Jaguar

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Jaguar F-Type Convertible – Goodbye Summer

The iconic E-Type was a sensation when unveiled at the Geneva motor show in 1961. The F-Type convertible, launched with a fanfare in 2013 hasn’t quite matched the hype.

Firstly, it’s rather expensive and secondly – there’s a German soft-top that’s cheaper and more fun to drive. The roomier, better handling Porsche Boxster is still the class leader.

Thankfully, the F-Type convertible has been tweaked to near perfection over the last five years. The Coupe version is prettier but our 380 Dynamic-R is still a bit of a stunner.

Just as purposeful at the back as the front – very slippery from the side, the Jaguar definitely trumps the Boxster in a beauty contest.

The F-Type should be the perfect motor for this long, hot British summer that we will remember for years. The question is, will I still remember the Jaguar F-Type was just as special if I live to 2060?

The convertible is due a mid-term tweak five years on from launch but I can’t see much that needs shaving off or tweaking to improve on Ian Callum’s eye-catching design.

Well, not on the outside at least. However, it’s not quite the same story in the cabin. Some of the hard plastics, especially around the door trim, twin cupholders and buttons don’t have that premium feel.

The pop-up air vents on top of the dashboard are gimmicky but actually work well, while the standard issue Jaguar infotainment system is still one of the best around.

What is less impressive is the dog’s dinner of a set-up around the gear-shifter. It’s where all the buttons and switches they couldn’t find a home for have been scattered like dominoes.

Aesthetically, siting the passenger handgrip next to the gearchanger doesn’t help either. It’s well-meaning but gives the console a lop-sided look. Finally, the steering wheel is also a rash of buttons that makes my eyes flinch.

It’s hard not to like the F-Type but I can’t help feeling it could have been so much better…

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Jaguar F-Type or E-Type – you decide…

Just taken delivery of a 1971 Jaguar E-Type coupe – on loan from global classic hire company Turo (www.turo.com). Ironic it should arrive as the F-Type goes.

The Series III V12 was one of the last incarnations of the ‘E’ – purists will tell you it was probably the least attractive too. However, who could deny that this isn’t a fantastic looking machine – even in yellow?

With E-Type prices through the roof over the last ten years, both cars are now valued about the same. So where would you spend your £135,000 I wonder?

Well, the only thing for sure is that the F-Type will go down in value and the E will go up. Maybe in 40 years time that will change and our F-Type SVR model will soar. It certainly has the exclusivity that will one day make it collectable.

When I owned mine own 1963 Series I, a dear friend of great stature in the motoring world told me that one of the true pleasures in life was looking down the bonnet of an E-Type.

I just wonder if they will ever say that about the F-Type…

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Are you sure you want to drive an orange Jaguar F-Type SVR?

Dubai – home of the craziest-coloured cars on the planet. For some reason, even yellow supercars ‘work’ over there. But in grey England, what kind of person orders an orange Jaguar F-Type?

I must make a disclosure here. One of my first cars was an orange Datsun 120Y. Why indeed, you might ask. Well, it was my father’s motor and although he was as conservative as they come, orange must have been the only choice left on the forecourt.

So I bought it off him for a knockdown price , drove it college for six months and then swapped it for a silly Alfa Romeo GT Junior that rusted to the driveway. I would have kept the Datsun had it been a sensible colour.

Which means I really do struggle with the orange F-Type. A conservative grey would be much more ‘me’ and besides, I simply don’t know anyone these days would would buy an orange car.

Even if Jaguar choose to call the paint Firesand…

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A Porsche-beater? The Jaguar F-Type SVR comes pretty close

I’m quite surprised to be writing this but Jaguar has finally built something approaching supercar status with the SVR.

Surprised because as good as the F-Type is, it has never really impressed me as an out and out sports car. Something was missing – namely a very powerful engine.

Well, the SVR has nailed it. This is a seriously quick motor that will test even the most talented of drivers.

It’s not only devastatingly loud – it is sensationallly quick. And with four-wheel drive, well, there’s very little to beat it on a winding country lane.

A Porsch 911 beater? Maybe not but for most people with a passion for motoring it will come mightily close…

 

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Le Mans has come to the Cotswolds – Jaguar F-Type SVR

 

Lordy, it sounds like Le Mans has come to the Cotswolds today. The hottest day of the year so far means everybody is out in their polished weekend-mobile.

