2016 Jaguar F-Type S Coupe Quick Spin [w/video]

2016 Jaguar F-Type S Coupe Quick Spin [w/video]A Firm Handshake Goes A Long WayImage Credit: Seyth MiersmaImage Credit: Seyth MiersmaImage Credit: Seyth MiersmaImage Credit: Seyth MiersmaImage Credit: Seyth MiersmaImage Credit: Seyth MiersmaImage Credit: Seyth MiersmaImage Credit: Seyth MiersmaImage Credit: Seyth MiersmaImage Credit: Seyth MiersmaImage Credit: Seyth MiersmaImage Credit: Seyth Miersma2016 F-TYPEMSRP$65,000ShopReviewsMore PhotosJaguar F-Type R-S Spy Shots2016 Jaguar F-Type: LA 20142016 Jaguar F-Type S - Manual2016 Jaguar F-Type R Coupe2016 Jaguar F-Type R Convertible2016 Jaguar F-Type S Coupe - AWDSeyth Miersma

Vital StatsEngine:SC 3.0L V6Power:380 HP / 339 LB-FTTransmission:6-Speed Manual0-60 Time:5.3 SecondsTop Speed:171 MPHDrivetrain:Rear-Wheel DriveEngine Placement:FrontCurb Weight:3,492 LBSSeating:2Cargo:11.0 CU-FTBase Price:$78,295The Jaguar F-Type – as either a coupe or a convertible – has proved easy to fall in love with. It's one of the best looking cars in the world, period. And it has been endowed since launch with lovely engine options on either end of the range, athletic rear-drive handling, and a tuneful exhaust that sets one's heart to thumping.

So how does Jaguar improve on such a winning formula? The answer that enthusiasts have hoped for is that Jag offer its sports machine with a traditional manual gearbox. And for the 2016 model year, those hopes have been fulfilled.

Always wiling to take one for the team, I flew out to New York state to drive the 2016 F-Type S Coupe, fitted with the new manual transmission. (The trip included time in the F-Type R AWD that you'll hear more about later, and a long stint in the Range Rover Sport SVR, so I wasn't exactly shy about requesting the gig.) The short version is that the F and the 6MT get along like special sauce, lettuce, and cheese. But for the detailed blow-by-blow follow along.

Driving Notes

So, how is the manual? That's the primary force animating this review, after all. The short answers are: great, fine, just dandy. The middleweight clutch (not too light, not too firm) is easy to operate at speed or in heavy traffic. The gearlever offers positive, smooth action, not particularly mechanical, with throws that are of average length. The closest analogous experience I've had is with BMW manuals, though the Jag's clutch is slicker.But the biggest win for the stick shift in the F-Type is spiritual (if you'll excuse my being a bit romantic). This is after all the heir to the E-Type legend, a stirring rear-drive coupe (or convertible) that looks like wet sex and goes like heaving hell. The eight-speed automatic will continue to offer a more modern driving experience, but the manual just feels right with the car.You're going to have to prefer that kind of purity over outright speed to get the manual, too. Jag with sell you a hand-shaker with the base, 340-horsepower F-Type or the 380-horse F-Type S, but not with the V8 or new-for-'16 AWD variants.The supercharged V6 in the S is far from disappointing. Keep the sport exhaust active and you're likely to be the best sounding thing on the road that day, unless you run up on a coffee klatch of Ferraris. Third gear reveals enough torque to pull hellaciously through tight corners, and enough top end to triple the speed limit on the roads that offer those bendy bits (not that I ever would).Handling on those same roads is exceedingly pleasurable, though not edge-sharp. Jaguar has a nice balance of ride quality and flat-cornering ability here, well suited for spirited weekend driving or even casual cruising. The F-Type S never feels stressful or edgy. It also doesn't feel as sharp as a Porsche Cayman or Boxster, or as mean-minded as a Nissan 370Z. I'd prefer the F-Type Coupe to look at, but the Porsche version of the $70k-ish sports car formula is ultimately more rewarding for me to drive. Your results may vary.Take a gander at the video we shot in the F-Type, and the scale of my head alone should give away the fact that I'm a gigantic human. At six-feet and five-inches tall, around 240 pounds, I fit into the F-Type coupe, but just. The seats go low to the floor so headroom is decent (I even wore a helmet in the F-Type Coupe R at the track). But laterally I'm almost too wide for the side bolsters, and my knees wouldn't be unsuitable for turning on the windshield wipers if I were feeling acrobatic. You regular people should slide in just fine.Visibility on the sides and at the rear, is going to be challenging for any sized driver, however. The low, raked glasshouse provides an unblemished forward view, but I was twitching like a squirrel on the highway shoulder when trying to change lanes in city traffic. Easy solution: drive fast enough to stay ahead of the pack.Just make sure you have a good grasp on where you're headed while pacing the field. JLR doesn't have a great navigation system in its toolbox, and I was constantly almost missing my turns trying to follow the breadcrumbs on this one. Small complaint for a sports car in the era of smart phones, but one weak point in the F-Type armor, nevertheless.
I'm not sure that any measurable factor is made better by this new ZF six-speed. But I hardly care. A fast, foxy machine has been made more involving to drive by way of the new transmission, and shoppers should give it a hard look before they plunk down their cash.Featured Gallery2016 Jaguar F-Type S Coupe Manual: Quick Spin

