Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
The F-Type Coupe starts at a reasonable $78,500 plus freight and fees, although add options to any car in this class and the price can quickly escalate. The R Coupe you’re looking at starts at $118,500, yet with all extras included it hits the road at a considerable $126,000. Still, price out similar options on an equally quick 911 Carrera 4 GTS or Mercedes AMG GT and you’ll spend tens of thousands more, or alternatively the sky is the limit if you choose the aforementioned Aston.
Due
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
After the first 11 months of 2016, Jaguar has sold 505 F-Types for its best year yet.
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
With respect to design, some eye-catching details on this particular R Coupe include Ultimate Black paint enhanced by a completely blacked-out body including its grille surround, hood louvres, front fender vents, and rear fascia trim, standard ground effects that flare out dramatically along the rockers, gorgeous upgraded five-spoke machine-finished alloys with grey painted pockets and carbon-fibre detailing on each spoke, and a standard functional rear diffuser capping off the rear
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
Most of that beautiful bodywork is shaped from aluminum, as is much of the rest of its bonded and riveted inner framework. This is a big deal with Jaguar’s other models, such as the new XE and F-Pace, as well as the XF and flagship XJ, because the first three use much more of the lightweight alloy in their construction than any of their segment rivals, but in the F-Type’s semi-affordable premium sports car class others have now caught up to Jaguar, which introduced an aluminum monocoque bodyshell for its second-generation XK way back in 2005.
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
I’ve never been concerned with quietness while piloting any F-Type, mind you, the two previous being a 2014 Convertible and 2015 Coupe in S trim. This means their Roots-type twin-vortex supercharged engine displaced 3.0 litres in its six cylinders while producing 380 horsepower and 339 lb-ft of torque, a bump of 40 horsepower over the more moderately tuned base 3.0-litre supercharged unit, which honestly was more than enough for me until I tried this R Coupe. Before getting ahead of myself we need to factor in that the last Aston Martin V8 Vantage in
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
On that note the R comes stock with 550 horsepower and 502 lb-ft of torque from a glorious sounding supercharged 5.0-litre V8, the two-door hardtop capable of catapulting off the line to 100km/h in a mere 4.1 seconds before rocketing all the way up to 300km/h. I’ll have to take their word for the latter as no track was available during my test, but I can attest to the whack in the back at takeoff, the R Coupe developing speed so intensely that it made me laugh out loud (few cars can
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
Set the R Coupe to Dynamic sport mode and let your fingers do the walking via the standard Quickshift eight-speed automatic’s aluminum steering wheel paddles, the wheel itself boasting a thick flat-bottomed leather-clad rim ideally fitting my palms
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
The F-Type delivers superb feel too, much thanks to a super-quick 14.6:1 steering ratio and wonderful overall balance. It remained perfectly planted within its lane no matter how hard I tried to shake it loose, the AWD allowing up to 63-percent rear bias for stepping out its hind end ever so slightly, but the way it’s set up you’ll have to work hard to hang the tail out. Braking was outrageously strong, with immense
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
Those dashing good looks extend to the cabin, where stitched, padded leather covers much of the dash in both solid and perforated forms, plus nice available psuede atop each rounded primary gauge shroud. The optional Suedecloth material wraps down the inside of the unique centre stack buttress, around the lower console, and fills the door inserts too, all before climbing each roof pillar and running across the headliner, or at least the roof’s outer edges as the centre was mostly glass. A panoramic sunroof is standard on the R, with the option being a $3,600 carbon fibre outer skin that would honestly cause me some pause. I love the
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
Upon startup the centre HVAC vents power up from the dash, adding some drama to a Jaguar model that substitutes the brand’s usual rotating gear selector, which would otherwise power upwards out of the lower console, with a more conventional lever. Like the alloy paddles on the steering wheel, more genuine metal can be found throughout the cabin, such as the inner door handles that feel as if they’re made from solid billet aluminum. Each dial within the gauge package is ringed with thick metal, while additional aluminum bits include the shifter surround and triangular-shaped Configurable Dynamics drive mode selection toggle, and trim details on the contrast-stitched leather and psuede R Performance seats. At least as appealing, gorgeous textured
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
The seats are amazingly supportive and hardly required adjustment to find the perfect driving position, Jaguar including seat-shaped controls within easy reach on the door panel along with three-way memory for both occupants. You can even modulate the width of both seats’ bolsters via air bladders hidden within.
The two-dial gauge package houses a large colour TFT multi-information display at centre, while the standard 8.0-inch InControl
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
From a practical perspective the F-Type offers a lot of space for two up front, while
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
All of these details set the F-Type apart from mere mortal cars and even many of the more expensive premium sport coupes it competes against, especially when upgraded to R trim, while standard features with this model include most everything already mentioned, as well as HID headlamps with auto high beams and dynamic cornering, power-folding auto-dimming side mirrors, proximity-sensing
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
A $1,750 Vision Pack added front parking sensors, a reverse camera with guidelines (which was crystal clear yet should really be standard), blindspot monitoring
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
If you still want more, the R Coupe can be had with a $13,000 Carbon Ceramic Brake Pack that adds a carbon ceramic braking system with yellow calipers, and 20-inch Storm forged black alloys; a $2,750 Red Leather Interior Pack that adds (you guessed it) red leather seats and interior trim; $450 worth of Redzone (red) seatbelts that can only be had with the red leather; and a $2,350 Extended Leather Pack-Upper Environment that covers the roofliner and sunvisors in stitched leather; or you can go all out for the $142k 575-horsepower
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
Back to earth, standard auto start/stop helps limit fuel consumption that’s rated at a reasonable 15.6 L/100km city, 10.4 highway and 13.3 combined, not far off the base car’s 14.9 city, 9.8 highway and 12.6 combined numbers. The previously noted Porsche is thriftier still, but I don’t think anyone buying a sports car of this calibre will care.
Jaguar has an innovative EV on the way dubbed I-Pace for those focused more on environmental concerns and lowering running costs, which when available may become an ideal daily commuter to help reduce miles on your R Coupe by only running
Photo: Karen Tuggay, Canadian Auto Press |
As noted there are a number of alternative possibilities at the R Coupe’s price point, but few deliver the same level of knee-weakening styling, indulgent quality and refinement, abundant features, plus shock and awe performance, and none measure up when factoring in price. No wonder this F-Type is the bestselling premium-branded two-seat sports car in the country.
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