Jaguar F-Type

It's not every day that a future classic sports car like the Jaguar F-Type lobs into the Wheels long-term test shed, but we weren't going to say no to this one. How's life with a V8 two-door in your care? Cam Kirby takes on the arduous task of telling the tale.

2022 Jaguar F-Type P450 R-Dynamic long-term review

JUMP AHEAD

• Welcome: Reverting to F-Type
• Update 1: Friendly fire
• Update 2: Hello, and who are you?
• Specifications

Reverting to F-Type

• Fuel use this month: 774km @ 11.04L/100km
• Fuel use overall: 774km @ 11.04L/100km

With economic belts around the world being tightened, companies are looking for new ways to get a pound of flesh from consumers without catching their ire. One such sly ploy is known as shrinkflation, an insidious twist on the way that inflation is driving up the price of everything from milk to luxury sports cars.

The way it works is that instead of paying more for the same product, prices are kept at a fixed price point and the product itself is reduced in size. A 750ml drink that is now 700ml but with an unchanged price; that is shrinkflation.

No one seems to have told Jaguar about the concept, with the British brand going in the opposite direction with its most recent update to the F-Type coupe line-up in Australia.

Gone are the six-cylinder variants, with every model delivered Down Under fitted with JLR’s raucous 5.0-litre supercharged bent-eight with two different tunes. It’s V8s all the way, baby!

That means the entry point to the F-Type range is no longer the P380 with its 3.0-litre supercharged V6. While often overshadowed by its V8 siblings, we liked the P380; not only did the V6 deliver its 280kW and 460Nm with linear grace, but the rear-drive layout offered a more nuanced driving experience than the all-wheel-drive, V8 brutalism.

Now though the F-Type family starts with the P450 R-Dynamic, the extra cubes delivering 331kW/580Nm. More power, more dosh, right? Nope. Despite the addition of two extra cylinders, 51kW and 100Nm, the V8 F-Type is $14,000 cheaper than the V6 it replaces. You can add Jag’s svelte coupe to your garage from a still chunky $166,048.

The good news doesn’t stop there. Unlike the flagship model, power from the P450’s V8 is sent exclusively to the rear wheels. A rear-drive V8 F-Type isn’t a new concept, but it has been absent from our market for quite some time, and did go out of production internationally for a moment.

However, that iteration put 405kW/680Nm to the ground for a, well, let’s just call it lively driving experience. Oh, and it would blow a $200K-plus hole in your wallet before you started thinking about the tyre bill. If the P450 doesn’t quite hit the spot, Jaguar does still offer its full-fat flagship now badged simply as the R, with 423kW and 700Nm delivered to all four wheels.

However, experience tells us that unless you are truly dedicated to demolishing all comers at a traffic light grand prix, the halo model quickly devolves into diminishing returns. So, to recap, this updated F-Type has finer looks, more useable power, a refined dynamic intent, and is a greatly improved value proposition. Consider us compelled.

That more affordable price point does come with a notable caveat. Unlike key rivals that load their Australian cars to the gunwales with standard equipment that in turn jacks up the base price, Jag opts instead to offer a straightforward list of standard equipment and leaves it to the customer to tick boxes and fine-tune final specification.

In total there are more than $22,000 worth of optional extras added to ‘our’ F-Type, such as the panoramic sunroof ($2110), extended leather inside the cabin ($4720), black exterior styling pack ($4720), dual-zone climate control ($1040) and powered tailgate ($1160). While it diverts from the norm, different does not mean worse, and there will certainly be customers happy to pay for these options, omitting what they consider superfluous.

An exception to this is the presencee of some additional safety equipment on the options list ($1000 for rear cross-traffic alert and blind-spot assist in our tester). Safety shouldn’t be optional.

Thankfully, British Racing Green paint is a no-cost option. Pairing it with the tan interior ($2330) is next level colour complementarity.

As a daily proposition, the F-Type has met some lofty expectations. The damping is excellent for a two-door sports coupe, softening off the edges of Australia’s pockmarked roads. This impressive composure is mirrored by steering, which while direct and accurate, doesn’t buck and pull in your hands.

The calibration is lighter than we would expect for something with such serious performance credentials but makes driving the F-Type a breeze. We’ll reserve a full dynamic assessment for when we get the opportunity to head to some of our favourite driving roads, but on first impression the shortcomings of the F-Type are straightforward and avoid being anything too major.

There are some tech omissions that we’d expect at this price point – namely a head-up display, seat memory function, and wireless phone charging. That final absentee dovetails into the second bugbear; a cabin bereft of decent storage options.

You have two central cupholders, a small central cubby and then that’s it. The bottom of the doors could hold a wallet at best, and the glovebox is entirely occupied by the owner’s manual.

