Jaguar F-Type 400 Sport: reviewed

The Jaguar F-Type sports car has been on sale for four years now. In that time, Jaguar has learnt a lot. Such as, just how many owners are keen on the idea of a car even more focused than the regular models, one that combines the agility of the V6s with the performance of the V8s, and betters both for chassis focus and configurability.

Jaguar has listened. The F-Type 400 Sport is the result. The 3.0-litre V6 has never had more power, Jaguar describes the driver appeal as “unrivalled” and prices have been kept down, to just £1500 more than a normal V6 S F-Type. You can have it only in black, white or silver, and a standard Sport Design pack adds visual clout.

That’s impressive, given the extras offered by the 400 Sport. Huge Super Performance brakes are standard, as are satin grey 20-inch alloys and a mechanical limited-slip differential. Jaguar throws in its configurable dynamics tech, allowing the driver to tweak settings for everything from steering weight to damper rates. It also debuts the new, racier lightweight bucket seats soon coming to all F-Type.

A standard flat-bottom steering wheel is lovely, as is all the yellow stitching highlighted by 400 Sport logos. What’s harder to feel is the extra power that 400 moniker announces. It’s fast, but doesn’t feel any faster than the standard car, as identical acceleration times prove. The benefit is felt at peak revs, says Jaguar, but as the motor is so flexible, it’s largely irrelevant.

It sounds good though, which will be more important than a little extra potency for many. It also handles well, with a unique front-engined, long-wheelbase feeling of accuracy and balance. You sit well back, sighting apexes over the long nose and steering precisely towards and away from them. And, thanks to the standard differential and torque vectoring, the drive away from bends is hard and precise.