With the XKR, Jaguar is letting the beast out of the cage again, writes Nick Hall
Somehow I expected the wild horses to be more afraid. But as my big black cat screeched to a stop in the depths of the English Bodmin Moor, they simple meandered over for a closer look.
This is the home of the famous Beast of Bodmin, the mythical black cat. A few savaged sheep and grainy photos and a video of what looks like a housecat are the only real evidence it exists.
If it's surviving then it's certainly not thriving, there would be more proof if it was.
Jaguar has eked out a similarly slender existence in the less fashionable districts since the XJ6 dominated the fast-lane in the hands of company directors and gangsters alike. But the motoring press, underneath a healthy veneer of cynicism, has donned the rose-tinted spectacles with every new model. Every time, the brand's salvation was just around the corner - almost.
The XJ, XK and S-Type were too retro by far and the budget X-Type that was meant to ensnare the young crowd just didn't sell and came dangerously close to knocking the brand out of the luxury sector altogether. It was a horrible dilemma. They needed younger customers, they went for them and it almost killed them because we all knew it was a Ford Mondeo underneath.
They weren't bad cars, really, but the Beast of Bodmin would have stood a better chance in a straight fight with a combine harvester than Jaguar against the combined might of BMW, Mercedes and Audi over the past decade. As Jaguar stumbled, its rivals hit full stride and the war was all but lost.
Losses of almost €1 billion a year have been common since Ford took over and the Blue Oval has dug deep into its pockets to recapitalise the ailing British marque.
But this cannot continue forever, Ford is running out of money itself and is selling the family silver. Aston Martin will soon find a new home in the fire sale, an arrangement that seems to suit both parties. Jaguar, too, might soon be on its way, but before that can happen it has to stand on its own four feet.
This generation of cars has to provide a dramatic turnaround. And the early signs are good. Demand for the XKR outstrips supply and the car launched in a blaze of publicity is finally living up to the hype. The standard XK is good, the sharp-fanged XKR is brilliant.
And it is stunning to look at. The pictures don't do justice to the sheer imposing nature of this beast and it's so much sexier than its immediate rivals. Parked outside The Fox hotel in Dorset it was accused of being a Maserati and an Aston before they checked the badge and finally accepted its lineage. It's a bundled mass of muscle striding towards the horizon even at a standstill and those contrasting side vents work like a storm. Even the squared front lip spoiler makes perfect sense in the flesh and the giant wheels, sloping rear and gigantic haunches create a vision of pure power.
Which it is. With 420bhp on offer from the supercharged 4.2-litre V8, it will hit 60mph in 4.9 seconds, despite carrying more than 1,730kg on those broad hips. With the electronic limiter removed it could probably bust through the magic 200mph mark and it charges through the gears on the automatic box, which of course comes with optional paddle shifts. It's not quite the sportscar that its stablemate, the AMV8, can claim to be, but it's far more comfortable and arguably the better all-rounder.
With Aston going away, the glass ceiling is coming off Jaguar and there may even be a hotter version on the way. The company is going sportscar racing in the European GT3 Series and the stripped out motorsport version of the XKR would have punters queuing round the block.
But for now this one is more comfortable, much more refined and almost as quick. It's so much cheaper, too, that this has to be the better car.
There's more good news, too, as now Jaguar has finally caught up, its rivals have started to falter. Mercedes has lost its reputation for tank-like build quality, BMW has gone off in a strange direction aesthetically and its M cars are a technical minefield that could baffle even the Playstation generation while Audi is turning out machines that are technically excellent yet seem to have bypassed the styling department altogether.
As its rivals falter, Jaguar could reclaim the momentum and is going full tilt for the throat. This is one big black cat that shouldn't just survive, it should take over the countryside and rip the throat out of the opposition.
Forget the false dawns, Jaguar is back in business.