So I got my 16 AWD V6s about 3 months ago and been overall pretty happy, lot of little issues still being sorted, car is currently at the dealer. Car is possibly going back to the dealer due to a prior paint issue that wasn't disclosed at the time of the sale, nothing in stone yet, I started looking at a few other cars but ended up back at the F type, saw that I could get CPO 16 R convertible for almost the same as I paid for my car, 56k vs 59-65 for an R, My car was heavily loaded and MSRP was at 100,000, so I basically have everything and don't really wanna loose features as this vehicle already lacks a lot of the stuff I'm used to from my prior car, Also a little underwhelmed with the Performance, car feels slow coming from a stock Infiniti q50 Redsport (400hp) also don't want to tune or modify due to warranty issues so thats not an option, is it really worth it to go up to the R, another thing I like about the R is the sound, the V6s at low speeds when you punch it sounds ricey to me( dont kill me) I think it sounds great on the highway when I hit it, but in low speed stuff when you floor it, just sounds too raspy for my liking. Whats everyones opinion Do i try to make the switch? or go for a new car, or just stay with the 6 thanks

 

I wouldn't hesitate to step up to the R. Mine was about 10% higher msrp than yours (also a 16). Other than CCB, not sure what else I could have had. Since yours is already AWD model, the 550 hp should satisfy any missing power issues. If you were interested in a manual or a lighter car than a RWD 6 would be the other move.

 

It sounds like you might have your mind made up. I didn't want to spend another $10K for the V8. Coming from a Camaro SS/RS V8, I miss the extra power a little, but I can't drive it that fast anyway. My V6S is completely loaded. I drove a few R's, one AWD, and man are they stupid fast, but with the extra money and the added speeding tickets I went with the V6. It's all what you want.

 

I passed a slow moving car on a two lane on ramp yesterday. Quickly. Like blink and he was far behind me quickly. I love my V8.

 

 

I mean I think I use the full 380 horse of my V6s and on the highway when cruising with my buddies I get left behind pretty easily, but thats a tuned m3, a tuned c63 2 GT3rs and tuned GTR so all cars making over 500. I just don't know if its worth getting another F type or is there something else I should look at, around the 60,000 dollar range.

 

I suggest you find a nice '14 or '15 XKR and tune it to 600 HP. Those buddies of yours will be breathing your exhaust fumes soon enough.

 

If the price is close, and you don't have a huge sales tax hit from swapping, get the R. It will keep you competitive with your buddies, the v8 still gets great highway gas mileage - I don't really see any downside for you. As for what else in the $60k range is worth a look, maybe a older R8?

 

 

My car is basically the exact same configuration: 16 V6 S AWD with almost every option selected. The points mentioned here are valid but I see them as positives - loud and fast but not excessively so, meaning I can use more of the car's potential without immediately getting myself in trouble. Perhaps the only regret I have is not going with RWD, but at the time of purchase this one had the best combination of price, condition, location, and options.
I also don't mean to be preachy but in my view, the V6 S is plenty fast enough to keep up with anything for safe use on public roads in the US. I enjoy going fast as much as the next guy, but I would argue that if the V6 S is getting left behind, chances are there's already a safety risk here.

 

Biggest thing that would keep me from moving from my V6S to an R is that the R lacks a third pedal. No clutch, no sale.

 

My '16 R makes me happy I bought it every. single. day.

I have decided I love the ZF auto-manual 8-speed even more than a manual.

I drive my 2016 R, all-wheel-drive convertible, daily, in The Minneapple, Minnesota, year-round, winter, too.

Unless I am driving at speeds that I really shouldn’t be, my right hand is on its shift lever, with the lever to the left, in sport mode. Then that short-throw shifter is a veritable slap-stick --an instant-shifter that incorporates an automatic clutch which my left leg could never match for smoothness nor speed.

Use your arm and wrist if you like, but the wrist needn’t even move: your fingers alone will move the short throw enough to shift up or down while the heel of your hand rests comfortably on the center console. In that relaxed position, I shift more often than necessary purely for entertainment --entertainment from the slight G-force forward and back, or in-and-out, if you will; and entertainment from more-than-slight exhaust grunt and sometimes snarl that sounds astonishingly like a real, live jaguar in the wild.

When you have a manual transmission, in slow-and-go traffic, that constant shifting between first and second gear is a patience-tester of even a bodhisattva. With this magnificent auto-manual in sport-mode, such that it functions as a manual with no clutch pedal, then that slow-and-go shifting is actually a joy. (With this particular car, the V8, it’s between 2ndand 3rd.) That joy comes partly from getting to make a little, not-obnoxious, exhaust noise in that slow-and-go traffic while you’re at it.

But it is also entertaining because the shape of the handle becomes tantalizing; like having your finger on a trigger. (“Happiness is a warm gun.” - John Lennon)

I have learned that the above makes moot the argument about how a manual makes for more involvement of the driver.

And of course there is no argument about comparing shift speeds of manual vs auto.

Then there’s this: married to the 5-litre V8 with 550 horse and 502 ft-lbs of torque (nearly 500 at 2000 rpm, 502 at 2500 rpm, and remaining there all the way up to 5800), it affords a laugh-out-loud-inducing range of optional gears for in-town highway speeds.

Regarding that aspect of it, a quick story:

A beginning-of-middle-age guy in what was basically a school-kid's hopped-up box-shaped car with a fart trumpet on its exhaust pipe, wearing his cap sideways, decided to speed up to try to get past me and into the not-quite-safe-to-merge-into-length-opening that I prefer to leave in front of me, as his lane was about to come to an end due to its merging into mine.

