AK GENT te Slay

THE XK@'s styling borrows obvious styling traits from the famous 1961 XKE — the oval shaped grilie,
fenders, upswept tall section, and its long hood/short rear-deck design. Test drive the new Jag at MCL

{convertible)

Base price: $89,900
(cuupe)

Type: two-door, four-pas-
senger convertible
Layout: longitudinal front
engine /rear-wheel-drive
Engine: 4.0-litre V8,
DOHC, 32 valves
Horsepower: 290 @
6,100 rpm

Torque: 290 @ 4250 rpm
Transmission: five-speed
automatic 4k
Curb weight: 1,754 ke
(3,867 hd

Wheelbase: 2,588 mm
(101.9 in.)

The way we see it, why build a steaight roof when you can build a perfectly good crooked one? — colured trails of auramn. Or, perlisps more important,
It’s something up to seven passengers in the Land Rover Discovery will truly apprecinte.
Wich the elevated roof and stadiunitike seating, passengers in the rear have ample head-
roown. And the opportunity to look at more than the back of the front seat.
Much ntore, in fact. The Discovery has the nest windows of any dx4, which provides
optimum visibility whether you're driving up a spiraling raving or dawn the muld-

THE XK&8 is Jaguar’s
first new sports car in
21 years, and like the
XJS before it, it’s an
opulentally-equipped,
rear-wheel-drive Grand
Touring machine with a
price to match.

The market for expensive
2+2 luxury performance cars
has been dwindling in recent
years, so it will be interesting
to see if Jaguar can revive this
market niche. The XK8 con-
vertible is $97,900 while the
coupe is priced at $89,900.

One thing the XK8 has in
its favor is its convertible body
style. Though available as a
coupe and convertible, the

convertible is expected to be
the big seller, even though it’s
more expensive,

There are three reasons for
this: there are no other four-
passenger, V8-powered GT
ragtops in this price range;
convertibles hold their value
better; and sports car buyers
still prefer the top-down,

DISCOVERY

wind-in-the-hair performance
of a convertible sports car.
The XK&’s styling borrows
obvious styling traits from the
famous 1961 XKE — the oval
shaped grille, longitudinal
power hump in the center of
the hood, rounded fenders,
upswept tail section, and its
long hood/short rear deck
design. But concessions were
made to safety and practicality,
such as the bumper supports
in the middle of the grille, and
the large, lower rear bumper.
The result is an attractive
and sporty design, but not a
knock-me-dead styling exercise
like the XKE was, The sad fact
is, the design of the original
XKE would never stand up to
today’s mandatory crash tests

fn a torrential downpour.
And since the Diseevery is nade by Lari Rover, a company dedicated solely to building
‘Lxds lor the Jast 50 years, everything about iti

Fenn its roof all the way down to its nnd flaps.

Why not tike one aut for a test drive? And instend of just looking into it, took out of it.

MCL Motor Cars (1992) INC. 1730 BuRRARD STREET, VANCOUVER 738-5577

wae at

or

AY

i

and structural safety standards,

The XK8 has Jaguar’s first
V8 engine and five-speed
automatic transmission. The
new Jaguar-designed 4.0-litre
V8 engine has four overhead
camshafts, four valves per
cylinder, and pumps out 290
horsepower at 6,100 rp.m.
and 290 foot ibs. of torque at
4,250 rpm. This is a smooth,
torquey engine with good bor-
tom-end and top-end perfor-
mance, Its wonderful versatili-
ty allows you to manage stop-
and-go city traffic, cruise
effortlessly on the freeway, or
tackle the Whistler highway
with power to spare.

The five-speed automatic
transmission with automatical-
ly-adapting shift points offers

Th Flooks fa dd pa like a mistake. But not from the inside.
‘ne root locks funny, odd, strange, ¢

switching lanes on at busy interstate.

s superbly and thoughtfully designed.

Photo submitted

longitudinal power hump in the center of the hood, rounded
Motors, 1730 Burrard St., Vancouver (738-5577).

great performance too, but
oh, what I could do with a
manual transmission in this
car, Alas, one is not offered.

Typical of Jaguar sparts |
cars and sedans, is che XK8’s
terrific handling. Chalk this up
to good vehicle weight distrib-
ution, a low centre of gravity, a
fully-independent suspension,
and super sticky Pirelli P-Zero
245/50ZR-17 inch radials on
alloy wheels,

The XK8 offers a fun-to-

See Jag page 5%

Gary Speranza says...
“T don’t just do YW’s, |
I specialize in ‘A |
make’ leasing!”

Conserve
your
casi!

Ist and last payment

on new and used
vehicles (O.A.C.)

|.° 93 Pasaai:
° 94 Gol!

For lease quote or
details cali Garry

985-0694
GAPHLANG Wi