Arden Tuned 2010 Jaguar XKR Convertible

Talk about strange bedfellows. Arden, a German tuning firm, has taken a crack at that most British of marques, Jaguar. Tuning can be fun, and it's always kind of interesting to see what tuners think a car "needs". A lot of time, tuners think that what a car is lacking is a horrid body kit and some repulsive wheels.

So, here's what Arden does to the 2010 Jag convert. They dig another 30 horses out of the new 5.0-liter supercharged V8 and a further 50 Nm of torque, brining the final numbers up to 540 horsepower and 675 Nm (498 lb-ft) o'grunt. Thankfully (in some respects), they've also added sport suspension, new shocks and dropped the electronic speed limiter.

They've also had a run at the outside, seeing fit to add a handmade and chrome-plated stainless steel grille and air-intakes. At the back there is a nominal diffuser that also incorporates the tail pipes, which are the shiny end of Arden's new sport exhaust system. And, natch, there's a new set of 21-inch Sportline alloys that look completely out of place.

You know what they could have added? About a thousand pounds less weight to the car. Jaguars used to be wonderful little slips of cars, with light alloy bodywork hand formed by old British gents in cottages or some such. When did they turn into these boulevardiers? I know they are, technically speaking, sportscars, but do they even make a lightweight version of any of their cars?

And if so, someone tell me just how light it is, because if it's much over 2200 pounds, they need a rethink.

Jag needs to put out a can about the size of an RX-8 that weighs as little as possible. What blocks do they have sitting around? Sadly, there's no straight sixes around, I can tell you that. That's what a car like that would call for. A four, taking one of the 8s and halving it is a bad idea ... oh well someone get on this.

England needs something like an E-Type again.

Source: CarScoop. Photos from Flckr users bobfranklin, Davidmag and wallyg.