Maybe we are not thrilled with the coolest Jaguar F-Type, but we already miss it. He clings to an era that… no, it’s not going away. She’s already gone, and we’re just getting ready to realize it. The main bully of the Old World has begun a tactical retreat from his previous positions, and we want to remember what he is now, five minutes before the automotive world changes forever. In this material-four author’s columns of the editors of “Motor” and a cameo of the legendary Jaguar E-Type of 1963.
It is naive to believe that fast cars are needed so that their owners always have time everywhere. You can really rush behind the wheel only under the checkered flag, but a racing car and a road car are completely different things. Therefore, the main thing for which we so covet sports cars is emotions.
The thrill of domination and struggle, ecstasy and adrenaline rush, dopamine reward, and other similar experiences. For their sake, we get behind the wheel of a sports car. And the choice of a specific model depends on the proportion in which these ingredients are mixed. Therefore, manufacturers make sports cars unlike each other: loud and quiet, violent and delicate, brutal and refined, fast and not very.
The Jaguar F-Type R has its own unique formula that determines the range of entertainment available to the driver. The powerful 5-liter V8 with a mechanical supercharger provides “warp” thrust at any time and in any gear of the 8-speed automatic. In addition, after the recent restyling of the F-Type R, the box was reconfigured to a higher rate of fire on the model of the XE SV Project 8 hyper sedan, and the engine version was taken straight from the more powerful pre-styling F-Type SVR, now abolished.
Therefore, now there are 575 power forces and 700 “newtons” of torque, and at your disposal 300 km/h of maximum speed and 3.7 seconds to a hundred. Cool, but not a record — with similar power, the 911 Turbo is almost a second faster.
Just I will not undertake to claim that the acceleration of Porsche is more exciting, because Jaguar takes its voice. Unfortunately, after the restyling, the “Eureka” began to sound a little paler — under the pressure of standards, engineers had to add filters of nitrogen oxides and soot particles to the exhaust system.
But if you don’t know how the old F-Type R growls, then the current one is incomparable. And it’s not enough for me after once I was literally shot through by the Jericho exhaust of an F-Type prototype for the Pikes Peak race. I have never heard of a more deafening internal combustion piston reactor in my life.
To make the drama of acceleration match the soundtrack, the F-Type R is equipped with an all-wheel drive. But due to the fact that the design of the power plant turned out to be massive, transverse overloads are less impressive than longitudinal ones. In turn, the “Eureka” is banal heavy, and restyled wheels with expanded tires by 10 mm and a reconfigured suspension are trying in vain to disguise this.
To feel the real difference, you should take a ride on the version with a 300-horsepower turbo-four, in the chassis of which nothing has even been improved. Half as many driving wheels, cylinders, and power — and more fun! Because minus 200 kg of curb weight. We just need the right track, which we practically cannot find outside the Black Sea coast. So if you stay away from the track, then the chances of feeling the “wide bone” of the F-Type R are at least.
The worst Jaguar of our days is cool precisely because it does not require the driver to have the ability to enjoy driving. He himself offers simple and affordable tricks and joys. Show off, growl, shoot from the stop line, go on a trip.
I was thinking about it, trying to enjoy his glorious ancestor-attracted for a photoshoot by an early E-Type. The continuity of silhouettes does not guarantee a common spirit: unlike the F-Type, the ancestor does not have the energy of a sling. But in turns with him, there is a completely different level of dialogue: according to the degree of unity of technology with a person, the trip is more like controlling a skate or a bicycle!
The same applies to the fight against the” projectile”: I relaxed a little — and everything immediately went wrong. The transmission in our E-Type instance has been replaced with a synchronized Getrag (due to the design, it is almost impossible to drive on the original one), but the selectivity of the drive still resembles the UAZ one at best. The brakes are sluggish, and the landing is far from sporty-the associations are similar.
But the visibility of the panoramic bathyscaphe, the springy reactions of the chassis, and the unclouded communication on all controls turn the ride into an exciting job, where the buzz is mainly from the process, not from the result. Once, probably, it was the opposite. To say this with confidence, you would have to ride on other legends of the 1960s. After all, every car should be evaluated in the context of the era, and the modern F-Type R is no exception.
If earlier sports cars sinned with extra stress, now they are overweight. Back then, well-sealed doors were already considered comfortable, and today a fool-proof sensor is hidden under the trunk seal, so as not to pinch something with an electric drive. Then the engine’s voice sounded from under the hood, but today it depends on the position of the flap under the rear bumper. In 1963, the flap was generally the only one-in the carburetor. And it will be possible to smoothly overcome the resistance of its tight spring only after long hours of rolling into the car.
Thanks to our time, there is no need to fight with the F-Type R at all: sit down and have fun. And if you want more subtle materials, then for the same 10 million rubles you can find a good copy of the classic E-Type.
