2006 Jaguar XKR - 26,000 miles

Utterly gorgeous is the general consensus at The Market of this particular example. We believe that you’ll really have to look long and hard to find one that comes close.

Presented in a lovely colour combination of Frost Blue with Ivory leather interior, its later 4.2-litre engine (the problem-free one) and automatic ZF gearbox combine to deliver a must-have specification.

The V5 shows five former keepers, but it must be noted that the last two are from the same family – so in essence it’s had four.

Documents in the history file confirm that it’s covered less than 1000 miles over the last few years – and also confirm the low mileage of 26,737 as genuine – with the current owner taking it out now and again to keep it ‘ticking over’. 

His son spent a long time searching for the best example he could find before settling on this car, and seller David says that he was a very fastidious owner.

It’s had a recent MOT carried out, so isn’t due a ticket renewal until this time next year. There were of course no advisories.

Look at it – I mean just look at it. If you think our pictures do justice to the car, then roll the video and you can see it’s almost without flaw. Those stunning long flanks are unmarked and absolutely ripple free, while the rest of the body is factory straight. The paintwork has a lustrous, deep shine and shows off the XKR’s sinuous and fluid curves to their absolute maximum. Plastic body parts can be prone to fading, but it’s clear that this example hasn’t spent much storage time outside of a cosseting garage. Up front the supercharge-indicative steel mesh grill insert is still as good as new.

Door, bonnet and boot shut lines remain spot on, and open any to find super clean, dirt and dust free metal. In fact the only minor flaw we can find is a tiny scrape above the n/s exhaust tailpipe – even then it hasn’t broken the paint surface, and we had get our microscope out to note it.

The 15-spoke 20” Jaguar alloy wheels are scuff-free and each good enough to remove and hang on your wall as a modern art installation, if you so wished. Each wears an almost unworn Avon ZZ3 tyre.

What is the XKR’s best view: muscular rear end, front three quarter or long and elegant side profile? We still can’t decide. What we do know is that we can’t stop looking at it.

Who says that the last truly classic British car interior appeared in the Sixties? Pop your head inside here and such outlooks are firmly put to bed. Just as with the exterior, the mixture of thick Ivory leather, glorious light-toned wood and an aluminium instrument pack is again perhaps the XKR’s best combination. Hell even that scourge of modern classics, the black plastics, are kept to a minimum and manage to remain relatively discreet.

There’s a bit of light creasing on the outer bolster of the driver’s Recaro sports seat, but other than that all the leather (and there’s a bloomin’ heck of a lot of it – at least four cow’s worth) remains blemish free. Look up and you’ll find mark-free headlining, while the leather sports steering wheel and Momo gear knob sitting in that so Jaguar J-gate are both excellent.

As you can see from our video, it fires with a gruff induction roar and settles into a steady idle with no warning lights illuminated on the dashboard. All electrics function as they should and that simple dashboard mounted clock is elegance personified. The in-built SatNav is even more rubbish than it was in the day, but nice to see the CD still in the boot.

We note that a small patch of headlining above the driver has started to sag slightly.

Blip the loud pedal and you’ll hear the beginnings of that familiar high-pitched supercharger induction whine, while at the rear you get the significantly meatier output of the quad tailpipes – imagine that at full chat, as you annihilate standard road fare.

The heart of the beast sits in all its menacing glory underneath the bonnet. If the words supercharged and V8 emblazoned on it don’t get your blood going then please check your pulse. As elsewhere it’s clean in here, with no evidence of any leaks or visual signs of any perishing of cooling system hoses or fuel lines.

The undercarriage is solid, with the factory stonechip still in place. There is a light coating of surface corrosion here and there on some suspension components and brackets. This appears very minor and commensurate with a car of this age and mileage. That said it might be a good time for the next owner to spend a little time having it cleaned up and re-sealed. The sill bottoms and floor pans all look good, as does the exhaust system.

All the original handbooks come with the vehicle, including warranty documents, service book and the various operating instruction manuals. The vehicle identification page is stamped, showing Stratstones Jaguar of Derby sold the car to its first owner on June 26, 2006.

The service book shows seven Jaguar main dealer stamps, with the next one then carried by an independent specialist. There are many past MOT certificates with no advisories present through the years.

Also included is a previous for sale advert when the car had then covered 13,500 miles, and was being sold by Sturgess Jaguar in Leicester. This lists the XKR’s key features and standard equipment, unless you’re already unaware that this beauty comes absolutely fully loaded.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of this and other paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to a very high standard.

It’s a remarkable job working at The Market; interesting cars come and go, putting temptation before you on a daily basis – and none more so than this one. It really is a superb example of the breed and one that requires no outlay on it.

It’s clear from this XKR’s condition that each of its owners have treated it with the utmost respect, and from the history file it can also be derived that it’s only ever required providing with servicing and consumables.

As a later 4.2-litre example you’re completely free of the Nikasil-bore issues of the smaller engined variants, and likewise the six-speed ZF gearboxes are more resilient than the earlier Mercedes-Benz sourced units.

Interest and prices for this generation XK and XKR have solidified in recent years and the very best cars now fetch very good money. It is utterly gorgeous in every way, and drives so tightly that it almost feels like a new car. We’ve put the estimate at between £15,000-£20,000 and think it could comfortably get to the top end of that.

What is clear is that the next custodian of this XKR will be getting a superb, low mileage example, in perhaps the best combination of exterior and interior colours.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.

If needed, please remember we have a network of trusted suppliers we work with regularly and can recommend: Classic & Sportscar Finance for purchase-financing, Thames Valley Car Storage for storing your car, AnyVan for transporting it, and Footman James for classic car insurance.

BORING, but IMPORTANT: Please note that whilst we at The Market always aim to offer the most descriptive and transparent auction listings available, we cannot claim they are perfect analyses of any of the vehicles for sale. We offer far greater opportunity for bidders to view, or arrange inspections for each vehicle thoroughly prior to bidding than traditional auctions, and we never stop encouraging bidders to take advantage of this. We do take a good look at the vehicles delivered to our premises for sale, but this only results in our unbiased personal observations, not those of a qualified inspector or other professional, or the result of a long test drive.

Additionally, please note that most of the videos on our site have been recorded using simple cameras which often result in 'average' sound quality; in particular, engines and exhausts notes can sound a little different to how they are in reality.