Jaguar F-Type Coupé whizzes in
It is the spiritual successor to Jaguar’s legendary E-Type, and perhaps the star of this year’s LA Motor Show. The F-Type Coupe made a grand entrance at a star-studded event on the eve of the LA Motor Show at Raleigh Studios, one of Hollywood’s oldest movie studios.
It ups the game for the Tata-owned British manufacturer, who has successfully brought its highly desirable C-X16 concept to life in the F-Type Coupe by retaining design elements like the long bonnet, rakish windscreen that merges beautifully into the sloping roofline before ending with the sleek looking rear. It also gets a Porsche-style retractable spoiler that pops up at above 80kmph to maintain stability. The drop-dead gorgeous coupe will be offered with three engine options, the 550bhp, 5.0-litre supercharged V8 from the XFR-S and XKR-S powering the range topping F-Type R. The 495bhp V8 that powers the roadster will not be offered on the coupe, though the same V6 as the convertible will power the base and mid variants of the coupe in two different states of tune, producing 340bhp and 380bhp respectively.
All this power is put down via stickier Pirelli rubber, mounted on 20-inch alloys. The fixed roof makes the coupe 20 kilos lighter and the F-Type R is expected to blitz past the 100kmph mark in less than four seconds making it the quickest Jag ever. Claimed top whack is 298kmph. Optional carbon ceramic brakes that will reduce weight by 21kg are on offer as well. The sky is the limit they say though, and we believe Jaguar should already be working on an even more mental R-S version. Performance with the V6 is aplenty as well, and the base and V6S variants will accelerate to 100kmph in 4.8 seconds and 5.1 seconds respectively.
All three engines are mated to a quicker ZF eight-speed transmission but the F-Type Coupe does not get a manual option. The top-of- the-line R also gets a host of additional performance oriented tech including stiffened suspension with an adaptive dynamics package that adjusts itself according to the car’s movements. The suspension is stiffer by 4.3 per cent at the front and 3.7 per cent at the rear compared to the V8S roadster, while Dynamic mode will stiffen it up further and also enhance steering feel and optimise shift points and throttle response.
Jaguar has revealed that there are two major technological components that keep the F-Type R Coupe planted during a spirited drive, the electronic active differential and the torque vectoring system. The electronic active differential controls the amount of torque going to each wheel to offer maximum traction while torque vectoring slows the inside wheels during hard cornering to cut understeer, just like the McLaren 12C. Torsional rigidity has been increased to deal with the extra power as well, and is in the same ballpark as the Ferrari 458 Italia.
One gripe with the roadster was the utter lack of boot space, and this has been take care of as the boot is no longer required to fit a folding roof, releasing a total of 320 litres (407 litres with the parcel shelf off), as opposed to the roadster’s laughable boot capacity. The options list also features new leather trim, a flat-bottomed steering wheel wrapped in Alcantara, glass roof and a high-end audio system. We’d be happy to ditch that stereo in favour of the sports exhaust and listen to the V8’s glorious symphony though! And the best part is that it will be a fair bit cheaper than the rag top, addressing criticism of the latter’s high pricing.