Given its purpose, stunning looks, and charismatic engine note, we’ll forgive the F-Type these glitches. Now, time to take a big sip of water and check the price of premium fuel.

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Update 1: Friendly fire

Our photographer unwittingly opens both barrels on the public

By Alastair Brook

• Fuel use this month: 895km @ 12.94L/100km
• Fuel use overall: 1669km @ 12.06L/100km

I feel I must use use this space to publicly apologise to the occupants of a silver Audi A4 Avant that I likely scared the bejeezus out of on an inner-city on-ramp the other week.

You see, the Jaguar really is a caged animal around town. Yes, one could probably deduce that the low-slung styling and hardly ambiguous ‘R-Dynamic’ and ‘P450’ badging (that numerical figure standing for metric horsepower from the 5.0-litre supercharged V8) don’t exactly gel with a metropolitan jungle with restrictive 40 and 50km/h speed limits.

With a personalised Spotify playlist containing more than 1600 songs, I’d require almost 100 Melbourne-Sydney trips to get through my must-listen catalogue of tunes. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep Kirby distracted with a Scalextric track that long, so there will be no deep dive into the Jag’s Meridian sound system this month.

Instead, I’ve been basking in the F-Type’s rich auditory signature.

An obligatory prod of the exhaust button on cold start-up transforms what is initially a svelte eight-part purr into a rather loud, wet gargle, really ramping anticipation that the following drive will be broadcast to anyone within a 3km radius.

In reality, the Jag quietly keeps to itself once you’re rolling along, slowly waking itself up. Driving the coupe with restraint has it humming instead of shouting.

Filtering through traffic, that initial raspy bark of the cold start never really comes back without a sharp introduction of your right foot with the throttle pedal. Even with the exhaust button on, drive mode in ‘Dynamic’, gear selector across to ‘Sport’ and paddles pulled for control of the ratios, the soundtrack remains initially covert.

But while the decibels aren’t off the charts, be of no doubt that this four-stage set-up means the F-Type’s driver is in a full yobbo mindset. Claws out, ears back.

Just when you’re on the cusp of feeling short-changed as you’re working your way up the rev range, the valves in the exhaust suddenly open and the noise erupts from behind you. It doesn’t half have a growl on it when it decides to announce itself. Pedestrians duck for cover, birds take flight, glass shatters, the whole nine yards.

And that’s before another gear is plucked with the F-Type seemingly relishing the opportunity to extend its boisterous upshifts. Instead of snapping the next ratio quick smart, the Jag lets it all hang out with an extended show that sounds like a rift to the Nine Hells opening in your wake. Whatever your aural inclinations, it’s impossible to deny how glorious this thing sounds.

There are also bonus theatrics on the overrun, which strike me as more of a genuine, natural by-product of excess fuel being dumped rather than the pre-programmed pops and bangs that some manufacturers offer.

My major issue with this frankly intoxicating mixture is it’s hidden in the mid-to-upper echelons of the rev range. It all kicks off at around 3500rpm, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but the big cat only sings up to a 6600-7000-ish rpm redline. I say ‘ish’, as the actual rev limit is a mystery in the F-Type.

Even when you let it know you want to take control of shifting with the paddles the Jag will automatically pluck a gear on upshifts when you get near its indicated 7000rpm limit. No full manual mode – what’s the go with that? The end result is that in most circumstances you have dialled a fair amount of momentum into proceedings when the music starts.

This would be less of an issue if the eight-speed automatic’s ratios were spaced in a sympathetic fashion. Instead the Jag is rather long legged. In first gear, you’re comfortably in the 30-50km/h mark by the time the chorus plays, in second, you’re fraying on the edges of legality when bidding for an encore.

The occasional squirt is one thing but shouting about it only while well on your way to breaking the limit seems inadvisable. Perhaps this vocal display is best kept aside just for a countryside blat, with the operatic performance just out of reach in urban driving. Such a tease.

Which brings us to the unsuspecting A4. Kirby had figured out the distraction that allowed me to scoop the keys of his desk, and my time with the F-Type was about to come to an end.

I found myself second in line behind the Audi at a set of traffic lights, and my addiction demanded I get that sonorous hit a final time before journey’s end.

One lane opens to two, with an 80km/h limit ahead. Just enough for one last ear-splitting war-cry in first and second, all of which reached its dramatic crescendo just as the pert rear of the Jag was roughly level with the driver’s window of an unsuspecting Audi. Unleashed upon them was the F-Type at maximum volume.

To you sir or madam, apologies. I think in the jungle they call that the ‘element of surprise’. Cats will be cats.

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Hello, and who are you?

