Teamspeed First Drive: 2013 Jaguar F-TYPE
Type Approval
Text by Richard Aucock - Teamspeed Contributing Editor

What is it?
The new Jaguar sports car to take on the Porsche 911.

Why should I care?
The new E-Type has been four decades in the making but it looks like the wait has been worth it…

How fast and how much?
3.0 V6: 340hp @ 6,500rpm, 332lb ft @ 3,500-5,000rpm 0-62mph 5.3secs, V-max 161mph, MRSP $69,000

3.0 V6 S: 380 hp @ 6,500rpm, 339lb ft @ 3,500-5,000rpm 0-62mph 4.9secs, V-max 171mph, MRSP $81,000

5.0 V8 S: 495hp @ 6,500rpm, 460lb ft @ 2,500-5,500rpm 0-62mph 4.3secs, V-max 186mph, MRSP $92,000

It’s the car we’ve waited four decades for. The car Jaguar should have built eons ago. The car we thought would, because of so many dashed hopes, never become reality. But, as B follows A, so F follows E: the Jaguar F-Type is finally here to at last replace the most legendary Jaguar there’s ever been.

And what a beauty it is too. Seriously: new cars can have a habit of hiding their strong shapes and complexity in images. So much is down to how the light plays on the 3D sculpture that 2D just can’t do justice to. So it is with the F-Type. We’re seeing it for the first time away from the show stand, camouflage tape removed, and it looks great.

Chief designer Ian Callum says he didn’t have an E-Type in the design studio because there was no need: we all know what it looks like, he said, all know what the key styling cues are. And so the F-Type pays passing reference to it, most notably in that long clamshell-style bonnet and set-back cockpit, but is never retro. Even the undercut to the rear is forward-looking rather than a pastiche.

You’re thus in a positive frame of mind when you tug the unusual but neat retractable doorhandles (no dirty fingertips here). This is reinforced when you drop down, low down, into well-bolstered and firmly supportive seats. Legs stretch far ahead, the steering wheel’s positioned just so, Jaguar’s most interesting and effective interior design in decades is driver-orientated and utterly charming.

So you press the starter button and the dream that was extinguished when the E-Type died back in 1973 is brought bang back to life.

Which type of F?

There are three flavours of F-Type. In the interests of research, we drove all three. It’s a hard life. There’s nothing hard luck about the basic 340hp 3.0-litre supercharged V6 model, though. If this is the only F-Type you ever drive, you won’t be disappointed. It makes a great noise, all high-tech V6 wail and rude exhaust pipe blare, and has a great slug of torque to ensure performance is easily accessed.

Wring it to the redline and it’s ultimately not quite as fast as you’d wish (despite being made entirely from aluminium, the F-Type still weighs 1600kg) but it’s good enough. It’s entirely uncompromised by using an eight-speed automatic instead of the six-speed manual some yearn for, too: drive this sublime ZF transmission and you shouldn’t want for any other setup. It shifts fast, the paddles are quick-witted and is always both immediate and slack-free.

Next up was the 380hp V6 S. 40hp doesn’t sound a huge jump up but Jaguar hasn’t stopped with just the power boost: the S also gets a limited-slip rear diff, bigger brakes, Adaptive Dynamics suspension – basically, enough to make it much the more focused vehicle. You should be able to sense this just from starting it up, with the noise being decidedly harder and more prominent.

Indeed, the noise from the twin centre-exit exhausts is exceptional, all high-tech howl and splattering on overrun. And unlike the standard V6, its performance doesn’t slightly disappoint either. You have to rev it through but it gives back so much to make this worthwhile, delivering blinding performance and a racecar-like feeling of inertia-free alacrity. You really shouldn’t want for any more; 171mph and 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds is fine, right?

But then there’s the V8. All 5.0-litres and 495hp of it (that’s 115hp more than the V6 S!). This is the animal of the range and sounds it from the moment it explodes into action. This trades the modern, higher-pitched, higher-tech sound effects of the V6 for a far more guttural and gasoline-spitting noise. The deep whap-whap rumble from the quad exhausts will explode very rapidly into the distance too: this is a blindingly fast machine. The 186mph max is limited, 4.2 seconds to 62mph is surely traction-limited.

The jury’s out on whether you can have too much, though. No doubting the V8 is a monster, all surging thrust and tyre-challenging twist. It’s often hard to use it all, though, and you’re often aware on how you are consciously holding yourself back. Far less of that in the V6 S, which can be driven in a way the hold-on-and-hope V8 S can’t deliver. You’ll be happy with either. Just for different reasons. But one, to us, seems to complement the F-Type more naturally than the other…

A true Jag

We know the basics: the rear-drive platform is XK-derived, shortened for its new application but still with a more favourable wheelbase-to-length ratio. What’s not revealed here is the amount of work Jaguar has done on the details. It’s far, far from simply a rebodied XK – indeed, the XKR-S GT low-volume special is actually benefitting from the reverse-engineering of F-Type details, such is the degree of honing that’s gone on here.

