Johnny's F-Type R
Discussion
As I explained at some length in this thread six months ago, I had made the change over the last few years to having Golf R Estate as my sensible weekend car (I have a van for work) and recently an Up! GTI as a fun-in-the-lanes/local trips car.
The head thought this was a great combo. The previous 'fun' car was my owned-from-new Focus RS, which was rather unsuited to fun driving on Dorset roads. But it was properly quick, made a nice noise, and made me laugh like a sugar-filled toddler when I accelerated.
The heart kept pointing out that neither the Up! nor the Golf did the last two. As I am close to inheriting some money, the heart temporarily disabled the head and I bought this thing:
As Jaguar nerds and people that can read will be able to tell from the next shot, it's the V8 R model...
...but crucially the AWD model, as I am probably not a good enough driver to handle 542 bhp through the rear wheels. Even in this spec, it surprised me by a flamboyant tail wiggle when I attempted to exit a junction rather quickly.
The head was insisting I wait until I had the money to buy it, but this one showed up very close to where I live in exactly the spec I wanted, so I bought most of it and financed the rest! The colour is 'Black Berry' which is a super dark metallic purple. To all intents looks metallic black, but having had a series of very bright cars I wanted something subtle but still interesting.
I also badly wanted the 'part red' leather seats below: the full red is much easier to find but the whole dash and the seats are red, which IMHO is overkill.
Finally - and crucially as I'm a big lad and it affords me an extra inch or two of headroom - it has the panoramic glass roof, not obvious due to the colour, which again I quite like.
Biggest downside was that it looked like it had been cleaned with a brillo pad. Apparently this is a downside to this paint colour as it's very prone to scratching. The dealer was extremely keen to sell me this car, but curiously unwilling to move on price (after I bought it they admitted they'd paid more for it as a trade in than I did
) so they threw every extra product at me they could, and at my particular insistence, had a 3rd party firm in to machine polish and ceramic coat it. Now it looks amazing.
First impressions?
The head thought this was a great combo. The previous 'fun' car was my owned-from-new Focus RS, which was rather unsuited to fun driving on Dorset roads. But it was properly quick, made a nice noise, and made me laugh like a sugar-filled toddler when I accelerated.
The heart kept pointing out that neither the Up! nor the Golf did the last two. As I am close to inheriting some money, the heart temporarily disabled the head and I bought this thing:
As Jaguar nerds and people that can read will be able to tell from the next shot, it's the V8 R model...
...but crucially the AWD model, as I am probably not a good enough driver to handle 542 bhp through the rear wheels. Even in this spec, it surprised me by a flamboyant tail wiggle when I attempted to exit a junction rather quickly.
The head was insisting I wait until I had the money to buy it, but this one showed up very close to where I live in exactly the spec I wanted, so I bought most of it and financed the rest! The colour is 'Black Berry' which is a super dark metallic purple. To all intents looks metallic black, but having had a series of very bright cars I wanted something subtle but still interesting.
I also badly wanted the 'part red' leather seats below: the full red is much easier to find but the whole dash and the seats are red, which IMHO is overkill.
Finally - and crucially as I'm a big lad and it affords me an extra inch or two of headroom - it has the panoramic glass roof, not obvious due to the colour, which again I quite like.
Biggest downside was that it looked like it had been cleaned with a brillo pad. Apparently this is a downside to this paint colour as it's very prone to scratching. The dealer was extremely keen to sell me this car, but curiously unwilling to move on price (after I bought it they admitted they'd paid more for it as a trade in than I did
) so they threw every extra product at me they could, and at my particular insistence, had a 3rd party firm in to machine polish and ceramic coat it. Now it looks amazing. First impressions?
- It's far too fast for the roads in north Dorset. Anything more than 1/4 throttle is completely pointless. It's also too wide to be fun on small roads - though actually almost identical in width to my old Focus RS.
- If you press the right buttons it's hilariously loud. I can't believe the standard exhaust was signed off.
- In normal mode - and this was a huge surprise - it's a fairly subdued, comfortable cruiser. Crucially, this means it has passed the 'OH test'. If it was a raw noisy thug all the time she'd never want to go anywhere in it.
The rest looks great.
Thats lovely, and the pan roof adds a lot to the internal ambience, especially with the dark headlining.
Jag paint is generally soft and picks up marks from anything above a leaf blown by a gentle breeze...
I've been tempted more than once, but woudl need to part with something first..
Enjoy!
Jag paint is generally soft and picks up marks from anything above a leaf blown by a gentle breeze...
I've been tempted more than once, but woudl need to part with something first..
Enjoy!
Lovely car, great colour too.
For me these are one of the best sounding cars on the road. Pure filth!
How do you find the comfort of the seats?
I sold my 2015 RWD R last year and I loved it but was just seeking something a little different. I found the seat leather extremely hard. The steering wheel too chunky and the sound system one of the worst I’d ever experienced……however all was forgotten when you took it for a blast. Epic sounding, relentless surge and gorgeous looking. I do miss mine for those three things. Being RWD it was a tad lively too :-)
For me these are one of the best sounding cars on the road. Pure filth!
How do you find the comfort of the seats?
I sold my 2015 RWD R last year and I loved it but was just seeking something a little different. I found the seat leather extremely hard. The steering wheel too chunky and the sound system one of the worst I’d ever experienced……however all was forgotten when you took it for a blast. Epic sounding, relentless surge and gorgeous looking. I do miss mine for those three things. Being RWD it was a tad lively too :-)
Beautiful car! As my Jag XKR hits 200,000 miles sometime in the next couple of weeks, I keep thinking about what I will add to the garage when it is no longer the most reliable, enjoyable car I've ever owned. Anyone who has owned a 5.0L supercharged Jag V8 knows just how incredible these engines are. With depreciation taking its toll, F type Rs are now down in the range of 8 or 9 year old XKRs which are escalating in price rapidly. I would not be surprised if one of them ends up at my house in the near future. Great choice, will be interested in hearing your experiences in future posts.
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