There are two ways to celebrate finding an extra 39 horsepower in the performance version of a sports flagship. You can call it "improving the breed" and make it part of a mid-cycle "face-lift," or you can add a letter and make it the ultra ne plus ultra.
Jaguar chose the latter. It boosted the supercharged 5.0-liter V-8's 503 horsepower to 542, jacked up torque by 41 lb-ft to 502 lb-ft, freed up the speed limiter from 155 mph to 186 mph (a metric-round 300 km/h), and shaved 0.4 seconds off the 0-60 mph time, to 4.2. It lowered the ride height by 0.4 inches, stiffened the front suspension uprights, and raised spring rates by 28 percent front, 32 percent rear. This will cost you $35k-plus more than a garden-variety XKR coupe, the only bodystyle in which the XKR-S will be offered when it goes on sale this fall.In the sports car universe, the XKR-S is still a big-bore blown V-8 gran turismo. It's a car with horsepower, and especially, torque that surpasses the 10/10ths handling capabilities that could be judiciously used on the esses of Portugal's mountain roads. That's why Jaguar let us loose with a professional coach in the passenger seat on the Autodromo Internacional Algarve, an especially twisty, technical track with elevation changes and blind corners.
With its stiffened front uprights, the XKR-S gives you quick, crisp turn-in via its light-touch steering. With its active differential and the adaptive dynamics system in track mode, the tail can come out with injudicious use of the throttle. The right amount of throttle steer for quicker cornering happens only when you keep the car on the edge of oversteer with the weight of the tail shifting slightly to the outside of the corner. Overdrive it, and you'll scrub speed with a short lateral slide of the grippy rear tires.
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