Me? Well, I’m scaring the Lycra off every cyclist driving the F-Type SVR. If you want LOUD then look no further than this monster of a convertible.

The standard F sounds cool but the SVR is quite simply, awesome. That’s due to a revised exhaust that cackles and pops every time the left paddle is given a tug. Crazy.

And with the top down, well, the soundtrack is memorable. At least around town it’s possible to turn the tubes off to save looking a complete tit.

Oh and it’s orange too…

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The Jaguar F-Pace 2.0d – a sheep in wolf’s clothing

If I read another review of the Jaguar F-Pace that calls it a ‘sporty’ SUV I may just self combust. Pick one of the 3.0 diesel or petrol versions and maybe so – the 2.0 diesel (which most people will buy in the UK) is a sheep in wolf’s clothing.

Tomorrow we have a Mercedes GLC arriving on test and imagine the slightly larger diesel engine will be considerably more refined than the Jaguar unit.

There’s nothing wrong with the Jaguar four-cylinder – except it should be fitted to a hatchback rather than a chunky SUV called F-Pace.

On the plus side, as Jaguar’s first attempt at an SUV, the F-Pace is roomy, well-built and easy on the eye…

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My perfect SUV has the body of a Jaguar F-Pace

My perfect SUV? Well, it would have the body of a Jaguar F-Pace, the engine of a Porsche Macan and the interior of a Mercedes GLC (which we will have on test from this coming Thursday).

I’m still baffled by Jaguar’s 2.0 diesel, which is just so noisy under harsh acceleration – something one is surely expected to do in a vehicle called F-Pace?

Yet I can’t deny it isn’t pretty. Everywhere I drive it, there are admiring glances. F-Pace so much prettier than a BMW X3, or the Audi Q5, although the dark blue paintwork on our test car doesn’t really work for me.

I just wish I had driven the 300PS V6 diesel, or the 3.0-litre supercharged petrol model because I suspect, both those engines will have what the 2.0-litre models lacks – F-PACE!

 

 

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Jaguar F-Pace – as mean looking as an Audi Q7?

I’m starting to wish I’d borrowed the 3.0-litre V6 F-Pace. Apart from the yawn-inspiring diesel engine in this week’s test car the first Jaguar SUV is otherwise rather good.

A shame really as this 2.0 diesel is the one most buyers will opt for, to benefit from tax breaks and the fine fuel economy. If only it churned out a bit more grunt and sounded like a ‘proper’ sporty SUV.

At least there’s no doubt the F-Pace turns heads, it’s rather like a mini Maserati Levante, thanks to that gaping from grille and compact, curvy shape. I love it – although I don’t think our dark blue test car really shows the F-Pace off to the max.

Perhaps only the Audi Q7 has a more aggressive look. As Clarkson once said, you could ‘nail it to a church door to fend off the devil’. The Jaguar looks like it means business, which is good enough for me. Amen.

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Jaguar F-Pace – another car that squeals when you push it hard

We are moving towards a world where cars have smaller, more frugal and efficient engines that help to save the polar bears.

This is a good thing – except for one fact. Small engines have to be revved harder to perform and consequently sound like they are being wrung by the neck.

That’s right, just like last week’s 2.0-litre diesel Volvo, the F-Pace 2.0 diesel is not a relaxing cabin for point and shoot drivers who prefer an A-road to a motorway.

It’s quite depressing. I can’t say bad things about either car but having to thrash a 2.0 derv to enjoy yourself is not what I expected from two otherwise thoroughly modern machines.

Hmmm…

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Jaguar F-Pace – blurring the line between SUV and sports car?

 

Jaguar’s first SUV is infused with more than a dash of Land Rover DNA. You’d expect that with two such bedfellows.

Yet the F-Pace isn’t really designed to crash through the jungle or pull a heavy load. It’s really a bit of a softie – with part-time four-wheel drive and very pretty styling.

The line between SUV and proper 4×4 has been blurred for a long time. The F-Pace errs on the side of the former. It’s not a sporty beast like the Porsche Macan either – whatever the advertising tries to tell you.

Sure the supercharged V6 version is tasty but really the F-Pace will be mostly consumed as a 2.0-litre diesel, like our test car this week.

Let’s see how it goes…