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2016 Jaguar F-Type review: We drive Jag's stick-shift sports car

AWD F-Type also available, but a manual-transmission V8 remains forbidden fruit

What is it?

You might think of the 2016 Jaguar F-Type as a plan to stay ahead of the curve. You might also think of it as a positive sign for Jaguar’s long-term health. We prefer to think of the ’16 F-Type as a purist’s dream, thanks to the clutch pedal now available in the driver’s foot box.

We all know the F-Type --the classically inspired, two-place beauty that has been called a spiritual successor to the renowned E-Type. The F has been a success by nearly any measure, most particularly at building image and momentum for its brand, and Jaguar wants to keep it that way. So it’s spending pounds to beat the odds.

Those odds say cars of the F-Type’s ilk flash brightly after their debut and fizzle quickly, with sales trailing downward after the second or third year. 

2016 Jaguar F-Type V6 Manual Photo by Jaguar

That’s were Jaguar’s plan comes in. It launched the F-Type as a roadster for 2014 and added the coupe for ’15. For 2016, just two years in, Jag is revamping F-Type in an effort to keep it fresh and enhance its appeal. In the context of Jaguar’s financial struggles through many preceding decades, this proactive approach seems almost like extravagance.

The ’16 F-Type update starts with a longer warranty, free scheduled maintenance, some mechanical improvements and more features and equipment for the money. Yet two big-ticket items are most likely to turn an enthusiast driver’s head: optional all-wheel-drive and a conventional manual transmission.

The new six-speed manual will be offered only with the F-Type’s 3.0-liter V6 --still available at 340 hp in the base model and 380 hp in the V6 S. It’s aimed primarily at the United States, which remains the world’s largest market for manual transmissions, thank you. Jag has passed on electronic trickery such as rev matching and launch control, but that’s a function of purity of purpose. It shouldn’t imply that the manual is an old-school lug.

2016 Jaguar F-Type V6 Manual Photo by Jaguar

Supplied by ZF, the F-Type six-speed has an aluminum case and pressurized lubrication, rather than the typical oil bath/splash process. A small mechanical pump sprays oil on the gear teeth, bearings and synchronizer rings. While the pump does add a small amount of weight, it reduces drag losses and requires substantially less lubricant. It’s installed with a dual-mass flywheel to improve NVH and a single-plate dry clutch. Weight drops 23 pounds from the F-Type’s eight-speed torque-converter automatic.

The all-wheel-drive option is less about turning F-Type into an all-season sports car and more about expanding its performance envelope, all the while “maintaining the purity of the F-Type experience,” according to chief program engineer David Tite. The basic AWD layout is similar to that used on some Land Rover products, minus the two-speed transfer case.

In the F-Type, it starts with a power take-off at the south end of the transmission, electro-magnetically engaged with a multiplate wet clutch. From there, a shaft runs north along the left side of the transmission to the front differential, mounted on the left side of the engine sump. The half-shaft to the right front wheel runs through a channel in the sump, and the rear differential actively distributes torque from side to side. The AWD package adds 175 pounds and alters the F-Type’s weight distribution slightly -- to 49 percent front, 50 rear, from 48/52 for rear-drive, according to Tite. 

