The fine folks in Coventry were kind enough to give us a glimpse of their pre-production V6 and V8 Jaguar F-Type roadsters hooning through the wet and curvy roads of Wales. While you drool over the photos of the E-Type's spiritual successor, here is a quick reminder of what we already know about the newest Jaaaaaag.
It will start at $69,000 for the supercharged V6, which is set to produce 340 horses and 332 lb-ft of torque. For that, you get a more aggressively tuned 8-speed ZF automatic, and a curb weight of 3,521 lb. You can tell the V6 from the V8 as that glorious all-aluminium body ends with a dual exhaust in the middle with the smaller engines. Sounds good, so why would you pay $81,000 for the V6 S?
Well, not because you get "19 wheels instead of "18s. Nor because 380 horses take you to sixty three-tenths of a second faster for a 4.8-second run. You pay that much to get a passive locking rear differential. That will make all the difference when the car is being pushed hard. On the other hand, expect the V6 to rev higher even at cruising speed, as it has a shorter diff ratio than that punchy V8...
The supercharged V8 F-Type costs $92,000, has a 0-60 time of 4.2 seconds, weighs just 150 pounds more than the smaller brother, but still does 186 mph. Does that mean it's less nimble? Not likely. 495 horsepower and 460 lb-ft should make you forget about the weight of the extra metal (and luxury) pretty quicly. Also, the top of the line model gets the active electronic differential straight from the XKR-S.
Not to mention, the sounds generated by those quad-exhaust are something you will never get bored of.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Jaguar sports car is back!
Photo credit: Jaguar/Stan Papior