I always read the “STSK” of test cars: sometimes it is a real storehouse of creativity of traffic police officers and ready-made humorous blanks for stand-up. So this time, after receiving the documents and keys from the orange Jaguar F-Type, I look at the laminated card. In the column model, it is written: “Jaguar Ef-Type with a motor…”. This time there are no jokes, here I completely agree with the inspectors — this motor is worth a separate mention.
A five-liter compressor “eight” with a capacity of 575 horsepower, which on a pre-styling coupe sounded like that mother is dear. A special thrill was in the launch of “on the cold”: you leave early in the morning to shoot, get into a car parked in a typical courtyard “box” of houses where the acoustics are like in an opera house, press the Start/Stop button pulsating with red illumination and…
Snap! Alarms of nearby cars are triggered, a child started crying on the first floor, a cat was crying somewhere, a flock of sleepy pigeons scattered, and it seems that even the gods are beginning to look at you disapprovingly. It seems to be uncomfortable in front of people, but the Jaguar mumbles so beautifully, warming up, that you can’t help but giggle nastily. And if you press the gas at this moment… Wow, fire!
And here I am in anticipation. I press the engine start button of the updated Jaguar F-Type and … nothing. I mean, the engine starts, of course, but there are no thunderclaps and the asphalt does not crack under you. Quiet, calm, and even ordinary. The smile slips from his face — disappointment. I press the button on the central tunnel that opens the flaps in the outlet-in theory, they were supposed to make it almost straight-flow. But nothing changes, although, on the pre-styling F-Type SVR of the same power, the difference was immediately audible even on a standing car. Disappointment in the square.
Yes, yes, I know. Ecology and that’s all. Additional particulate filters in the output, the necessary reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, and noise restrictions in European cities. All this makes supercars not so fun anymore, and in the case of the Ef-Type, not so rebellious and daring.
Although this does not mean that the Jaguar F-Type has ceased to be cool. The appearance is supermodels, the engine is crazy, the acceleration is powerful and assertive, like a launch vehicle taking off from the launch table, and the same sound of an angry, wheezing jabberwocky manifests itself after 3500 revolutions per minute when the engine reaches the maximum 700 Nm of torque. That’s only when the good old F-Type manifests itself. However, you can only drive in this mode on a race track.
In the urban flow, the updated Jaguar F-Type is comfortable and civilized. The roughness of the road does not bother you much, there is nothing in the cabin that prevents you from enjoying the 770-watt Meridian audio system, and the heavy steering wheel, and all-wheel drive with an emphasis on the rear axle allow you to get high in swirling turns.
You can make the car a little more angry by turning on the Dynamic mode, although it is not needed for ordinary roads and is redundant — everything in the behavior of the coupe will become too sharp.
“Jaguar Ef-Type with a motor”, a multi-liter compressor eight-cylinder engine, which, due to the same environmental standards, will probably soon disappear after its menacing voice, is no longer a shameless villain. He is no longer so sharp and emotional, although he is still cool and sometimes scary in anger. But it is no longer possible to explain to yourself with this “happens” why it is worth spending 10 million rubles on an Ef-Type. Although earlier I would have voted for” Yaga ” with all my hands and feet. And because of this, it becomes sad.
I really love sports cars! But most of all from afar. It is worth shortening the distance to get to know each other better — you will definitely hit your head on the low roof, you will sit at a waddle, resting the back of the chair against the back wall… And you will look at the world as if through the slot of a mailbox. In general, it’s all masochism and posturing.
But the duty of a car journalist is above all! If the motherland asks — we will choke on oysters (crossed out) we will ride on a Jaguar F-Type.
The Jaguar F-Type is an example of the fact that nothing dies in the world of ideas. And at the same time — an example of a tragically long way to customers.
A small two-seat sports car with a concise design that could really replace the legendary Jaguar E-Type, the British began to make back in 1980! — after it became clear that the large and heavy XJ-S coupe is not popular with customers.
The XJ41 / XJ42 project was greatly delayed, it was changed again and again until it was closed ten years later.
In the early nineties, racing driver and engineer Tom Walkinshaw tried to make a new sports Jaguar, then he worked closely with an English firm — we all know the fruit of the work of his engineering bureau and designer Ian Callum under a different brand: that project turned into an Aston Martin DB7 as a result.
Then there was the F-Type concept car of the two-thousandth year on the chassis of the S-Type sedan, which was hacked down in the name of fighting unnecessary expenses…
And I am afraid that the current F-Type, codenamed X152, will not become the last car of this kind from Jaguar — after all, sales worldwide, even in the best years, only slightly exceeded ten thousand cars, and now it does not even reach five.