2016 Jaguar F-Type V6 Manual Photo by Jaguar

The default AWD torque split is 100 percent rear, and the traction management is designed to minimize application of front-wheel power. Jag’s Intelligent Driveline Dynamics protocol goes like this: torque vectoring with individual brakes at any wheel, then redistribution of rear-wheel torque with the active rear diff, and finally a power shot to the front wheels. Tite says the typical front-wheel burst might amount to 20 percent of the torque. While the system can operate at up to a 50/50 split, that’s likely only in a near-catastrophic event...or with a deliberate effort to induce an opposite-lock power slide.

AWD is optional on V6 F-Types with the eight-speed automatic, and standard with the 550-hp/502 lb-ft, 5.0-liter V8. For ’16, all V8s—coupe and roadster—will be line-topping R models, and the R suspension has been retuned. Springs and bushings are 10 percent stiffer, and the adaptive shocks have been recalibrated.

2016 F-Types will also be the first Jaguars with electric steering assist. Hite insists the change comes down to one thing: “The technology has matured to the point where the degradation in feel no longer outweighs the efficiency gains.” The Jag system adds a stiffer-than-’15 intermediate steering shaft and mates the electric assist motor to the shaft with a belt. The steering is not integrated into any safety or crash avoidance system. 

2016 Jaguar F-Type V8 AWD Convertible Photo by Jaguar

The base ’16 F-type will add standard keyless start, 14-way full power seats and the top-spec, 770-watt Meridian Surround Sound audio. All coupes get a panoramic glass roof, and the lighter metal roof is no longer available (there’s an optional carbon-fiber roof panel for $3,200). V6 S models add standard adaptive sport suspension and more driver tailored electronic control options. The standard warranty extends to five years, 60,000 miles -- longest in the class -- with full maintenance included through that period.

F-Types with all-wheel-drive are on sale now, and the manual trans should be widely available this summer. The base F-Type V6 starts at $65,000 for a manual coupe, before the $995 destination charge, and $68,100 for a roadster. The line-topping R retails and $103,600 coupe, $106,450 convertible. Options, including carbon-ceramic brakes, can add $30,000. Yet F-Type prices remain substantially below German competitors like the Porsche 911, Mercedes-AMG GT S or Audi A8, coming closer to Corvette territory.

Jaguar sold exactly 4,112 F-Types in the United States in calendar 2014 -- up 83 percent compared to 2013. If 4,112 doesn’t seem like a lot, understand that it was nearly a third of Jaguar’s total U.S. sales for the year. F-Type is up another 52 percent through April, 2015, and the company says it has done more than any vehicle in decades to put Jaguar back on luxury buyers’ shopping lists.

Which explains the significant investment for the third model year, and Jaguar’s plan to launch three vehicles -- an all-new, aluminum XF intermediate sedan, the 3-Series fighting XE and the F-Pace SUV -- by the middle of 2016.  It also suggests a commitment from the Indian conglomerate Tata to continued prudent and appropriate investment in the Jaguar brand. For Jaguar loyalists, that can’t be bad.

 

 

2016 Jaguar F-Type V8 AWD Convertible Photo by Jaguar

How’s it drive?

The F-Type is mostly fun, and in an age of electronically sanitized high-performance sports cars, maybe even old school. It lacks some of the refinement of its German competitors, but find the right road on the right day and you won’t care a bit. At anything above a stately pace, the F-Type is consistently exciting.

In the F-Type R, the new all-wheel-drive achieves its intended purpose, which is helping balance 550 hp and making the R a tick faster, if no less thrilling. This is not the most aggressive AWD on the planet, and maybe not the smoothest. Even with the stability electronics engaged, heavy throttle after an apex will generate a lot of lateral slip at the rear wheels as the computer runs through its protocol -- brake management, rear-wheel torque distribution and finally a dose of front-wheel torque. And just when you think the car is about to swap ends, the fronts power up to help the R pull itself back in line and out onto the next straight. There’s still more than enough rope to allow an imprudent driver to hang himself. 

2016 Jaguar F-Type V8 AWD Convertible Photo by Jaguar

The new electric steering assist is no downgrade, either, thanks mainly to the judicious application of that assist and the belt between boost motor and steering shaft. Indeed, the F-Type’s steering might be a little more communicative than the typically vaunted systems in its Teutonic competitors, specifically the 911. It never feels over-boosted.

