Jaguar F-Type: reviewed

It’s been on sale for a few years now but Jaguar’s F-Type still looks wickedly sharp and cutting edge. While it’s a feast for the eyes, it also looks after a lot of the other senses too, although a bit of sensory overload is also part of the attraction.

However, it’s not all billy bonkers, you can get everything from a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 right down to a relatively sensible 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine. You can add four-wheel drive to some of the hotter versions too, not that that makes the F-Type quite as an impressive off-roader as Jaguar’s F-Pace.

With prices tangling with the Audi TT at the entry point, rising to do battle with the McLaren 540C, there should be something for a wide range of discerning buyers, so where would you fit into the spectrum?

How much horsepower do you want or can afford? You can have everything from 296bhp up to 567bhp so take your pick. That starting point is for the turbocharged four-pot, with the 2.0-litre engine feeding the rear wheels through an eight-speed auto box.

The V6 range starts with a 3.0-litre 335bhp unit, and that’s a pretty slick bit of kit, with either a six-speed manual or eight-speed auto transmission. Moving up to the V8s, there’s the 5.0-litre supercharged F-Type R, with 542bhp. Like the full-house SVR, the R is four-wheel drive and auto transmission only. It actually makes these V8 surprisingly practical and tractable even on dodgy roads.

The V8s sound magnificently loud and proud, and they go ridiculously quickly but they’re a touch extreme for some tastes. We’d plump for a V6, either the 335bhp 3.0-litre version or the more extreme 375bhp V6 S. The latter gets Jaguar’s adaptive suspension as standard, and that helps you find a more comfortable setting when you’re not feeling like being a total hoon.

We’re not huge fans of the manual transmission so we’d go for the auto, bearing in mind you can operate it through the paddles anyway if you want that more involving feeling. While flapping the paddles, the driver sits pretty low in true sports car fashion, so just for peace of mind we’d go for the parking sensors.