Sheer driving pleasure

Test Drive by Graham Breeze

Thanks to the Jaguar F-Type R Convertible I’ve just experienced sheer motoring pleasure.

Powered by Jaguar’s amazing 5.0litre V8 supercharged engine the new F-Type delivers breathtaking power and is as close to the driver’s dream as it gets.

It enjoys crazy, ridiculous, unbelievable power – there aren’t enough words really to describe the driving sensation of reaching 0-60mph in 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 186mph.

Little wonder that means best-in-class power and torque as well as best power-to-weight and torque-to-weight.

It’s the glorious noise produced when you rev the five-litre engine that hits you first. For an enthusiast there can be no better sound and at the flick of the active sports exhaust switch you can even make things louder – just for the sheer fun of it.

So if you want to remain anonymous start looking in different showrooms. They won’t just see you coming in the F-Type they will hear you from miles away thanks to quad exhaust pipes.

The first thing to appreciate once behind the wheel is the amount of power you are responsible for. The latest model may come with an all-wheel-drive system but you still have to keep your wits about you to maintain straight line driving once you hit the throttle.

You get a lot more help these days thanks to suspension tuning, and torque vectoring to keep you on the road but this is not a car for the inexperienced driver.

Buying a supercar is also going to cost you a lot of money and the F-Type is no exception with a basic price of £97,145. For that you get an awful lot though including, chrome side power vents, 20” black alloy wheels and R-themed leather interior and seats.

There’s a DAB radio and configurable ambient lighting, intelligent driving dynamics, rear parking help, torque vecoting by braking with electronic active differential, tyre pressure monitoring and steering column adjustment with memory function.

The wipers are rain sensing and the Bi-function HID Xenon headlights come with intelligent high beam assist. There’s also valuable front windscreen heating and power assisted steering.

The cabin is a stunning place to be with an eight inch touch screen display containing all the information you need, flat bottomed leather sports steering wheel, stainless steel pedals, carbon seat trim and a pedestrian contact sensing system.

As you would expect there’s a first class Sat-Nav system, SOS assistance call system and a superb infotainment package along with a 10-speaker surround sound system to keep you entertain even with the roof down.

The test car included another £6,000 worth of extras including an extended leather package, illuminated tread plates, a parking pack, visibility pack, blind spot monitoring, smart key system, climate control, extra speakers and heated seats to push the overall price up to £103,715.

Jaguar claim combined fuel figures of 25mpg but you’ll be hard pressed to achieve that if you are anything less than an enthusiastic driver – if you get my drift. CO2 emissions are also very high at 269g/km.

The introduction of the all-wheel-drive system will make the F-Type a more attractive option but the F-Type remains only an option for those with deep pockets. The rest of us can only dream.