Fresh faced

£75,470

Upsizing. It’s not a word that’s yet entered the automotive lexicon, but if this refreshed F-Type proves to be pioneering, it may do so soon. See, Jaguar’s sports car has had the biggest rejig of its seven-year life and those controversial new headlights aside, the biggest news story sits in the engine bay. Gone, in the UK at least, is the 3.0-litre supercharged V6 engine that powered the sweetest of all the Fs, replaced by a 5.0-litre V8. Just as nigh on every single carmaker is trimming the size of its engines to desperately limbo under increasingly lower emissions regulations…

You’ve still got the option of a friendlier, four-cylinder F-Type P300, while the wild F-Type R sits further up the range having gained the extra power and more focused suspension of the now-defunct SVR to ensure it’s a suitable halo for the range. But it’s the P450 in between we’re most interested in, with its extra pair of litres and cylinders. It goes against the grain, yet Jaguar expects it to take almost half of F-Type sales.

The engine itself is just like every other V8 that’s powered big boy Jags and Land Rovers for yonks: five litres in size, with a supercharger strapped on for extra response but smoother delivery of power than an equivalent turbo. Jaguar claims 450PS – or 444bhp – but in truth this engine feels fitter than its 123bhp deficit with the R suggests. This is a quick motor car, with peak torque arriving at a turbo-like 2,500rpm and its 4.6secs 0–62mph time a long way from shabby.

You’ve a choice of rear- and all-wheel drive with this P450, and where our previous advice was to pick the latter – early F-Types were boisterous old things in crummy conditions – the handling has matured to a point where we’d save weight and pick the former. It’s classier and more gentlemanly than ever, but still agile, exciting and possessing a sense of fun. While the exhaust starts up in a ‘quiet mode’, there’s a bunch of authentic pops and crackles when you’re wound up past 3,500rpm. The eight speeds of its always impressive paddleshift auto remain joyously short and it’s second nature to flick the stick across to manual and completely take control. This is the new sweet spot.

The dash is laid out exactly as before, which makes the neat integration of fully digital instruments much more impressive. It doesn’t feel particularly fresh in here, but nor does it feel dated: the F-Type’s natty detailing (‘deployable’ air vents, joystick gear selector) has aged far better than we dared hope and the cabin continues to feel special.

That does mean the F-Type’s old bugbears stick around, too. It’s wider and heavier to thread along narrow lanes than a comparative Porsche, the convertible’s luggage space is tiny and – with no head-up display and a limited suite of active safety systems – this car feels behind the times. Yet others will welcome its simpler, more traditional approach. The same folk who’ll adore the fact its engine has grown in size, we suspect. Don’t tell Greta, but we’re kinda with them.