The F-Type is never slow communicating its intentions or limits, and it’s always quick. All its engines are tuned to emphasize mid-range response, and they get rolling quickly. You don’t have to be banging redline to feel the rush.

So what’s not to like? Depends on your priorities, or maybe just your preferences. If you prefer to put more burden on your own skill, or to trust your own instincts, there’s nothing not to like. Still, the F-Type R’s suspension feels stiffer than some of its competitors when it’s used merely for road-going conveyance, and that means more shake, rattle and hum. Its cockpit feels more cramped, and there’s less recline in its seats. While 11 cubic feet of cargo volume might sound reasonable in a car of this sort, it’s 22 percent less than a 911, without counting the space in the Porsche’s faux rear seat. The Jag’s space isn’t as usefully configured, either.  

The new manual? From the purist’s perspective, how can it go wrong? When other manufacturers are moving away from manuals, even in their sports cars, Jaguar is adding one to the F-Type. That alone merits a standing ovation.

2016 Jaguar F-Type V8 AWD Coupe Photo by Jaguar

And there’s nothing to overlook or excuse. There are no electronic gizmos here to match revs and convince the world you’ve mastered the art of heel-toe downshifts even if you haven’t, or to allow you to keep the gas pedal flat when you engage the clutch for upshifts. We don’t care about that. Maybe you do.

The ratios in the manual are close, but not too close. At a moderate pace, a reasonably competent driver can routinely manage shifts that will seem to a passenger or pedestrian as smooth and seamless as those from a torque-converter automatic. Gear-change throws are not the shortest, but they’re not long. The action is accurate, easy and nicely weighted, and the clutch goes from open to shut in a short span of pedal. It’s easy to master in short order.

A foot box originally shaped for two pedals gets a little more crowded with three, but we had no problems at all with the space. And the while the F-Type V6 S is plenty quick -- low 5s to 60 mph -- it’s not going to be as quick as the automatic, in either lap or acceleration times. No driver is going to make up for the lack of launch control or fewer ratios, no matter how close those ratios are.

2016 Jaguar F-Type V8 AWD Coupe Photo by Jaguar

Perfect, no, but the F-Type V6 S manual gets our vote as the car. We say that not because we’re happy it exists, but because it’s the car we’d most enjoy driving on a daily basis, even with the occasional track day. Any reluctance to make that call -- that the V6 S manual is the F-Type -- has nothing to do with the effort or tedium of working a clutch during a morning commute, or when you’re queued up leaving a ball game or a show. It has nothing to do with forgoing the prestige associated with the V8’s R badge. The reluctance is simply that we’d enjoy the R’s 170 extra horsepower.

If you feel the same way, there’s no point waiting around for a V8 manual. It’s not coming.

2016 Jaguar F-Type V8 AWD Coupe Photo by Jaguar

Do I want it?

It depends on your hierarchy of hero cars. The F-Type lacks the polish and, by extension, the sophistication of a 911 or R8. It lacks the cachet of a Ferrari California T, and in certain respects, it’s less comfortable than any of them.

On the other hand, the F-Type is substantially less expensive than any of those, which by definition makes it more accessible. It’s arguably the purest car among its Euro competitors, and it’s no slouch in any respect.

If excitement and craft are important in your hierarchy, then you won’t go wrong. If you’re looking for that in a package that is both gorgeous and reasonably priced by up-front and operating costs, you want it.

The F-Type manual is an increasingly rare creature among thoroughbred sports cars. 

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The Imitation Game: Jaguar F-type R Coupe vs. Mercedes-AMG GT S, Porsche 911 Carrera GTS

From the June 2015 issue

For the last five decades, the toughest question for any buyer of a high-end sports car has been: “How do I not end up with a 911?” To describe Porsche’s most famous product as a default choice is a faint-praise damning of what has become the world’s most iconic sports car. But it’s also an acknowledgment that to get a car as capable and well-rounded as a 911, you have to get, well, a 911.

There have been many challengers, of course, including one made by Porsche itself (the 928). But despite what every boxing movie has assured us about plucky underdogs, none have succeeded in wholly unseating this champ, certainly not in the hearts of the people who actually write checks for real cars. It’s a point proven by a trawl around the paddock of any upmarket track day or the parking lot of any plastic surgeon’s clinic.

