Jaguar F-type Coupe V6 S review, price and specs
The new Jaguar F-type Coupe in final production form powered by the more potent ‘S’ version of the company’s supercharged 3.0-litre V6. It could be the pick of the range.
Technical highlights?
Unchanged from the S Convertible, the engine is mated to Jaguar’s ‘Quickshift’ eight-speed semi-auto transmission with steering wheel paddles. It develops 375bhp and 339 lb ft of torque and makes the F-Type Coupe a genuinely quick car capable of sprinting to 62mph from rest in 4.8sec on its way to an electronically limited 171mph top speed.
Sports suspension with adaptive dampers are standard and, accessed either via the touchscreen display or centre console buttons, are Dynamic Mode (which is configurable to personal taste), Dynamic Launch (launch control) and Active Sports exhaust (more blare and rasp, pops and bangs). The standard steel discs, at 380/325mm front/rear, are generously sized with carbon ceramics offered as an option. The range-topping V8 R’s active e-diff isn’t, though the standard mechanical limited slip differential hardly seems like a bad deal.
What’s it like to drive?
Spain’s roads are mostly so smooth and well engineered they put many race circuits to shame. So a word of caution, our Coupe S wasn’t subjected to the type of rigors Blighty’s finest will present. That said, from the off the coupe feels notably more precise and alert than the soft top, as if the more rigid body structure and tweaked suspension, damping and steering are sharpening and resolving what would be slightly blurred feedback from the roadster. The quality and intensity of the feral exhaust note seem undiminished, too, despite the enclosing bodywork.
Anyone keen to feel the carpet with the toe of their right foot would be well advised better tense up other parts of their body because the F-Type really can generate g. The supercharged V6 howls and bangs. And bangs. It isn’t a sophisticated, multi-layered sound but it is raw and loud and violent. And when the straight stuff runs out, the rapidly accumulated speed is wiped away like raindrops from a windscreen by the monster brakes
Half an hour out of Barcelona on the motorway we happen upon a closed hillside road that’s sometimes used as a tarmac rally stage. It has a manic combination of short straights, fast sweepers, tight curves and flick-flacks. It’s a wicked little ribbon of tarmac and shows that the chassis is equally rewarding, supplementing huge grip with fast responses and acutely executed changes of direction. The steering is well-weighted with fine precision about the straight ahead and reassuring weight (if not finely-textured feel) on lock, while body control is exemplary, finessed by damping that’s taut yet supple.
The Jaguar tracks undulations with no wasted body movement and uses its damping to desensitise impact of the few ruts and rucks we do encounter. And yet it’s also clear this would be a great car in which to attack a big distance, and if it didn’t do it with quite the Zen-like calm of a Bentley, would be comfortable, easy on the nerves and constantly engaging.
How does it compare?
With prices starting at £60,235, the F-Type S Coupe is a remarkable £7000 less than the equivalent model Convertible and, unless you can’t live without the wind in your hair, clearly the one to go for as it’s better to drive, more practical and, if you agree with us, a quite stunning piece of design. A moderately specced-up Porsche Cayman S will still be a few grand cheaper and, when the chips are down, probably the more rewarding steer. We’ll have to wait until we get them together on British roads to find out for sure. It will be a close call.
Anything else I need to know?
Clearly aimed at those who believe sporty doesn’t have to mean slumming it, the cabin is largely unchanged from the roadster’s and heavily biased towards comfort and feel-good gadgetry, of which the wholly unnecessary but rather cool kinetic air vent housing that glides into position from its dash top bunker when you press the engine start button and the extravagantly powerful Meridian sound system are perhaps the best examples.
