXKRswiththisupdated
enginearenowworth£10,000-£30,000
(andrising),althoughwedon’tthinkits
performanceissignificantlybetterthanthe
4.0tojustifytheextramoney.
AsyoucanseefromRayCoates’
gorgeous 2000 PlatinumSilverexample,
theXKR4.0isaveryprettycar.Themodel
maybetwodecadesold,butithasthe
beststanceofallthecarsgatheredhere,
includingthe 2014 F-TYPE.
Theonlyissueiswiththehood.Rather
thanfoldingunderasolidtonneaucover
likethoseofitscontemporaryrivals,when
lowereditsitsprominentlyontherear
bulkhead.Itwasalreadyoldfashionedat
thetime–thetallroofpackruiningthe