He evidently expected he would thereby induce me to use my brake pedal.

On the contrary, this magnificent combination of 550 horses with 500 ft-lbs of torque routed through this wonderful transmission afforded me to instead use my go pedal --regardless the gear I was already in. Just a tap, barely more than a touch, and the cat lurched.

And snarled.

Loudly.



The gap closed virtually instantaneously. That placed him beside me, in what would then soon become the shoulder, with a look on his face that justified, all by itself, just this time alone, the cost difference between a six-cylinder with a manual, and this raucous V8 with this magnificent automatic.

I then flicked the ZF down a gear, so as to have this wonderful transmission thereby help engine-brake, instantaneously. And by then the line had already just begun picking up a little more speed again. Thus, my brake pedal was only a momentary touch.

Next, as traffic soon slowed again, just after he fell in behind me, I had the pleasure of letting off the go pedal right in that sweet spot of rpms that cause this musical instrument to produce its piquant pop-pop, not the full, burbling snarl, but the gunfire sound, from the two double-barrels pointing backwards --in this case, pointing at his bumper.

Tantalizing trigger, indeed.

That probably shouldn’t have pleased me like it did.

I love this lusty thing.

 

I totally agree, If I didn't already have close to 10,000 dollars in warranty work done in the first 2 months and wasn't so scared to loose warranty I would def tune, all my issues Could be solved from a pulley and tune to intake and exhaust. plus the lighter nose of the 6 is great but my car being an AWD and a convertible doesn't really benefit that much over an R

 

Get on the open turnpike at the right time on early in the morning and you'll see how easy it gets left behind, I personally don't really like going over 130, have I done it a few times before in a safe as can be place ya, but I don't feel as stable and safe going any faster compared to like in cars like the GT3rs which sticks to the road at 180 like in a video game, not that I think thats really an acceptable speed for the road, going 110-120 is dangerous enough, or my buddies m4 or c63.

 

Based on your comments, I don't think the F-Type, in any trim is really the right car for you. The F-Type isn't really a sports car which seems to be what you are seeking. You seem to be after raw power and handling. There are much better cars in the market for those specific capabilities.

I bought the F-Type knowing it's not a sports car. However, I have a race car that I use on the track so I wasn't looking for something super nimble. With that, I bought V6S specifically for the center exhaust and sound. I dislike the quad exhaust of the V8 as to me it doesn't look as elegant as the center exhaust. I'm also not a huge fan of the muscle car sound.

My car is one of the slowest around in our local exotic car group (which includes some 1200hp Huracans, 720S's, 488's, etc). Honestly, I don't care. I really enjoy everything about it.

I do enjoy running down the faster cars in the F-Type at the track when I do bring it. I have a lot more experience than most of the drivers, but its still fun to have them blast away from me on a straight, and then catch back up to ride their bumpers in the corners.

 

I knew the F type wasn't a so called "sports" car when I got it, But I loved the sound at least in higher rpms and the looks and the handling is great, i've been wanting to take it on the track see how it does, compared to the car I normally track, my dads 2017 Viper GT, Love the track just not sure if its worth going through the trouble to get an R or just stick with the V6s

 

It's nothing like a Viper at the track.

The R will give you more power, yes without a doubt. However, you also mentioned concerns with handling. That will not change. In stock form, it's never going to handle like a GT3RS. It's just not built for the same purpose. In the end, you need to determine what are the most important characteristics in a car that you want.

 

I have three vehicles with V-8 engines and superchargers on each of them. I don't drive my F type that often, but when I do my it still leaves me shaking my head in appreciation for what it can do - seems much faster than my other cars. Amazing combination of torque/horsepower/gearing that never fails to deliver. I am able to appreciate the differences between my various v-8 SC vehicles - yet I still have a perfect driving record.

If you can swing it, get a V-8, RWD, and do the battery, wheel and brake rotor weight reductions, and I don't think you'll have any issues getting left behind...

 

The F-Type is a bit of an anachronism. A high horsepower, raw, brutal, unapologetic beast. It's loud, it's raw, it's brutal. It's all the things I liked about my 2006 GTO, except the sleeper factor. Where the GTO was under the radar, the F-Type darn near stops traffic. The F-Type is a throwback. This also applies to technology. A Honda Civic has a better infotainment system. It doesn't have the gadgets and conveniences that I got used to in my old commuter car. It doesn't even have the same features as the same year Land Rover. I don't care, though.

I was all set to buy a V6 and then I drove the V8. Done. Right there, Done.

Is it darn near pointlessly excessive power? Sure it is. But the entire car is not about being practical. I chose the V8, others choose the V6. Neither is wrong. The way I see it, it's like choosing a color. You go for whatever moves you. Some paint colors cost many thousands more than others. Those paint colors don't make the car perform better, they don't give them better economy, they just look better to some. That excessive power taps into a part of me that I enjoy.

 

Love them all. Love them both.

I remember the Top Gear review of the high horsepower corvette. Frankly, Jeremy said something like it is too much to drive on the street. Difficult to keep the rear wheels in contact with the ground;

I also love my 63 MGB. A stitch to drive, all of 97 hp.

Going fast in a slow car is far better than going slow in a fast car.

In my 2.0 I can easily be in reckless driving territory in third gear.