"Isn't that your F-Type?" Matt and I had just wandered out for some lunch and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Firesand Orange F-Type S Coupe that was just passing rather stood out. After all, who else would spec one in this colour? It was the right day for the car to be arriving. But, no, he cleared off up Twickenham High Street, exhaust booming, and that was that. A couple of minutes later he passed going the other way. A minute later once again, in his original direction with vehicular body language suggesting a degree of desperation and confusion.
Now this is what sports car should look like!
We waited at the traffic island, awaiting the inevitable return pass. Sure enough... A face emerged from the driver's window. "Are you Dan?" Hurrah!
So welcome to the PH Fleet OV66 EUH, the Jaguar F-Type S Coupe I specced some way back now. With the SVR returned its replacement may well come from the same stable. But it promises to be a very different experience.
Motivation for speccing this particular F-Type was to build the most PH Jaguar we could assemble from the configurator. The obvious answer to this might have seemed 'the fastest' and swapping Range Rover's first SVR product for Jaguar's equivalent.
Instead we've set our sights a little more realistically and attempted a more traditionalist approach. Which lasted until I (perhaps rashly) opened up the colour choice to an office vote. Anyway, mechanically we've gone for rear-wheel drive in the most powerful F-Type you can have with a manual gearbox, which is the 380hp V6 S. Since the F-Type first appeared the consensus has been the V6s drive a little more nicely than the admittedly bombastic V8s. Time to see if this plays out. Likewise the manual.
For a time it seemed as if the manual sports car was dying out completely. With the Cayman GT4 and 911 R Porsche seems to be responding to the noisy minority (the likes of us, basically) claiming to place 'interaction' ahead of outright performance. Further up the pecking order Aston Martin also seems to think there are enough diehards to sustain manual versions of its most driver focused models. As such we may have picked our moment perfectly, the pendulum seemingly swinging back to more 'touchy-feely' thrills.
We quite like these in sports cars too
From evocative exhaust note to transmission to mechanical locking diff there's certainly plenty of old-school charm in this package. In the cold light of day and over six months of 'real world' use will this still appeal as anything other than amusing novelty? We shall see.
The price certainly isn't old-school. £2,495 carbon fibre roof aside I thought I'd been relatively restrained with the spec. The £71,880 bottom line would appear to beg to differ.
Could have been worse, the manual S starting price of £60,775 nearly £1,800 cheaper than the automatic and £6,640 less than the £67,415 asked for the automatic AWD version. I should add that in terms of my options spend there are more expensive wheels than the 20-inch black Centrifuge ones I went for. And, OK, £2,495 for Performance Seats isn't cheap but, again, you can spend more if you go for Suedecloth coverings. I could have gone for the £1,330 Super Performance brakes too but stuck with High Performance items standard on the S (£310 extra for black calipers) with the same 380mm front discs but standard 325mm ones on the rear. Ceramics are £9,080 with the Storm wheel but only available on the automatic for some reason. Finally, my belated realisation that I should have gone for the Exterior Black Sport Design Pack to match the window, side vents and grille surrounds to the wheels and roof didn't get picked up in time. So I've got chrome trim and £2,315 saved off the price.
Firesand Orange a £715 option
£72K is a lot of money though. Near as dammit what my
previous M4
long-termer cost, complete with ceramic brakes and a load of options ticked. More than a full press car spending spree on a
718 Cayman S
with carbon bucket seats, PCCBs and a ton of other goodies. Not a million miles off a GT-R even. Different ways of spending this kind of money, but all with pretty strong selling points.
That manual/diff/RWD combo had better be bloody good!
As it stands I've had my first mooch up the M1, enjoying the short-lived new car smell and generally re-adjusting to being closer to the ground than I was in the Range Rover. For all the extrovert nature it cruises very nicely, a switch to Dynamic mode and a well-timed set of slip roads as I hit 1,000 miles showing an angrier and more exciting side: some additional noise and the interior mood lighting going from cool blue to angry red. Little details that, I hope, point to a sense of fun I'll enjoy exploring in more depth.
FACT SHEET
Car: Jaguar F-Type S Coupe
Run by: Dan
On fleet since: October 2016
Mileage: 777 (on delivery)
List price new: £71,880 (Basic list of £60,775 plus Firesand Orange paint £715; Jet leather facings and Firesand stitch £0; Jet/Firesand Interior £0; Dark Hex Aluminium centre console £0, 20-inch Cyclone wheels in black £1,785; High Performance Brake System with black calipers £310; Visibility Pack inc. heated windscreen and Auto High Beam Assist £1,100; Premium Leather Interior with Performance Seats £2,495; Parking Pack inc. front parking sensors and rear view camera £515; illuminated metal treadplates with Jaguar script £255; Meridian 770W Digital Surround Sound System £1,380 and Carbon Fibre Roof £2,550)
Last month at a glance: Mmm, that new car smell...