But looking around it is not an example more interesting than numerous crossovers. Including Jaguar ones (sorry, guys, who drew F-Pace and E-Pace — I didn’t mean to offend you!). The short rear overhang, the falling hood of the cab, the laconic plastic of the sidewalls with a passionate tide on the end of the door-shine!
By the way, a rare case: the restyling made the car more expressive, turning the Jaguar’s amiably surprised face into a real grin. 575 forces of the F-Type R P575 version with a compressor “eight” – why not grin! However, what am I doing: the most modest Jaguar with a two-liter “four” with a capacity of 300 forces has almost the same “muzzle”.
Behind the door, which opens with a daring flip-out handle, no “badges” were found (except for black leather). The landing is comfortable, despite my 190 centimeters, the visibility was very decent, and the panoramic roof gave light and space, which are so lacking in the interior of many coupes. You can drive at least every day!
Knowing that there is a compressor V8 under the hood, you expect that even a trip to Auchan for groceries will be something special. But the power unit is very restrained as if it is an ordinary sedan (or is it the fault of the noise standards?) Only at full throttle, he performs a solo on the exhaust pipes, for which many people buy such cars… But you can not take away the bright appearance of the Jaguar: it will attract attention anywhere. In general, the choice of real extroverts (without masochistic tendencies!)
I’m not happy with the talk that everything was better before, and I’m wary of catching any retrograde thoughts. But this time there is no doubt: with the restyling, the design of the F-Type has lost the integrity and completeness that sometimes allow English sports cars to laugh in the face of eternity.
The most successful angle of the F-Type is now three-quarters behind. These lantern blades, these athletic shoulders of the rear wings, and these pipes that took you in their sights… Actually, this was the most successful angle before. And now he is generally the only true one. I don’t want to look at the front part transplanted from other models.
One of the previous elements of the front was not accidental — the lines of the sidewalls naturally continued in the headlights and the radiator grille. These lines flowed and fluttered, and the new headlights cut them across. It was as if the old face had been cut with a Glasgow smile. Alas, this did not add to the F-Type charisma of Tommy Flanagan.
Why the compressor V8 does not change, I understand. He will no longer have a successor, and I am glad that such an energy-wasteful power plant is still with us. But why has the interior changed so little? After all, it required revision most of all. In the previous car, I hated this unfixed automatic lever as much as I loved the rotary selectors on other, “normal” Jaguars. And here he is again in the same place. Although I miss R much less often – apparently, the drive has been reconfigured…
Colleagues have already noted how much disappointment the hushed voice of the engine brings with it. It would seem that there is nothing wrong if the F-Type with V8 is still a loud car! But this is a sacrifice to the green bores on the part of a sports car created under the motto Good to be bad!
We can’t let the villains get smaller. Because then the heroes will also be smaller. Yesterday he planned to take over the world (or at least show PornHub from a projector on the ATC wall), and today what? Throws batteries in the trash and twists the mileage of taxi Camry?
No, I want to remember the F-Type at the zenith of glory, and not now, when its sun is sinking. To fix our era, it is worth finding a pre-styling F-Type with a V8 that has not yet been asked to behave more quietly. Or even think about something atmospheric and rear-wheel drive, like the Lexus LC 500…
I am surprised at myself: for many years I considered the situation in which I would prefer a Lexus to a Jaguar impossible. And for me, this is a sure sign of how much the guys from Coventry have lost their way.
Although, perhaps, I am unfair to them. In fact, they have already embarked on a different track, it’s just too early for us to know about it. And while we are waiting for the first fruits of the new paradigm, only one thing is clear: there is no place for the F-Type in the electric future of the Jaguar.
But why, standing on the threshold of the electric era, are we so worried about the upstart Jaguar, and not about icons like the Porsche 911? Because Porsche calms us down with a Taikan — this perfect scrap, against which there is no reception. And also because the whole legacy of the 911 consists of two concepts: “the body of the nine hundred and eleventh in the form of the body of the nine hundred and eleventh” and “absolutely fast car”. Note that both of these theses are safe. Electricity, city autopilot, subscription cars – all these horror stories from the near future do not threaten the basic values of the 911 in any way.
And the F-Type has different values. Good to be bad. The appearance of Bond in a tuxedo, a fantastic voice, round-the-clock readiness to drive sideways, the last drive supercharger on this side of the ocean… Do you understand what kind of “villain” this is? I do not know such an insensitive person who does not get his eyes wet when the terminator T800, the ideal killing machine, goes into molten steel but raises his thumb in a burnt glove.
This is the best explanation of the essence of the Jaguar F-Type R in our crazy world. And in the end, what right do I have to blame this outstanding car for not being allowed to leave at the peak of its form? And since there is no other way on the planet to prolong his days, I accept him as is. Good morning, the last hero.
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