F-TYPE RIGHT STUFF
Just how good is this Jag? Well, there has only been one other that has made the same kind of dramatic statement.
In the late 1980s, I bought a 1969 Jaguar E-Type, or, more correctly, a pile of parts on a shop floor that two years later would become an E-Type. When it was finished, it was extraordinarily beautiful, sexy and sleek. Everywhere I went, the E-Type turned heads and if I had had a bad day, sometimes I would just sit in it in the hot Arizona air, practically getting a contact high from the soft and seductive leather hides used to cover the seats. It was as intoxicating a vehicle as I’ve ever owned.
Of course, being a late 1960s British car, the E-Type featured the heavy usage of Lucas electrical parts. Suffice to say, every nightmare story you have ever heard about Lucas — a.k.a. “The Prince of Darkness” — is true. Every time I started the car, a different combination of gauges would work. That was just part of the deal.
To my mind, the E-Type, along with the original 1963 Corvette Sting Ray coupe, are the two most important automotive designs of the last 75 years. Bold words, for sure, but both cars have proven to be timeless icons of automotive design.
All of which is a very long-winded way of saying that when Jaguar finally decided to build an F-Type nearly 40 years after the E-Type was discontinued, expectations were sky high. And after a week behind the wheel of the F-Type R coupe, the Mack Daddy of the F-Type series, I can state categorically that expectations were met almost everywhere, and exceeded in some cases.
The F-Type, which debuted in 2013, comes in three flavors. The base F-Type coupe starts at $65,000 and comes standard with a supercharged 340-horsepower V6. The $77,000 F-Type S adds 40 horsepower, better brakes and suspension, among other upgrades. My test car, the F-Type R is a big step up in every respect. It carries a base price of $100,000 and features a rowdy supercharged 550-horsepower V8 that will push the F-Type R from a standing start to 60 mph in just 4.0 seconds, with an impressive and electronically limited top end of 186 mph. The only transmission is an eight-speed automatic that of course comes with paddle shifters for more spirited driving.
Without question, this is a serious performance car designed to go head-tohead with the best in the world.
While the original E-Type was best described as smooth, sophisticated and maybe even a trifle delicate, the F-Type is a brute, at least it is in the R Trim. Mash the accelerator and you’re instantly slammed back hard into your seat and you stayed pinned until you ease off the throttle.
In that respect, the F-Type feels much more like a Corvette or a modern highend muscle car than it does an E-Type, but that’s not a bad thing. The E-Type was sexy and sophisticated, while the F-Type is all that plus a no-compromises high-performance sports car.
And, my word, is it ever fun to drive. There’s so much power and the chassis is so agile that I was tempted to drive the F-Type R as hard as I could every single chance I got. It just eggs you on, begging for you to drive the wheels off it.
The brakes -— officially known as the Jaguar Super Performance Braking Systems — were especially good, stopping the car with alacrity, even from very high speeds. For serious gearheads with deep pockets, Jaguar offers a $12,000 carbon-ceramic braking system, which I suspect would be sensational, especially for the odd track day.
Part of what makes the Jaguar so much fun to drive is the fact that the cockpit is an excellent place to work from. The optional performance seats feature aggressive bolstering to keep you in place when the going gets fast and curvy.
Although some critics have found the center-mounted HVAC/navigation/audio screen dated, to me it’s very intuitive and easy to use, unlike too many of those found on expensive cars. The bright red seats and stitching contrast nicely with the black dashboard.
The exterior styling, while not as groundbreaking as that of the E-Type, is bold and aggressive, drawing admiring glances from many onlookers.
Obviously, since they’re separated by four decades, the F-Type is a departure from its forebears in that it focuses far more on raw power and performance than the original ever did. And from the driver’s seat, that’s a very good thing.
Oh, and according to J.D. Power & Associates, Jaguar as a brand now has a better-than-average reliability record compared with other automakers. Take that, Lucas, Prince of Darkness.