Is the Jaguar F your type of car?
The F Type R is powered by a beautiful 5.0 Litre V8 supercharged petrol engine that produces a whopping 550hp, and accelerates from 0 to 62 mph in 4 seconds and has a top speed well in excess of our 70mph maximum speed limit in the UK (over 180mph).
The long bonnet is reminiscence of the E Type and some of its lines are also a bit E Type-ish. The side swage lines are crisp and purposeful and it is every bit a Jaguar, true to its heritage and true to its name. The rear spoiler keeps the rear end firmly pushed to the ground at higher speeds and the large spoiler under the front grille ensures the car does not try and lift off. The whole car is perfectly balanced, with the engine at the front, and the driving wheels at the rear the weight distribution is fairly even.
When you press the starter button, the engine leaps into action and the engine and exhausts give out a massive roar. In fact there’s probably too much noise on start-up, certainly too noisy according to my neighbours so I tried to avoid coming or going at unsociable hours. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about the loudness of the car, it just does it automatically, but passers-by think you are doing it on purpose to prove a point or simply show-off although you aren’t, but try explaining that at 6:30 in the morning. If you live in a large detached house, with a long gravel drive, with the nearest neighbour half-a-mile away, then you would probably get away with it but on an estate, then you won’t; I speak from experience. Having said all that the noise the “R” makes is simply fantastic, it burbles and throbs like a true large engine, powerful sports car should, it’s a masterpiece in engine technology and noise.
The car we had on test was brilliant white with red and black leather, the perfect combination for this car. It had contrast stitching which looked fantastic and the seats are shaped to hold you firmly in place. The whole of the interior, though only small was oozing with luxury and quality. But with this F Type being the convertible it is only a two-seater with no room at all behind the seats, but for two occupants there was plenty of room.
The boot is tiny with not much room for anything just a few small bags of shopping, that’s about all. Golfers will struggle to squeeze their club bag in, but I guess most who buy this sort of car, will have a Range Rover sat on the drive alongside the Jaguar for activities such such as going to the Golf Club or on holiday. People don’t buy this sort of super-sports car for space, they buy them for the pure exhilaration of all that wonderful power.
Power though can catch you out. No matter how many systems the manufacturer puts into a car to get you out of trouble. Before you get into it, there will always be times when road surfaces even catch the most sophisticated systems out. This happened to me a couple of times. Not my fault… honest. I put my foot on the accelerator in a normal way, not too much, just enough to set off. The road was slightly damp, not soaking wet and the car, much to my amazement, pushed the back end out by a couple of feet. It soon got itself back into shape, but slightly worrying for a couple of seconds until it sorted itself out. You really do have to be ultra-careful in this type of car. The slightest mistake and the wrong surface and it’s off, the backend skips out and your heart skips a beat. I guess if you were lucky enough to have advanced training, preferably on a track out of harm’s way then you could easily get used to the power and train yourself on what you can do and more importantly what you can’t.
There is however an AWD version offered for an additional cost of £4620.00 over the standard rear wheel drive. Through my experience and the need to feel safer I would happily pay this extra money.
All that power from the 550ps V8 engine is connected to a super-smooth 8 speed automatic gearbox, a manual is not offered. This gearbox changes up and down so quickly and reassuringly. When you do go down the gears using the paddle shift, it makes the most gorgeous sound that certainly makes pedestrians stop and look and in a few instances, they shook their heads in annoyance and you could almost hear what they were muttering to themselves.
The official combined fuel consumption figure for our test car was 26.4 mpg, but during the time we had the car, we achieved just over 21mpg and we did treat it with kid gloves and didn’t try and do anything silly in it, such as go above the speed limit. In this sort of car you are asking for trouble if you do the slightest thing wrong. The CO2 emission figure is 255g/km and I'm sure many at the Global Warming Summit in Paris recently would have a thing or two to say about this car, and it wouldn't be too complimentary I guess. But everybody can’t run about in super-efficient, low emission, high MPG cars...or can they? Some will say they have to, others with money and fuel to burn will say not. But over the last couple of years, there has been a huge step forward in making these super cars cleaner, with super-car manufacturers having to “clean up their act” just like other manufacturers.
The F Type R is a stunning looking car from every angle, it is all in proportion, no matter where you view it from. The interior is exquisite, with good use of leather and fine metals and some lovely stitching, not I imagine carried out by the ladies in the sewing room any more but more likely a very expensive machine.
The noise it makes is fantastic, but you do need to be aware that it can frighten small children, dogs.....and neighbours. But it’s brilliant that manufacturers, especially British ones, can still produce such cars, that many of us find exhilarating and music to our ears, simply brilliant.
The Jaguar F Type is the modern day version of the classic E Type and the value of these original sports cars continue to climb and will no doubt do so for the foreseeable future. But will the F Type ever be seen as a classic and in years to come be a collectable, desirable classic? Well who knows, we didn’t think when the E Type was in its infancy that it would one day became a collector piece, but then we didn’t think that about the humble Ford Escort either.
The price of the Jaguar F Type R starts from £86,240.00 OTR for a coupe and go up to £96,575.00 for the AWD Convertible. Ear plugs can be purchased from any good chemists for around £2.
Martin Ward, Manufacturer Relationship Manager