Jaguar XK review: a decade-old grand tourer that is now a genuine bargain in Bahrain
3.5/5motorssouq Editorial Team
An XK bought today in Bahrain is a car for someone who wants a genuinely beautiful, V8-powered grand tourer and understands they are buying a fifteen-plus-year-old British luxury car, not a modern one. The naturally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 is smoother and more forgiving to own than the supercharged XKR, and a thorough pre-purchase inspection matters more than the asking price. Treat it as a project-adjacent purchase and it will reward you; treat it like a used family sedan and it will not.
Pros
- Ian Callum design still looks genuinely special next to modern rivals
- Naturally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 is smoother and cheaper to run than the XKR
- Aluminium body keeps weight and handling in proper grand-tourer territory
- Used prices in Bahrain make it a real bargain against anything comparable new
Cons
- Cabin technology and switchgear clearly show the car's age
- Parts and specialist support keep thinning as Jaguar exits combustion engines entirely
- No factory warranty remains on cars this old
- Back seats are token space, not usable for adults
Ian Callum designed the X150 XK, the same year he began the work that would define the XF and XJ that followed, and the family resemblance to those later cars is obvious in hindsight. The aluminium body was ahead of most rivals of its era, and the proportions — long bonnet, short front overhang, low roofline — still read as a proper grand tourer rather than a shrunken saloon.
V8 or XKR
The naturally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 fitted from 2009 produces 385 hp and is the sweeter engine to live with day to day: smoother power delivery, lower running costs and fewer supercharger-specific failure points than the XKR's forced-induction version. The XKR is faster and more dramatic, but Bahrain's speed limits rarely let that difference matter, and the extra complexity is extra risk on a car this age.
Cabin technology is where the XK shows its age most clearly: the touchscreen and switchgear feel every one of their years next to anything built in the last five, and the back seats are token space for bags rather than people. This was never meant to be a practical car, and it still is not one.
The real conversation before buying any XK in Bahrain today is parts and specialist support. Jaguar stopped building the model in 2014 and has since exited combustion engines altogether, so consumables that once came from a dealer now increasingly come from independent specialists or imported stock. A car with full service history from a known Jaguar workshop is worth paying a real premium for.