I scored a $200 Gore Bikewear XCR jacket off of Ebay for about $70. It's 100% waterproof, no doubt, but I've used it for the past few months commuting over an hour, five days/week in Southern Maine. Considering a garbage bag is also waterproof, a $200 jacket had better add a whole lot to justify the hype.
This particular jacket may be just a bad model, I haven't tried their other jackets, pants, or booties.
The fit of the XCR Century jacket was awful. I'd say a size small would probably best fit a shorter person like Mike Tyson. The neck opening was cavernous. This allows rain and wind enter in. Many other jackets have a more realiztic cut or at least the feature a neck shock cord to snug the opening. I had to use the zip on hoods drawcords rigged around the neck to serve this function. Other jackets add on softer material around the collar, but the Century is just bare Gortex.
The arms are also cut way too wide. It feels like you're wearing a poncho. Any wind billows the arms out and makes you look like you're a skydiver, flapping and puffing out. They aren't even articulated as many comparably priced bike-specific jackets are.
Second, this has to be the most featureless $200 rain jacket on the market. No alternative form of ventilation. No pit zips, no baffles, no vents.
Most jackets designed for a commuting cyclist would include cheap, easy extras like large zippers pulls, something you need if you have any intention of using the main zipper, rear zipper, or pocket zips while riding. The Gore jacket has those tiny pulls that only a small childs hands could grasp.
Strangely, although it's waterproof, it still seems to be ineffective as a windblocker. The one good feature probably included out of necessity was the mesh lining. This goes a long way towards allowing some airflow and evaporation at the skin level.
I got this jacket as a replacement for a Showers Pass Century jacket make out of Pertex. The fit of the Showers Pass jacket was perfect. It has enough room for baselayers, but still trim. It has both a waist and neck drawcord. It had a soft high collar. It had pitzips that were smartly positioned so that even when opened, they wouldn't get flooded with run-off water. The only problem was that the pertex material was a sauna, no vapor permeability. I returned it and am going to try their Event fabric Elite jacket. Although with winter on us, I'll probably have to wait four months till I'll use it.