As Jaguar’s most powerful and athletic offering, the F-type R coupe—and convertible—combine brute force with gorgeous and fashionable sheetmetal. Powered by a 550-hp supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 mated to an eight-speed automatic and all-wheel drive, the F-type R can hustle with the best of them. It also heralds its sporting intentions with a cacophony of cracks and pops from its exhaust. The real beauty is in the handling, thanks to a well-tuned suspension and a smart brake-based torque-vectoring system. Like its counterpartner, the R form of the Jaguar F-sort convertible brings up an issue: When is a hot car with provocative great looks, heaps of push, and gunfighter reflexes a supercar?
Our semiofficial position on this smoldering inquiry is that an auto merits supercar status when it joins uncommon execution with fascinating looks, constrained accessibility, and uninhibited style. The Jaguar F-sort R is stopped simply outside that paddock. So what's the issue? For one, there are lesser forms of the F-sort moving around out there, with a V-6 motor. You don't see any section level versions of the McLaren P1 or, somewhat closer to earth, the Ferrari 488GTB.
Also, as far as execution, the F-sort R isn't exactly on the same level as some of its somewhat more marvelous supercar rivals. In a late examination test, for instance, the Mercedes-AMG GT S bested the F-sort R car in verging on each target execution class. On the other hand, full-on supercars are more costly than this Jag. The previously stated AMG GT S, for instance, begins at $130,820, with an as-tried cost of $151,065
By difference, the beginning figure for the F-sort R droptop is $107,435, with alternatives raising the stake to $113,540 on our test auto. Despite the fact that autos of this kind are for people with noteworthy packs of discretionary cashflow to apply to thn't bother with a mini-computer to comprehend that these dollar distinctions are significant.
Classifications notwithstanding, it’s interesting to note that the ragtop F-type R delivers performance that is identical to the stats posted by the coupe in the aforementioned comparison test. That’s probably because the curb weights of that coupe and this convertible are within 12 pounds of each other—in fact, the coupe is the heavier of the two.
What this tells us is that Jaguar didn’t have to add extensive gussets or bracing to the convertible to compensate for structural rigidity lost by removing the top. It also tells us that the F-type is a little on the pudgy side. Furthermore, a pretty high proportion of its mass is biased to the front—almost 54 percent, unusual for a design that’s rear-drive based. That front weight bias, and all-wheel drive, probably contributes to the Jag’s mild understeer when pushed to its limits. But the F-type’s limits are way up there, with 0.96 g of lateral grip. The combination of a stiff structure, firm suspension tuning, torque vectoring, and sticky Pirelli P Zero rubber give the Jaguar the grip of a bat clinging to a wall. However, we also found the car a little unpredictable on the skidpad, thanks to the rear-biased all-wheel-drive system, which allows a little power-on oversteer at first before apportioning some of the power to the front wheels, to rein things in. Despite that, all of the foregoing, plus one of the most accurate and informative electric power steering setups out there, inspires huge confidence at the wheel.
The tremendous grip leads to a different kind of problem, one that’s common to all cars in this rarefied performance category. Exploring the heady limits of this car’s cornering capabilities on public roads requires speeds that are guaranteed to provoke disapproval by badge-wearers driving vehicles with red and blue light racks. Not to mention local citizens who might show up at your home with torches and pitchforks, angry about the F-type’s exhaust, which they’ve likely mistaken for errant gunfire.
But the sound issuing from the exhaust system when the driver calls for full speed ahead is intoxicating. Find a straight stretch of highway, preferably deserted, drop the top (one switch handles everything), and tramp on the loud pedal, and you can imagine yourself conning a D-type Jag down the Mulsanne straight en route to victory at the 1955 Le Mans 24-hour race.
Okay, the F-type lacks the D-type’s outrageous jet-age dorsal fin. On the other hand, the F-type certainly is no wallflower, and its brakes make the D’s binders seem like something out of The Flintstones. We were a little disappointed that the ragtop’s stopping distance from 70 mph didn’t match the coupe’s 135-foot number, but 148 feet is hardly feeble, and the fade-free repeatability factor is race-worthy.
The eight-speed automatic transmission is another strong point. While we always like to see a manual-transmission option, particularly in a sports car , this automatic hammers gearchanges far faster than you could move a manual lever through the gates. We can't say we're rocking the boat in regards to the F-sort's particular, electronic movement lever, yet it's a unique little something that presumably would get to be straightforward to a proprietor after some time. Whatever remains of the inside is perfectly sized, great looking, and wonderfully selected. In the event that there's any complain it's somewhat high inside clamor levels at turnpike speeds with the top up—past simply the fumes note—rendering the Meridian sound system pretty much superfluous.
However, the main issue here is a convertible games auto that conveys excellent execution and a major measurements of cachet at a value that appears to be just about to be a deal by supercar principles. Rock and roll, that word once more., if the Jag F-sort R convertible doesn't exactly qualify as a supercar, it is obviously a super price car.
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