I see the F Type as more of a GT/Gran Turismo than a pure sports car. And that is what I wanted in a car. Not that Wikipedia is always the most accurate place to find definitions, here are a few quotes that I found in looking up the definition and origin of the term:

A grand tourer (GT) is a type of sports car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either a two-seat or a 2+2 arrangement. Grand tourers are most often the coupé derivative of luxury saloons.

The grand touring car concept originated in Europe in the early 1950s,[1] especially with the 1951 introduction of the Lancia Aurelia B20 GT,[3][4] and features notable luminaries of Italian automotive history such as Vittorio Jano,[5]Enzo Ferrari[6][7] and Johnny Lurani.[8]Motorsports became important in the evolution of the grand touring concept, and grand touring entries are important in endurance sports-car racing. The grand touring definition implies material differences in performance, speed, comfort, and amenities between elite cars and those of ordinary motorists.The terms "grand tourer", "gran turismo", "grande routière", and "GT" are among the most misused terms in motoring.[3] The grand touring designation generally "means motoring at speed, in style, safety, and comfort."[18] "Purists define "gran turismo" as the enjoyment, excitement and comfort of open-road touring."[19]

According to Sam Dawson, News Editor of Classic Cars (magazine), "the ideal is of a car with the ability to cross a continent at speed and in comfort yet provide driving thrills when demanded" and it should exhibit the following:[3]

• The engines "should be able to cope with cruising comfortably at the upper limits on all continental roads without drawbacks or loss of usable power."
• "Ideally, the GT car should have been devised by its progenitors as a Grand Tourer, with all associated considerations in mind."
• "It should be able to transport at least two in comfort with their luggage and have room to spare — probably in the form of a two plus two (2+2) seating arrangement."
• The design, both "inside and out, should be geared toward complete control by the driver."
• Its "chassis and suspension provide suitable handling and roadholding on all routes" during travels.

Grand tourers emphasize comfort and handling over straight-out high performance or ascetic, spartan accommodations. In comparison, sports cars (also a "much abused and confused term") are typically more "crude" compared to "sophisticated Grand Touring machinery."[20] However, the popularity of using GT for marketing purposes has meant that it has become a "much misused term, eventually signifying no more than a slightly tuned version of a family car with trendy wheels and a go-faster stripe on the side."[21]

Historically, most GTs have been front-engined with rear-wheel drive, which creates more space for the cabin than mid-mounted engine layouts. Softer suspensions, greater storage, and more luxurious appointments add to their driving appeal.

Grand touring car design evolved from vintage and pre-World War II fast touring cars and streamlined closed sports cars.[2]

Italy developed the first gran turismo cars. The small, light-weight and aerodynamic coupé, named the Berlinetta, originated in the 1930s. A contemporary French concept, known as Grande Routière, emphasized style, elegance, luxury, and gentlemanly transcontinental touring; the Grande Routières were often larger cars than the smaller Italian Gran Turismos.[30] Italian designers saw that compared to a traditional open two-seat sports car, the increase in weight and frontal area of an enclosed cabin for the driver and mechanic (or passenger) could be offset by the benefits of streamlining to reduce drag.[31] Independent carrozzeria (coachbuilders) provided light and flexible fabric coachwork for powerful short-wheelbase fast-touring chassis by manufacturers such as Alfa Romeo. Later, Carrozzeria Touring of Milan would pioneer sophisticated Superleggera (super light-weight) aluminium bodywork, allowing for even more aerodynamic forms.[32] The additional comfort of an enclosed cabin was beneficial for the Mille Miglia (Thousand Miles) road-race held in Italy's often wintry north.[33]

And a few more quotes from another source that pretty much nail it:
First of all let us break down what Grand Tourer means. Firstly is "Grand" this as described by Oxford dictionary is "Magnificent and imposing in appearance, size, or style" The length of the journey or the destination isn't as important as the experience of the drive itself providing you are driving the grandest car and you complete it in style and comfort you can GT, typically a leisure activity for those with plenty of disposable income and a passion for driving. Typically the GT car is driven as fast and for as long as possible before arriving at a critically acclaimed destination where onlookers can marvel at the vehicle.

Alternatives to the leisure drives are the long distance runs, typically the aim here is to drive the nicest car you can afford as fast as possible to reach the other end in style.

The F Type hits all the marks doesn't it ?

 

Jaguar was ahead of their time...

...These days, they call that Platform Engineering.


I haven't seen a mention of the fact that the F was derived from the XF platform...(a big, heavy saloon)

 

If we're going to laud Colin Chapman for his achievements let's please have some balance, he was notorious for overruling his engineers in his quest for weight reduction at the expense of strength and structural rigidity, on more than one occasion this lead to structural failure and in the realm of racing injuries sustained by his drivers as a direct consequence of structural failures as a result if his insistence on weight saving

 

My goodness - you sound a bit angry. I'll have to remember that Jags are meant to be owned for less than 5 years. The strange thing is that last evening I was driving my wife's 2002 X-Type, which has been in daily, hard use by us for the last 16 years or so, and which sits outside 24/7/365. It runs like a new car, is a joy to drive (manual shift), has perfect leather and wood despite the litter inside, and in those 16 or so years has had 3, yes 3 very minor mechanical repairs: oxygen sensor, water pump and a nylon gear on the driver's seat up/down motor. And the 2005 model year which you suggest was one of the worst...let's see....my 2005 X-Type Sportwagon, which is my (non-pandemic) daily use car has had exactly zero, yup, zero repairs or problems in the last 10 years (my ownership period)....having restored many Jaguars (both mechanically and cosmetically) I can tell you that the nonsense (with respect) in your note can be countered by one personal anecdote: in the Jaguar factory at Coventry in April 2003, as I watched hides being inspected and selected for cutting, the inspector put an X on a hide after finding a fault on the underside; asked why that hide was rejected, he showed us an almost unnoticeable scarring on the unfinished side and his comment was (and this is verbatim) that if that part of the hide were cut so that the scarred area ended up in a stressed position, "in a decade or so" (sic) something might start to show through on the finished side.