Only now, for the first time, the 911 faces a direct challenge from Stuttgart’s other native carmaker. Having failed to set the supercar world alight with the gullwing SLS, Mercedes-Benz has opted to move down a segment with the AMG-engineered GT, a car that targets the 911 with almost stalkerlike intensity. The range-topping GT S we’re testing here has the most powerful version of AMG’s new 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8—503 horsepower—and it carries a base price of $130,825, which buys what is, by the sometimes stingy a la carte standards of the segment, a rather generous list of amenities.

All of which limits our choice of 911. The 520-hp 911 Turbo is closest in terms of pure oomph, but it is about $20,000 more expensive before you’ve ticked a single option box. The Carrera GTS is $15,000 cheaper than the AMG GT S, but well down on power. Knowing that even a moderate options workout would push the Porsche beyond price parity with the Mercedes-AMG, that’s the ­version we picked. Despite its name, the GTS is more of a Carrera S-plus than a junior GT3, bringing the fractionally wider Carrera 4 bodyshell and the drive-sharpening Sport Chrono kit and PASM adaptive suspension, plus a 30-hp increase in output to 430.

That brings us to the odd one out, because it’s not German and not rear-wheel drive—but it’s still the next-closest thing to a 911. Despite being on sale for less than a year, the Jaguar F-type R coupe has just received a four-wheel-drive system that will, henceforth, be standard on all U.S. versions. In this company, it’s a perform­ance bargain, with a 550-hp version of Jaguar’s supercharged V-8 and a $104,595 base price. And when we requested a representative U.S.-spec car in Germany, Jaguar went to the considerable trouble of shipping this one straight from the factory, complete with Yankee-red rear turn signals and a navigation unit that reckoned we were 4000 miles from the nearest road.

After gathering performance figures on the runway of the Adolf Würth Airport, our chosen driving location is the Black Forest, about an hour west of Stuttgart and home to most of Germany’s spa towns, from Baden-Baden to Bad Herrenalb and even Bad Wildbad, which is so Bad it has to be good. The region is also known for its epony­mous kirsch-soaked cake that, by trying really hard, we managed to avoid. A home-field advantage to the Germans then, although some of the mountain roads around here would be considered driving nirvana wherever they were situated. Let the battle rage.

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Jaguar XE-R aims straight for the BMW M3

Hotter sport sedan expected to use 488 hp V8 engine from F-Type Roadster

The 2017 Jaguar XE -- the automaker's BMW 3-series fighter -- isn't even on store shelves, but a hotter version is already in the works, Autocar reports. The Jaguar XE-R will take on the BMW M3, Cadillac ATS-V and the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, and will make use of the corporate V8 from the F-Type roadster. The V8 unit in question is a supercharged 5.0-liter unit that produces 488 hp and 461 lb-ft of torque in the roadster.

This engine is expected to propel Jaguar's newest offering to 62 mph in less than five seconds. The XE-R will also reportedly feature a reworked eight-speed automatic transmission, courtesy of ZF, as well as retuned adaptive dampers from the F-Type S, in addition to other suspension tweaks.

Autocar reports that the XE-R will probably be priced to take on the BMW M3 directly, which in the U.S. market will likely mean a starting price of around $63,000. As powerful as the XE-R will be, Autocar believes that there is still room at the top of the range for a version by Jaguar Land Rover's SVO, the recently created Special Vehicle Operations division.

Car News 2017 Jaguar XE: Complete US market details

Jaguar has finally published details of the U.S.-market XE sport sedan that will land on our shores come next spring. The XE sedan made its North American debut at the New York auto show last month, ...

The civilian-spec versions of Jaguar's sport sedan will debut before the XE-R sees light, and will land stateside next spring as 2017 models. The base version in the range will actually be the XE 20d, using the Ingenium aluminum-block four-cylinder diesel engine good for 180 hp and 318 lb-ft of torque. The other model will be called the XE 35t, and will feature a supercharged 3.0-liter V6 engine tuned for 340 hp and 332 lb-ft of torque. The XE 35t will itself boast a 4.9-second sprint to 60 mph, so the XE-R model will have no choice but to best that number by a good margin.

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