Hi everyone. I had a very exciting weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway test driving the new 2014 Jaguar F Type, F Type S, and F Type SV8. Not only did we drive the F Type in a variety of ways, but also had the chance to compare it against the new Jaguar XKR, Mercedes Benz SLK350 and SL550, along with the Porsche Boxster and 911. We drove the F Type back to back against the other brand new German cars.

The first F Type we drove was powered by the 340 hp supercharged 3.0 engine after driving the Jaguar XKR with the 510 supercharged 5.0. The XKR is our apex car. The top performing Jaguar. It didn’t seem fair to put the F Type against it with only 340 hp. Boy, was I mistaken.

The F Type out performed the mighty XKR in every category. It felt just as fast if not faster. It out steered and out handled the XKR and the brakes felt much more powerful. There was no body roll while cornering. It was the better car by far, and made me realize the difference between a very fast GT and a true sports car. The 340 hp F Type is a true sports car and out performed our apex predator, the 510 hp XKR . Amazing

The F Type made the Mercedes SL550 feel like a boat. While the SL550 had a powerful engine (it did suffer from turbo lag), it felt so much heavy, that the much lighter F Type was able to out perform it under ever test we performed and felt wonderful doing it. The F Type was such a delight to drive you enjoyed pushing the Jaguar harder and harder, where the SL550 felt like you were riding in it, with no steering feel (electric steering) and so much body roll you felt like you were in a family sedan. The electric brakes had no feed back either, just like the electric steering.

The SLK felt so under powered by comparison that it just didn’t seem fair to even compare it next to the F Type. You might as well have compared it to an Aston Martin. That’s how outclassed the Mercedes SLK was. The engine felt very weak and the SLK had very poor steering, braking and handling compared to this brilliant Jaguar. It’s a cute little convertible and has its place in the world, just not next to an F Type.

Of the 2 Porsches, the biggest surprise was that the less expensive Boxster felt better than the much more expensive 911. The 911, with it’s rear mounted engine, steered too lightly and the bias weight over the rear axial felt odd and always present. It wasn’t confidence inspiring. The engine was surprising soft, with very little low end torque. You had to really rev it up to feel any hp and even then it didn’t feel like much. The interior was a huge let down, with plastic and vinyl in place of the soft grain leather Jaguar uses.

The smaller mid-engined Boxster felt faster, and handled much better than its big 911 brother.. The Boxster was the closest in feel of all the cars we tested to the feel of the F Type but the F Type just out classed it completely, again in every category. The power of the F Types supercharged engine was immediate, no reving required and felt stronger at any rpm with massive power delivery right from the start. Surprisingly both Porsches pushed their front ends under fast turns, which the F Type never did.

In fit and finish and design, the F Type stood alone. The interior was such an exciting and special place to be in. The exterior was breath taking from any angle. You could tell a master designer worked at every detail, until perfection was accomplished. Even underneath the F Type form followed function. Roberto Guerrero, who led our track training, said he thought the F Type generated 400 lbs to 500 lbs of down force just from the way the rear end was designed. With the rear wing up another 260 lbs of down force was generated.

This was a thrilling weekend. Not just to be able to train under master drivers, like Roberto, on the Indi Motor Speedway but also to see how stunning the new Jaguar F Type performed against the best from Germany. I love Jaguar and am bias toward my favorite car company but you could be a Jag hater and still come to the same conclusions that I reached. It was that cut and dry.


Have a great day,

 

Thanks for sharing!

The F type is an outstanding car, especially the V8S.

 

Great review. My wife and I both autocrossed and tracked the FType S and V8 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway three days ago comparing them to the XKR's that we also drove. Beautiful cars in design, fit and finish. Incidentally, I have owned German cars for 25 years. Audi A-8's , S-8's, all models with an S-7 arriving next week. I have an 86 911 that I have tracked extensively since new. I sold a 2005 Turbo and just bought an XKR-S . After driving my XKR-S and tracking the XKR's and F-Types I am very impressed. While I thought I would like the F-type 6 more I have to say I preferred the v8. Perhaps because I had been tracking the XKR for several hours and own the XKR-S. I look forward to driving the F-Type 6 again because I think it would be a more practical street car. My wife easily reached 115 on the straight with the V8 and it rocketed out of the corners. Felt as fast as my XKR-S. It's down 50 HP but lighter. Much more agile. A sports car rather than a GT. I will consider one in a year or two to replace my XKR-S.