I'm currently driving a company 2015 BRG V6S Coupe. My personal car is a 2015 Polaris White Coupe Base. I've had similar seat time in both cars now and figured now would be a good time to write a review comparing both cars.

*This is based off of driving dynamics only*

Exhaust Note:
My base does not have the active or switchable exhaust. Under the right driving conditions, I can still manage to get it to pop, snap and burble. There's been a lot of debate of whether or not the base exhaust is just as loud a car equipped with the active exhaust with the valves closed. I can attest that V6s with the active/switchable exhaust switched off is much louder than my base exhaust. HOWEVER, it should be noted that the V6s may have different spark, timing and fuel calibrations resulting that. A fair comparison would be a Base V6 with base exhaust against a base V6 with the active/switchable exhaust.

Driving Characteristics

V6 Base:
My base is equipped with the 18 inch Vela rims and Continental ContiSport Contact 2 tires. The extra sidewall definitely helps with ride quality as it helps absorbs any bumps in the road. The drawback is that they numb the steering feedback just a little bit. Suspension is taught and firm, but I feel the struts are a little under damped for the spring rates as I can feel the car sort of "skipping" across the road surface when cornering, taking a sweeping turn or getting onto a freeway merger. The Continentals are extremely forgiving, have high grip, predictable breakaways and will announce when you are approaching their handling limits.

Turning the Dynamic Mode on does change the dynamics of the car just a little bit. Steering does get a little firmer, gear changes a bit more firmer and the engine is a bit more eager to rev. I'd be curious to see the peak power on a dyno chart because after 5800RPM, I feel that the Base engine sort of runs out of breath. Because it is a Base, the car is not equipped with the active suspension.

V6S:
The V6S I am currently driving is equipped with the 19 inch Centrifuge rims with the Pirelli P Zeros. To be fair these tires currently have about 5000 miles on them. I did notice a bit of tire hum. I do like the fact that they have stiff sidewalls allowing for immediate turn in and steering wheel feedback. For an average driver, this is a great tire. For aggressive drivers, they don't offer much. Grip is above average but nothing to write home about. The breakaway is a little unpredictable and they don't announce their limits until the last minute.

Dynamic Mode on the S fullfills the shortcomings I noticed about my Base V6. Transmission shifts are much more pronounced like a well oiled bolt action rifle. Steering feel is firmed up considerably. I do feel that the spring rates for the suspension is a bit aggressive even with the active suspension as the ride is very busy. The engine is in a hurry to rev and produces power all the way to redline without falling on its face. My previous car was Honda s2000 that was setup for track use. This is a huge compliment but the driving dynamics of the S is very similar to my Honda s2000. But refined.

Summary:
If you aren't an aggressive driver or just looking for a comfortable sports car to cruise around in, the Base is choice. Coming from a track background, I quickly learned the limits of my Base and what it can or can't do. I think upgrading to 19 inch rims and a bit more aggressive tire will help. If I had to compare the Base F Type to a knife, it would be a bread knife. Sharp, a bit jagged and a little cumbersome to use but it gets the job done.

If I had to do it again, the S would be the way to go. Ideal balance of everything. It masks its weight in its athletic character. Its Achilles heel are the Pirellis. I feel that a different tire will truly make this car what its meant to be. If I had to compare the V6S to a knife, this would be a nice butterfly knife. Quick, sharp and precise with a little bit of jaggedness.

 

Nice review!

 

Interesting comparison.

The torque curves suggest the mapping in the base model strangles the engine above 5000rpm compared to the S, but there are slight differences across the rev range. In the UK this means lower annual road tax as it produces less CO2. In addition to Model Differentiation.

The spring rates do seem a little high relative to the damping on the base model, but at least the damping doesn't loosen your fillings over raised lane markers and potholes.

It might sound a little strange, but if you're going to try bigger wheels on your own car, go straight to 20". The spring rates of the tyres seem to match the suspension better, with the result that it skips less, and absorbs bigger bumps in one go. I think there's still some scope for fine tuning the spring and damper rates out of sight of the Marketing Department and their desire for Model Differentiation.