Now, it is true that in modern cars (not only Jaguars) mechanical parts are replaced rather than repaired and there is a simple economic reason for that, whether we like it or not. I'm glad I did not know about the poor quality and intended short life span of Jaguars two days ago as I was driving my 55 year old (to clarify: fifty-five year old) Mark 2 (talk about heavy....) - whose engine has never been touched and whose interior is completely original except for the headliner. I would have been very nervous. Instead, in my ignorance of the facts you present, I was delighting in the way it ran (fast), the sound of the engine and the beauty of the interior. Well, you live and learn.

55 year-old leather and wood:


And the 55 year old engine - never repaired (I have all the records - and that is the York AC compressor dealer-installed in 1966 and it works just fine):

 

He's talking nonsense.

 

I was just watching this video on how they are built... interesting. Pretty sure already shared in this forum, but I just found it.


Figured it will help to understand where all the weight comes from...

 

I’ve read that somewhere as well. Also, Harry is rather hooked into the inside of Jaguar. He knows people there, so it makes sense to me that he might be privy to that sorta detail, especially if he is asking specifically for an answer. He literally directly worked with them on the Project 7.

 

Yes, I've previously read other sources explain that the F-Type, at least, was engineered to meet Land Rover "kerb impact" resistance tolerances ("curb..." in the US).

That may explain why mine also seems so unbothered by potholes, in terms of alignment issues.

But I think there's more to the weight factor than just over-engineered chassis and suspension. Road noise suppression, as befits expensive cars, also entails added weight for insulation and sturdy firewalls.

 

I'm pretty sure Harry Metcalfe knows what he's talking about so that thing about Land Rover standards is most probably right and those of us who saw the video where he explained it have mentioned it in different forums over the years. At their core these cars are clearly pretty damn sturdy. An interesting example showing that is that last Grand Tour episode where Clarkson thrashes a V6S across Africa.

I don't think weight ever was near the top of the priority list when they designed it, especially since they had to reuse loads of existing components like the X150 XK chassis and work with what they had, as mentioned earlier in this thread. They did make some changes to reduce the weight in later cars like the magnesium based performance seats introduced with the MY18 facelift but nothing dramatic. If you look at isolated parts there's pretty much unnecessarily heavy stuff in there. Even simple removable things like the engine cover, trunk cover and removable trunk floor are surprisingly heavy for what they are.

There's not a lot of heavy sound deadening material in these cars so that's definitely not an issue.

I still think it's really good that a car this modern, luxurious, powerful and agile supposedly weighs in at around 3500 lbs. That is in RWD V6 form, but if you throw in the AWD drivetrain and the V8 things obviously start getting more lardy.

 

I think only a manual base coupe with the smaller brakes and rims would have a chance to come in at 3500 lbs stock. Probably more like 3700lbs dry for a RWD S AT coupe with some options, 20" rims, bigger brakes. V8 probably adds another 120lbs to that, but the V8 cars often are maxed out option-wise so even most of the RWD V8 cars are probably north of 3900. Take those numbers and add another couple hundred pounds for AWD equipped cars. These cars are porky, no doubt, and I believe the hype around the LR 'standards'. Most of the stock rims are like rolling bricks, and it is based on the legacy XK platform with steel subframes. I think they do a half decent job of masking the weight, but these cars are no Porsche or Lotus, they have a big heavy iron lump in the front. So much fun in their own way though, I don't care that they are big boned - the good news, lighter brakes, forged rims, lighter exhaust, lighter battery are all relatively easy ways to shave off at least 150lbs of weight (mostly unsprung which is important).

 

Try to count all the electric motors, which generally are not light. Mirrors, windows, seats, steering column, center vent, convertible roof/powered coupe hatch, active exhaust vacuum pump (early model years)…

Apparently, “luxury” weighs a lot.

 

I hit a hidden curb head on at about 20 mph a month ago in my 2017 S, left side only, with stock 19" rims. Tire went flat in 30 seconds and unrepairable. No damage to the rim.

 

Wow that is impressive.

 

Actually, it was the next-to-last Grand Tour episode but definitely a testament to F-Type's durability and dependability – especially compared to the recurrent problems with May's Aston Martin and Hammond's Maserati.

 

In fact, you are. I'd take Harry's word, as a Jaguar insider, over most random folk on the internet.

 

One reason is the big lump underneath the hood (bonnet)!! Get a P300 and save a few hundred pounds!! Just kidding!! Look at the entire chassis, aluminum or not it's pretty stout compared to cars of yesteryear which adds a lot of weight overall. Remember the F-Type is built upon a shortened XK platform.

 

Season 5 Episode 6 - The Sand Job

I had to look it up . I will watch tonight.

 

Sometimes the quickest most cost effective way to take some weight off the total package is for the passengers to lose a few pounds!!

 

I fill my tires with helium.

 

All that safety adds weight. For the record, I got rear-ended by a Nissan Rogue (semi-compact SUV) and drove away, while the Rogue was a total loss. From the sound it made when the tow truck driver moved it to the shoulder, even the transaxle was broken.. Look at the video posted here recently of a convertible wedging itself under a bus. Stout indeed.