2014 Jaguar F-Type Reviews

The Jaguar F-Type Coupe is one of the most beautiful cars currently being produced. It is a stunning vehicle that attracts attention both in traffic and wherever you park it.But this F-Type Coupe promises more than looks, it also wears the R badge and that means it is also very fast.The R is the most powerful F-Type Coupe, which was developed to go head to head with the iconic Porsche 911.  It is out of the reach of most of us at $219,130, but has the presence and the pace of cars that demand far higher prices.  The F-Type was originally designed as a convertible and the coupe came later. Both are beautiful, but the coupe has a wonderful flowing roofline that makes for a fantastic profile. It perfectly mixes elegance with aggression and looks more agile than a 911.The interior looks good, but the quality is not quite at the level of Porsche or Audi. It looks a little less developed. The R spec bronze anodised elements in this car (paddles, starter etc) look out of place and clash with the rest of the interior. There are some cool touches, such as the climate vents risingup out of the dashboard when you switch on the car. The seats are comfortable and supportive, but don’t have a heater function as standard.The red paint on our test car looked rich and bright, but this colour, which is somehow “race inspired” according to Jaguar, costs a mind-blowing $5620. It almost makes the premium other companies charge for metallic paint seem reasonable.The sloping tail of the F-Type Coupe means it has terrible rear visibility. Making it worse is the fact there is no rear-view camera fitted as standard, which is a ridiculous omission for a car that costs this much.The boot is tiny and is almost completely filled with a space saver spare wheel. It is a two seater, with no space behind the seats for storage, so you will need to pack carefully for a weekend away. Apart from the visibility issue, the F-Type is easy to drive around town, with a competent automatic taking care of the gear changes.The F-Type Coupe is not quite as brilliant near the limit as the 911, but that’s not an issue unless you plan on heading over to Germany’s Nurburgring. It still does handle extremely well and is very happy slinging around corners at a rapid rate. The body is tied down well and there is very little roll.It definitely has the ability to match its looks, but the downside to its impressive agility is the jolty ride on less than perfect roads.The R version is astonishingly powerful. A supercharged 5.0-litre V8 makes some 404kW and 680Nm, which is way more than you could ever use on public roads. It blasts from 0-100km/h in just 4.2, which is smidgeon faster (0.1secs) than the Carrera S Porsche auto. The Jag’s pace is great, but theexhaust note is even better. Press a button on the centre console and this cat snaps from domesticated to feral in an instant. It roars wildly on acceleration and bangs like mortar rounds when you back off. The exhaust is so loud that you should consider turning it off in the early morning and late at night for fear of waking the neighbourhood.The fuel consumption is ordinary, some 11.1L/100km, and is worse out on the road, but few owners will care.The F-Type R is seriously overpriced when you factor in all the options that should be standard, but no other car in that price range delivers the same heady mix of beauty, performance and sound.The R version rides on 20-inch wheels, has quad exhaust pipes, performance brakes and special bonnet vents. It has leather sports seats and the switchable sports exhaust.Several items that should be standard on a car this costly include a reversing camera ($1725), heated seats ($1410), digital radio receiver ($600) and a blind spot warning system (along with a collision warning system) ($1500).Warranty: is three years/unlimited kmService: No capped serviceResale: N/A

Raise your hackles, cat people. Jaguar's ruthless F-Type Coupe has arrived, completing the mainstream F range with an emphatic note. Supercharged V6s kick the range off, matching the two specifications of the convertible sibling, but Jaguar haskindly delivered a coupe with the ability to fry tyres, warp minds and carry a little more luggage.Neither V6 could be seen as lethargic but the F-Type R - the only roofed version available for the local first drive - sprints from rest to 100km/h in under 5.0 seconds on to a governed 300km/h top speed.VALUE The 3.0-litre (250kW/450Nm) 'starter' model is $119,900, with 18-inch alloys, leather and suede interior and sports steering wheel. The mid-spec (260kW/460Nm) asks $152,300 and gets the must-have active exhaust as standard, plus adaptive dampers, limited-slip diff, 19-inch alloy wheels and brake upgrade.The 5.0-litre V8 (404kW/ 680Nm) is $219,600, with a leather-wrapped flat-bottomed steering wheel, 20-inch alloys, adaptive sports suspension, further brake upgrade (with the $20,000 option of carbon ceramic discs). It hits 100km/h in a raucous 4.2 seconds.DESIGN The coupe has more road presence than the convertible, with the same road footprint - it's a little over 1.9m wide which makes it look aggressive. Muscular yet elegant, the sloping roofline endows cleaner lines to the rear, although it's mini-me pop-up spoiler looks a little dinky compared to the droptop's version.The bodyshell feels strong and the brand's investment in aluminium construction methods seems to be bearing fruit. The coupe's body side is made from a single aluminium pressing, part of a package that is the most torsionally rigid production Jag to date.Bootspace - virtually non-existent in the convertible - improves a little in the coupe. There's up to 407L if you ditch the space-saver spare.ENGINE / TRANSMISSIONThe all-aluminium V8 tops the pops thanks to a Roots-type supercharger fed by two intercoolers. The drive to the rear is distributed by an electronic active differential. Working with torque vectoring braking to fire the big coupe out of bends in a hurry. Its adaptive dampers check body roll by adjusting damper rates up to 500 times a second.SAFETY There are front and side airbags, automatic bi-xenon headlights, rear parking sensors, rain-sensing wipers and stability control among the standard fare. However, tyre pressure and blind spot monitoring, parking sensors or reversing camera are amazingly not standard on any F-Type.DRIVING The first local drive was undertaken in the coupe line-up's headline act, the R. From the first full-throttle surge, the vocal blown V8 makes it easy to believe the 4.2-second claim for the sprint to highway speed.The active exhaust brays belligerently, in a lower tone than the supercharged V6 previously sampled, and the noise - combined with the sharp exterior - makes for an A-grade head-turner.m Steering is meaty and the helm even meatier. The snug cabin has little in the way of storage but plenty in the way of style and quality materials.The touchscreen nav and infotainment system is starting to age a little, although it can still crank out a nice noise if you tire of the engine's soundtrack, unlikely though that is. The features list is light-on, given the $200,000-plus sticker. Missing are seat heaters which, along with parking sensors and camera, are standard in much cheaper cars.Ride quality is also not great, even with adaptive damping set to less extreme efforts. The R can fidget in the bends when taken at speed if the bumps come (not dangerously) and the underpinnings still disturb the cabin excessively.Ride-handling compromise is a black art that seems better mastered in Porsche's Cayman and 911, which in price and intent sit either side of it. The pay-off for some will be the theatre of the Jag, the image of the brand and fact that there are not many on the road.

the Jaguar F-Type convertible, which reached us downunder in August 2013, is argued by many as being the true replacement for the E-Type.