A car review — especially when it’s about a machine as lauded and as elite as the 2016 Jaguar F-Type R – is supposed to focus on the entirety of the car’s function, personality and intended owners. A scribe isn’t supposed to fixate on just one aspect of its design or engineering and burn a few hundred words going on about it.
I know that full well — and I’m going to do it anyway. Why? The new incarnation of the one-time Car of the Year award winner F-Type R is properly fast, well-styled, comfortable and blessed with one of the best exhaust notes in the world when you stomp on the gas and kick the supercharged V8 into gear. But it’s the suspension and handling — its connection to the road — that makes the car an absolute sensual joy to drive.
During a weekend-long test drive back and forth between Los Angeles and Orange County, I had a healthy opportunity to put the 2016 F-Type R through its paces. I had extended opportunities to review the R during its extended review. Whether on the road or on the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, it’s a car that moves, feels and sounds fantastic.
The 2016 version is the first enhanced edition to emerge since Jaguar’s very popular Villain ad campaign that got the F-Type on the pop culture radar.
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A modern classic in many regards, the current F-Type R offers the only V8 in the model’s line and maxes out at 5.0 liters and 55o horsepower. Sitting atop the F-Type food chain, the R starts around $103,000, rising to more than $106,000 for the convertible edition and topped off trim levels. An eight speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters keeps it all moving smoothly.
The satisfaction of a proper V8 engine in a car as tight as the F-Type R cannot be underestimated. While Jaguar’s engineers put ample technology on the ground to keep the power under control, putting your toe down will make the car surge forward with sudden fury. The F-Type can also boast one of the finest, sharpest and sexiest exhaust notes in all of auto-dom.
However, the finest element of the F-Type must be its handling by way of its four wheel independent suspension. Sure, plenty of other cars boast of a similar system. However, the Jag designers managed to walk that razor’s edge and perfectly balance comfort with the true driver’s desire to feel the road.
That’s such a tricky formula to mix. Modern luxury cars can be deliberate numb to provide maximum comfort. Jaguar can make a car like that. Performance cars should communicate the road surface and tire grip to enable car and driver to be one. Jaguar can build a car like that. In the F-Type, they’ve build both in one.
The F-Type R is never rough. It rolls along as if it’s too sophisticated to allow mere bumps to bother it. But, the driver can still sense what the car is doing against the pavement. Finally, the grip is sublime — granting absolute confidence to throw the R’s power around when necessary.
A car that pushes you out away and ahead of mere mortals, the F-Type R does what six-figure car must do. It makes driving pleasurable.