 

That is really handy, thanks. I'm thinking of the V6S but I wont live with a hard ride. I tried the V6 on 19"s and didnt like it compared to the XKR, but since then I've noticed that a lot of what I've been attributing to a brilliant ride in the R is probably actually give in the seat, which had been broken in by 30,000km of fat italian's **** before I got the car.

So I am thinking based on your review and a few of those things that a V6S on 18"s with continentals, and maybe get the seat leather worked on a bit to stretch it (cheap for the benefit) would give the best ride. Any view?

 

Based off the supplied chart...it appears power peaks at approximately 5000RPM and then plateauing. Very similar to the V8. Whereas the V6S continues to climb. There's no plateau. I'm hoping to get some dyno time at a local shop down the street from my office.

I feel that 19 inch would be fair compromise. But I agree, the suspension can use a little bit more tweaking and hopefully the aftermarket will come around and start producing parts to do so.

 

Keep in mind the type of tires you use will have an impact on ride quality. I used drive around on a set of Hankook V12 EVOs which were rated as Ultra High Performance Summer tire. They gripped very well but were known to have softer sidewalls for that class of tire.

 

Good review, thanks. You are perhaps in the best position of anyone I've run across to provide an authoritative comparison.

My perception of the relative exhaust loudness led me to a different conclusion when driving the base (with std exhaust) and V6S (active, valves closed) back-to-back, but a test drive is a very limited exposure. Even when switched off, the valves are sometimes open depending upon throttle position. I found the V6S quieter when they were closed, and I didn't detect a huge difference between each car with wide open throttle. However, the '14 V6S I drove had did not have the switchable active exhaust. The other difference was each was a convertible with the top down.

Noise perception is also subjective, especially when based upon a limited exposure. In any event, I never find myself wanting the exhaust any louder, and I do enjoy "sporty" sounding exhaust to the extent that I almost never turn the sound system on. In any event, I defer to you as the definitive answer.

I do agree with F-Typical, having switched from 18s to 20s on the same car with 2K miles on each, that the ride quality did not significantly change, and handling feels significantly better to me.

 

duplicate post

 

Having the XKR-S and a V8 both on 20 the XKR has the smoother ride if that is what you are looking for. There is a lot more movement in the steering wheel in the F-Type, I would say the F-Type is more "nervous" than the XKR-S platform. However, that is directly comparing both. I would not say that the F-Type has a substantial harsher ride. My wife and I will be on a 2 - 3 hour ride on Friday and plan our next vacation trip 5-10 days with 5-6 hours of driving every day in the F-Type as we did last year in the XKR-S. There is nothing about the F-Type ride that would concern me in regards of being too harsh. The seats are the same as in my XKR-S and were really comfortable and not tiring or straining.

 

Cheers. I had the base f type and the seats were pretty average, could only be adjusted forward and back. I haven't had a chance to test the up spec seats in the f type yet. Unfortunately over here these are expensive cars, around $170K for the V6S, so they don't have many available for test drives and you really want one for a half day. But I keep hoping, because I think I'll be emulating you to some extent with an XKR in the garage together with the f type.

 

Geeze..converting that to US dollars that'll get you a fully spec'd R here in the States. I wasn't a fan of the base seats as well so I opted for the Performance Seats.

 

Nice review. I really enjoyed when you compared the transmission shifts with a well oiled bolt action rifle. Quality

 

I agree and can see where the base car will "skip" if the road is just right...

 

Uh, Bruce? Did no one point out the switches on the driver's door that adjust the height of the seat base, and the angle of the seat back?

Please tell me your comment was a typo...

 

I think you need to move down here to Melbourne, Bruce. My JLR dealer was very happy to arrange an extended test drive.

WhiteTardis - a fully spec'd R here in Aus is about $285k, if that gives you a comparison point. We pay bucket loads of tax. (Although no where near as much as somewhere like Singapore)