Hold your horses – this Jag’s no drag

F-Type ‘lite’ proves power isn’t everything

AT the top right of today’s column you’ll come across my rant about the new BMW M5 super saloon and cars’ power outputs getting out of hand.

This doesn’t mean I’ve gone soft in old age. I’m just being realistic.

Also, experience tells me the fun you get out of driving a car is not related to how much power it’s got or how fast it goes.

And not how quickly it can do the rather pointless 0-62mph test.

Tens of thousands of people who love driving their classic cars will know what I mean.

Which brings us to this week’s road test of the Jaguar F-Type. We’ve driven this car before as a convertible and a coupe with several different engines from 380bhp V6s to a 575bhp supercharged V8 – but now it’s available for the first time with a 2-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine with a more modest 296bhp.

It’s now the cheapest F-Type you can buy – but has it enough poke for a proper sports car? It has virtually half the horsepower of the flagship SVR model, but does that mean it’s half as fun to drive? Is Goodwin talking nonsense? Let’s see. Both the coupe and convertible are available with the Ingenium four-cylinder engine.

We’ve driven both but we’ll stick with the coupe. I prefer it to the soft top because it’s more beautiful and you can actually fit some luggage into it. Oh, and it’s less expensive. The coupe costs £49,900 which makes it the only F-Type to slither in under 50 grand. Still expensive, but not too

outrageous for such a lovely looking motor.

Our test car is in R-Dynamic trim which adds another £3,700 to the price and bigger 19in wheels (the standards are 18in) plus a few styling additions.

First thing you’ll notice is the lack of thrilling noise. The F-Type’s V8 sounds amazing and the V6 isn’t bad either. But Jaguar’s engineers have made the fourcylinder sound sexy by synthesizing noise via the car’s audio speakers and fitting valves into the exhaust system that can be selected to open for more of a rumble.

The result of both ploys is quite effective, particularly with the sports setting selected (which opens the valves).

The really good news is the lighter weight of the four-cylinder engine means the whole car weighs 52kg less than the V6.

Only an eight-speed automatic gearbox is available, probably because experience with the manual version of the V6 car has proved nobody is interested in a manual gearbox in an F-Type.

Shame, as that would have saved more weight.

I haven’t been in an F-Type for over a year, but I can tell immediately the four-cylinder car is nicer to drive. The springs are slightly softer and the dampers have been adjusted to take into account the reduced weight in the nose.

The steering feels better too. And the performance? Jaguar quotes 0-60mph in 5.4sec. Fast enough to my mind. It certainly feels quick enough on the road. The top speed is 155mph which might look a bit feeble next to the SVR’s 190mph-plus, but is still good enough to get you a suspended prison sentence.

All you’ll miss in this new entrylevel Jag F-Type is not waking your neighbours up in the morning with a V8 (or V6) growl – and, depending on your ego, having only one exhaust pipe at the back instead of two.

Since both of those reasons would not bother me – and because I need to practise what I preach – I would choose this more modest model over all the others.