Kirby shapes the Jag F-Type in his image. It isn’t pretty.

• Travel this month: 827km
• Travel total: 2496km
• Fuel this month: 13.61L/100km
• Fuel total: 12.57L/100km
• Price: $188,868 as tested

Waking up with the Jaguar F-Type P450 R-Dynamic in the driveway is liberating. Not for the themes of freedom and luxury exuded by its captivating coupe form. But for the fact that ever time I slip into its leather-filled cabin I can tweak and change its personality as I see fit for the day.

This is thanks to Jaguar’s Dynamic-I settings, which in more common parlance is a configurable individual mode. In Dynamic-I you can tweak the F-Type damper firmness, engine response, transmission calibration, and steering weight. It has resulted in me playing god and adjusting and testing every possible configuration to find the sweet spot for my needs.

What has been most impressive is the breadth of ability available. The dampers in the softest setting breath wonderfully over the road, with the suspension having adequate travel to soak up bumps with composure.

Switch to sportier modes and the F-Type firms ups without becoming too crashy, instead transmitting the texture of the bitumen while retaining its composure.

Unless you are at a circuit or recently resurfaced road, we’d stick to the softer settings, as while there is slightly more body movement, it’s easy to key into and adds a tinge of ‘60s inspired charm to the driving experience.

Next on the tweaking menu is the steering, which has been a part of the F-Type’s character that I feel fails to gel properly with the rest of the package. No matter the setting it was unable to shirk an overriding feeling of artificial springiness.

The modes do increase the feeling of weight, but with no requisite boost in communication or feedback. Pick which weight suits your style best.

Then we get to the good stuff – the fact Jaguar’s engineers separated engine and gearbox calibrations. No longer is the strongest throttle response locked behind a transmission mode which results in jerky shifts and hanging onto gears for too long.

If you want something calm and docile, keep things in normal, with the throttle’s first third of travel softened significantly for brilliant low-speed useability. But I’m a sucker for punishment, which means the F-Type has had its 5.0-litre V8 set to kill most days.

Engine response in its most aggressive mode is wonderfully immediate without being abrupt. You can modulate the throttle easily, without a fun-sapping dead zone early in the pedal travel. Blessed be supercharged engines, as I feel that the F-Type wouldn’t be half the riot it is using a pair of turbochargers instead of the current blower.

A raucous machine it is, with the low peak torque, high peak power combo meaning the P450 is able to punish its rear tyres at any rpm you decide to lay into it. The Jag exudes the kind of old-school wiley charm that is so often missing from modern machines.

It wiggles, shimmies, and shakes under hard acceleration, each moment you press beyond half throttle application an event.

We haven’t had the chance to performance test this particular vehicle, but when editor Enright and I were manning the Good Ship MOTOR, we strapped a VBOX to Jaguar Australia’s other P450 R-Dynamic press car at the annual Performance Car of the Year test at Phillip Island.

The numbers on that warm and sunny day were 4.81sec 0-100km/h, and a quarter mile slip of 12.94sec @ 183.7km/h. Only a couple tenths off the official 4.6 second claim, but who cares about numbers on a spreadsheet when the launches are this much of an event?

Finally I’ve taken to choosing the less sporty of the transmission settings, as I can leave the Jag in its regular drive mode and the eight-speed will slip between ratios subtly, but still flick the central gear selector over to sport when required.

Doing so sees the F-Type jump down a handful of ratios, hold onto gears higher into the rev range, and downshift intuitively when braking. If I choose to go one further selecting gears with the wheel-mounted paddle shifters is a grin-inducing good time.

Now to Dynamic-I’s biggest misstep. A quirk of Jag’s system is that it replaces the standard Sport setting. For me that’s not the end of the world as I can jump back in and tweak as needed before a mountain drive, but it does mean you sacrifice a drive mode setting to make use of the customisation.

With the ability to adjust the F-Type to my exacting tastes, it’s also a little disappointing that the ESC system’s only two settings are full on, and completely disengaged.

I bring this up, as I’ve found the ESC in the Jag not up to the more sophisticated standards of some rivals, often reacting to minor wheelspin or yaw moments with sudden clamping of brakes which can upset the car’s balance in what are often high-speed moments.

A middle of the road ESC setting would be a brilliant addition to the car’s customisation suite. Without it the driver is forced to choose between a system which is over zealous in its interventions, or going without a safety net entirely.

The lesser of two evils is the former, which is a shame as I feel the Jag’s chassis and tyres have so much more to give before its electronics enforce its inevitable powertrain lockdown in brutal fashion.

You may not be able to get everything you want, but the F-Type certainly goes close.

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2022 Jaguar F-Type P450 R-Dynamic specifications