I am in a parking lot at a private racetrack in the Catskill mountains of New York. The event that brought me here is a general automotive press association test day, so there are plenty of offerings from various manufacturers strewn across the black asphalt. Some of them are getting a lot more attention than others – there’s a bright blue 7th generation Corvette Stingray that’s got a crowd around it for example, but the car that seems to be garnering the most interest on this crisp fall morning is the bright white Jaguar F-Type that’s parked in a far corner of the lot. Fortunately for me, I’d spotted it early on and staked out a spot right next to it so it looks like I’ll be lucky enough to be the first to have a go.
The car’s minders inform me apologetically that they’ll have to wait for an official sign-off before it can leave the parking lot, and that it may be a few minutes. I don’t mind, though because that extra few minutes gives me time to have good look around the car. This particular example is a V8 S, which is currently the range topper for the F-Type convertible lineup. It’s painted in a brilliant clear white that the spec sheet says is called “Polaris White,” and is one of three colors you can choose without paying extra charges. It’s an elegant color and suits the car well while showing off the more aggressive features of the V8 S such as the black vents on the bonnet and fenders as well as the glossy sheen of the aggressive front splitter.
Looking over the rest of the spec sheet, it appears that the paint color is the only no-cost option that this particular car has. The others start with a Climate Pack with heated seats and Wheel for $600, the V8 S Premium Pack (garage door opener, wind deflector, and lockable interior storage) for $200, and the Vision Pack V8 S (adaptive front lighting, front parking sensors and rear parking camera, blind spot monitoring) for $2,100. HD & Sirius radio for $450 coupled with a Meridian Premium Audio Sound System for $1,200 take care of the audio. Illuminated Door Sill Treadplates for $450 and the Extended Leather Pack for $1925 add some luxurious flair to the interior. The final option (and one I’d be sure to check the box for were this my car) is the Performance Pack V8 S (performance seats, configurable dynamic mode, red brake calipers, flat bottomed steering wheel, selectable active exhaust, and interior black pack) for $2,950. That’s $9875 in options, which when you throw in the $895 destination charge brings the price for this car to $102,770 up from the base price of $92,000 for the V8 S.
That’s an awful lot of coin, but then from the looks of things this is an awful lot of car. I pop open the driver’s door and slot myself down into the beautiful deep leather of the performance seat. Sir William Lyons, founder of the company that became Jaguar Cars Ltd, once said that all Jaguars should have “grace, space, and pace.” Sitting in the cabin of the F-Type immediately betrays that this is a car which will lean much more to the “Pace” end of those three more than other recent efforts like the XK series. The interior of the F-Type is a much tighter, driver focused place than the XK’s more open grand touring cabin, a difference which is emphasized by the large grab handle at the passenger side of the center console which effectively cuts off passenger access to any controls.
The minders finally make their way in my direction and drop the key into my hand. The official sign off has happened, and it’s time to see what the Jag can do. Before I thumb the big bright orange “Engine Start” button on the dash I flip a little, but very important and therefore equally bright orange, switch in the center console down to “Dynamic Mode.” This accomplishes a number of things – it sharpens up the throttle mapping, firms up the suspension, all the usual stuff. The most noticeable effect right off the bat however is that it causes the active exhaust flaps to open and stay that way. A second later when I do push the big orange button and the supercharged V8 fires to life heads all over the parking lot swivel toward the Jag to see what that noise was. And what a noise it is. It’s all aggressive V8, but with a hard, angry mechanical edge to it and amplified through a huge bullhorn to a volume that tells you in advance that this is going to be a serious car to drive.
I swing the car around to the exit of the lot and one final steward hands me a packet of suggested routes before I pull out and head for the exit from the race compound. I’ve got the top down, seat heater on, and everything switched to full “Dynamic” mode. After I pull past the guardhouse and make a right on to the winding mountain road that leads away from the race complex, there’s something I just have to do. I bring the car to a stop, turn off the traction control, and then nail the throttle. The response is so quick it’s incredible. The engine simply roars, a sound that’s all hard mechanical fury, the wide rear tires surrender without a chance, and before I even realize it’s happening I’m being walloped from behind as the gearbox slams home into second gear. The tires continue to turn to smoke and I run out of straight road and have to lift my right foot before I get to see third. I look behind me and there are two very dark and very long rubber strips on the road. I start back off – a little more gently this time – and the car simply eats the curves of the narrow road as it wends its way through the mountains. Turn in response is quick, and the agility of the car belies its 3,600 pound weight. The engine in the F-type V8 S is a derivation of Jaguar’s supercharged V8 from the XKS-R, and it produces a more than adequate 495HP and 450 lb-ft of torque in this application. It also emits one of the most beautiful noises I’ve heard from any car, ever, whenever you come off of the throttle with the exhaust flaps open. I do it over and over again on purpose, just to glory in the noise of the big cat’s pops and snarls echoing off of the mountains. As I discovered earlier all that power is more than enough to light up those rear tires pretty much whenever you’d like. Fortunately, the V8 S also comes equipped with an electronically controlled limited slip rear differential, which allows the car to actually put that power down and feel at home on a bendy road. In Dynamic Mode, the F-Type is all urgency and haste, a car that communicates very clearly that it is demanding that you attack that next curve as rapidly as you’re able, turning in hard and then gently giving way to oversteer when I keep my foot in the throttle, or letting loose a cacophony of the most beautiful explosive noises ever created by an engine when I decide “ok, too much” and lift off. Yep, the F-Type is that kind of car.
Or, it is when you want it to be. Out of curiosity I switch all of the selectable stuff over into comfort mode, raise the top, and turn the climate control on. All of a sudden I’m cosseted in a quiet, comfortable environment that I have a feeling would dispense thousand mile trips with ease. The snarling, predatory cat from before is still only a prod of the throttle pedal or the flip of a switch away, but the change in the car’s demeanor is marked. Jaguar gets full points here for creating a car that has two distinct personalities, but I decide that exploring the comfort end of things more fully will have to wait for another day when I have more time with the car.
For now, I take another brief stop to drop the top, flip that bright orange switch down to Dynamic Mode again, and leave two more giant rubber strips on the road that leads back to the parking lot. My time with the car has been all too brief, but I am left with the impression that Jag has hit their mark with the F-Type – it’s a for real sports car from Jag for the first time in way too long, but it still maintains the grace that has defined all the best Jags over the years as well. I love it.
(All photography is courtesy of Jaguar USA)
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