I debated long and hard between buying a Base vs. an 'S'. I ultimately went with the Base and have had it about three months. My reasoning really came down to that I didnt feel like the difference was worth $12k for 40HP, slip diff and dynamics. It was decision i agonized over, but I was already pushing my budget with the $80k I spent on my base.

I've done ECU tuning on several last cars with good results and figured I'd go the same route here, since the 40hp gain in the 'S' is apparently only derived from a tuning on the exact same engine as the base.

(I did spring for active exhaust, which was the best money I spent. It sounds a lot faster than it's 340 horses.)

I'm really curious about others opinions on this and what you chose between v6 base vs. 'S'?

 

The dampers appeared to be the only reason to buy the S, and were not worth £10k.

Audi were charging just £1k for a similar setup when I was looking at those earlier this year.

Having had the car for a week, I've been surprised at how loud the non-adjustable exhaust is. To the point where it appears to be louder than the adjustable exhaust on the quiet setting. The test drive was 3 months ago though and in a vert.

 

I went with the base (convertible in my case) for all the reasons articulated above. Based upon the insignificant differences in the performance specs, I could not justify the $20K "S premium."

Moreover, I simply was no longer interested in having an "overpowered" V8, having owned many over the years, with power I simply could not use on the street, and keep my record intact as a law-abiding citizen. I wanted the F-Type as an entertaining daily-driver, and it has more than adequate performance. I also wanted the lightest car of the series, and the base is it by a good margin.

 

Every flavor of the F Type delivers. With that said, while there will always be some debate about the accuracy of the official weights, Jaguar claims the difference between the V6 and V6S is less than 40lbs.

Here in the US, that's basically a good lunch....