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jcreator
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 JaguarThat’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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