Driven: Jaguar F-Type

 

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In 1961, British car manufacturer Jaguar created one of the most revolutionizing cars, the E-Type. This was a car that made everybody crazy. It caused people to splash the cash even after only seeing it at a motor show. The design, performance and quality was way ahead of its time, no wonder why it appealed to so many. A lot has happened in the meantime though. It has been over half a century since then and have we barely seen a Jag shine as hard as the E-type must have done those days. However, don’t leave in a strop just yet,  Jaguar made a good deal with Tata Motors. Give Jaguar more money, and good things start to happen.

They call it the Jaguar F-Type, and the good news is, we’ve driven it! All three of them! 

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PERFORMANCE

9/10

The Jaguar F-Type may look small, but don’t take it for a midget, because if anything, it’s got to be one of the most powerful cars (less than £100K) on the market! And what sort of punch does it pack under the hood? Well, the Jaguar F-Type comes with 3 different engines, a 3.0-liter V6,  3.0-liter Supercharged V6 and an absolutely mad 5.0-liter Supercharged V8 .

V6

The 3.0-liter V6 is the most sensible out of the bunch, it doesn’t crackle, pop and fart as much as the other two, it’s the more mature and grown up one out of the lot. However, that doesn’t mean it can’t kill most cars off the line at a traffic light grand-prix.  The 3.0-liter V6 packs 335 horsepower and 330 lb-ft torque, which is quite adequate in this day and age of ridiculous horsepower figures. However, if you’re planning to be a complete yob with the least powerful engine out the bunch, expect to hit 60 mph front naught in just 5.1 seconds and a top speed of 161 mph. All-in-all, the V6 is a good engine, but it’s just missing that X-Factor, it doesn’t have as much character as the other two.

 

HANDLING

The Jaguar F-Type features double-wishbone suspension at the front and rear with adaptive dampers and fully adjustable suspensions settings to keep the geekiest of drivers happy. As well as tinkering and tweaking the suspension settings, the F-Type has a total of 25 different driving mods to suit all road conditions and driving styles. On the road, it feels very different to most cars today, the V6 is the cruiser out of the bunch, adequate performance and handling, just a car you can use everyday.

The V6 S isn’t so subtle, we think it’s the perfect blend between handling and horsepower, think of it as a ‘handling to horsepower ratio’, it’s just the perfect amount, you know exactly what the car wants to do every time you go around a corner. The V8 S on the other hand is much more different. That ‘handling to horsepower ratio’ just doesn’t matter with this car because if anything, it has more horsepower than it can actually handle, this car will drift at any given second, it’ll spin its tires in third gear if you push it hard enough! The ultimate hooning car!

EXTERIOR

10/10

It seems the F-Type has to live up to a lot seeing as its predecessor, the E-Type, was a design success back in the 1960’s.. In fact, even Enzo Ferrari himself said that the E-Type was the most beautiful car ever made. Forward to 2013 and we have the F-Type, is it a design success? Is it a car that a high-ranking founder from another manufacturer say it’s the most beautiful car ever made? Well, in this day and age of rivalry and hatred, we don’t think so, but to our  eye, it has the potential to put Aston Martin’s to shame. 

It has the same key design elements from the E-Type, such as the long bonnet, big shoulders and distinctive taillights. All-in-all, it just looks like Jaguar done an absolutely epic job on modernizing that old brute.

After that, the similarities end, the F-Type is absolutely brand new from the ground up, and the higher you go with the engines, the better the exterior gets. The V6 and V6 S just about only have rim sizes to set them apart, but once you get onto the V8 S, you get some mean black rims, unique S badging (also on V6 S) and quad tailpipes instead of the usual two, which obviously helps that beatly V8 breath.

Don’t get confused though, this may be only slightly bigger than a Boxster, but it is no Boxster rival. If it was, the Boxster would be put to shame in no time. Despite the size, this car is actually a Porsche 911 rival, though it’s hard to believe, Jaguar have almost cracked it.

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INTERIOR

8/10

The interior makes the F Type look bigger than it is. It incorporates details from its big daddy, the XJ, and the odd thing is, it fits very well! The seats are very different to other Jags as they are very supporting sport seats that hold you in place very well while blasting around a corner. The vents are electronically funcioned like the XF, only instead of flipping around they now rise up from the dash, a bit like Audi’s sound system.

The leather used on the interior is very high quality, almost Bentley like. When you look at a roadster, and then you’er about to climb in, only one thing goes through your head, “Will I fit?”, but this is no MX-5, almost anyone can get in to an F-Type and go.

VERDICT

10/10

Hmm, what do we think of the F-Type? We have absolutely no objections to it, we just can’t seem to think of any negatives about this car. Well done Jaguar, we look forward to seeing the Coupe soon!

Jaguar’s Mouth Watering Project 7 Concept

Jaguar just revealed a F-Type variant of every racers dreams, the Project 7. It’s in concept form, and it’s an utter shame that it’s only been created to wow the crowds at the Festival of Speed. Yep, you guessed it, it’s another one-off!

It’s becoming quite annoying how Jaguar are failing to give us cars that us petrol-heads actually want, such as the C-X75, that is a supercar that belongs on the road, but Jaguar will keep it caged up.

The Project 7 Concept is based on the F-Type Roadster, and looks like a modern day successor of the Jaguar D-Type.

Based on the F-Type Roadster, the Jaguar Project 7 (the name refers to Jaguar’s seven Le Mans triumphs) is strictly a one-off design study designed to wow the crowds at the Festival of Speed.

The amazing thing is, that Jaguar’s designers actually turned it from sketch, to reality in just four-months, which is pretty impressive!

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It features a new carbon-fibre front-splitter, side skirts and a rear diffuser. The windscreen been reduced down in size, giving the Project 7 a hint of D-Type. The rear features a fixed spoiler and a deeper front bumper design. The bonnet vents, wing mirrors and even inserts on those huge 20-inch alloy wheels feature carbon-fibre.

Having only space for the driver on the inside, the Project 7 Concept goes with a race-inspired theme.. Where the passenger would normally sit, is where the driver can keep his helmet, and the helmet itself goes with the cars’ theme by having it matching to the blue exterior paintwork. The seating position is also race-inspired, as the driver sits 30mm lower than the standard F-Type. Even the drivers’ seat has been changed to a composite bucket seat and is gripped by a four-point harness.

The power isn’t on the short-list, the Project 7 Concept incorporates a not-so-subtle 5.0-litre supercharged V8 from the original F-Type V8 S but with an extra 54bhp, taking the final figure to an astonishing 545bhp. Torque has also been increased from 625Nm to 680Nm

Under the bonnet is the same 5.0-litre supercharged V8 as the F-Type V8 S but with an extra 54bhp, taking the total output to 545bhp. Torque also increases from 625Nm to 680Nm. Put the pedal to the metal and you’ll be hitting 0-60 in 4.1 seconds.