Jaguar XK Review
Published: 23rd July 2007
Jaguar XK
Safety and Security 
The Jaguar XK is equipped with all the normal safety equipment including Traction Control, Stability Control, Anti-Lock Brakes, driver and passenger, front and side airbags but no curtain airbags.
Jaguar’s Protect Dynamic Headrest System is fitted as standard, which is designed to minimise whiplash injuries in the event of an impact from behind, by automatically pushing the headrest forwards to support the head and reduce the risk of injuries to the neck.
Although the XK has ISOfix child-seat fixings in both rear seats, plus a top tether fixing point, it is very hard to find a child seat that fits. Our seat did fit but took away too much passenger legroom for comfort; we also felt that the top tether was too far forward for our seat.
The XK is fitted with a Thatcham category 1 alarm system with microwave intrusion sensing, door protection and tilt-sensing to detect the vehicle being opened, jacked up or moved.
Comfort and Refinement
At the centre of the XK’s dashboard is a 7” touch screen which controls the main comfort functions of the car, such as the climate controlled air-conditioning, telephone, Satellite Navigation and audio settings. Although it is pretty straight forward to use, it does take some time to get used to it. Fortunately some of the controls are replicated on the steering wheel and on the dashboard.
The windscreen wipers are rain sensitive and the headlights are light sensitive, so when either function is switched to automatic mode it will respond to rain or darkness respectively, although it is also possible, of course, to control the wipers and lights manually.
Bi-Xenon headlights are standard and are extremely effective, we suffered from patchy fog during the daytime and they helped cut through it. Our test car was also fitted with Active Front Lighting System (£430) which automatically swivels the dipped beam lenses in the direction of travel. It works very well and vision around corners is improved but at first it can make you feel a little sick. At low speeds or when you indicate a separate beam comes on to light up the side of the car in the direction you are turning.
Cruise Control is standard allowing the driver to set a fixed speed via the steering wheel mounted controls, with the usual accelerate, coast and resume functions. Optional (£995) Adaptive Cruise Control was fitted to our car which uses microwave radar technology to monitor the road ahead and automatically reduce speed if traffic conditions make it necessary. It normally reduces speed simply by reducing power, but if necessary (for instance if another car pulls sharply into your path on a motorway) it will also use the brakes to slow down more quickly. The gap to the vehicle in front is based on time, so as your speed increases, so does the gap. It is possible to manually adjust the gap to three levels using the steering wheel control; ultimately we weren’t too happy with the length of the gap. At 70 mph it felt too close for comfort but it did work, even to the point of bringing the car to a near halt before human interaction was requested in a carefully controlled simulation.
As part of the Adaptive Cruise Control package you can switch on Forward Alert which warns you of potential collisions. When approaching another vehicle or other obstacle it continuously estimates the braking effort required to avoid it. If the distance available falls below the safe threshold, Forward Alert sounds an audible warning prompting the driver to take appropriate action.