Even in its most basic guise, it’s Jaguar’s sportiest car ever (it’s 30% sportier than the XKR-S, no less). It’s pointy, agile, very well balanced, beautifully damped and sporting in feel. There’s not quite the power in the 340hp car to really challenge it but the passive open-diff setup is still enough for most. It’s significant that it is the only F-Type like this, though: the expected best-selling S models are notably more focused and preferable.

They’re also more talented and come with a deeper set of attributes, too. Because Adaptive Dynamics is just that, the body control over all types of road surface is appreciably better. Poise is keener, attitude in bends more focused, with both models flowing through corners with considerable finesse.

The fastest steering rack ever fitted to a Jaguar also impresses with its feel, subtlety and feedback (helped no end by being hydraulic rather than electric) while the three levels of brake are all powerful and ample. You don’t need any more than the High Performance in the V6 S on the V6 S… but may find the V8 S’ brawn sees you relying on its Super Performance anchors rather too often…

Overall, while all are talented, it’s the S cars that have the real depth of talent, and the V6 S that has the all-round balance of pace and tenacity. This will be the keenest competition for a Porsche 911 – and the fact we’re already willing to compare the two shows what a good job Jaguar’s done here.

Cockpit drill

It’s good inside too, certainly more interesting and (whisper it) more premium in feel than the Porsche. Cowled dials, asymmetric dash, wonderful steering wheel and that super-feel pistol-grip gearshifter all win showroom praise that good ergonomics and fine attention to detail carries through onto the road.

There are several different sorts of seats and all are very firm and sculptural, while the choice of dash trim materials is myriad and will require as much time as you’ll spend choosing the exterior colour and trim. At least one of the standout details is easy: only the S F-Types get the orange metallic-coloured starter button and gearshift paddles, making the latter feel a bit more upmarket than the standard car’s plastic paddles. Pity they’re not real metal, though.

As for space, this is a strict two-seater, with lots of room for occupants but a little less for oddments. The roof folds down fast (and the canvass top can be operated on the move, too), and doesn’t compromise boot space when it’s lowered. Good job: the boot is tiny, very much designed around the car’s aluminium structure rather than the luggage people may want to carry in it. A rare F-Type black mark (although you’ll forgive it a little when you spot the washer bottle filler nozzle near the trunk lid – yes, Jaguar’s put the washer bottle in the back, for better weight distribution…).

Worth the wait?

Safe to say, it performs. It’s great to drive, through being great across the board. It’s a driver’s car that comes in sufficient flavours to please all drivers, from meek to madcap. We’d have the V6 S but if you disagree and sign up for the V8 S, we wouldn’t blame you. It’s just nice to get the choice.

Is it a fitting E-Type successor, though? Has it been worth the wait? Does it restore Jaguar to the top table of the sports car sector it helped invent more than half a century ago?

Well, yes. Breathe a sigh of relief, Jag fans. The enthusiasts at the company have won through and delivered the car they’ve dreamed about. One worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as the E-Type, and certainly worth measuring against a Porsche 911. The sports car sector, at last, has an interesting new contender.

We’ve had to wait far, far too long for the F-Type. But at least it’s been worth it.

 

Seeing as how the 911 Cabriolet (and even the Boxster) kill this thing around a track, the comparison between Jaguar and Porsche is somewhat ill-suited. It's better to look at this car as a beautiful GT with an amazing exhaust note.

 

Thanks for the detailed write up DJ.

I have personally driven both the V6S and the V8S. Jaguar did an amazing job with the F type. Their main goal was to build car car can be be driven every day and on the track when needed. And, i think they hit the nail in the head firmly. One must drive it, to really understand the car's composition.

Mahazar is correct Porsche being superior on the track. Although, the 1 second difference may be enough to drive enthusiasts away, while it won't make much difference to some as most driver never actually push their cars to their limits.

Interestingly enough, the new Corvette instrumented data was just published and it out accelerates the Vette both from 0-60 and in 1/4 mile.

They reached the 0-60 mph mark in 3.6 with the F type V8S.

http://media.caranddriver.com/files/...gray-specs.pdf

 

F-Type coupe pics just leaked! Looks amazing!!! Very british!! Next Bond car for sure!

 

R version available from now on.... 550ps! What a car!