Jump to content
Spartans Home

The first couple of months with my Jaguar F type Coupe.


Zeno~SPARTA~
 Share

Recommended Posts

20150330_115619_zpsgwakwdml.jpg

 

I have had my car for a couple of months now and it has lost none of its allure. I park the car in its garage nose first, so when I approach, it is from the rear. The back end of the F Type is very well crafted and attractive, so right away when the garage door opens the excitement begins, I touch the button on the flush handle and it pops out allowing me to open the door. As I settle into the cars perfect driving position, the illuminated red lettered start button pulsates like a heart beat, inviting me to either turn on the electrics or if my foot is on the brake start its engine. The drama continues when I push the button. A high speed whine followed by the growl as the 550 hp supercharged V8 bursts into life. Everyone knows when an F type starts, apparently to help prolong the life of the Catalytic Converter, it revs to 2500 rpm and quickly drops back down (apparently this puts heat into the cat). 2500 rpm is coincidentally the point at which the exhaust growls initially. Without even turning a wheel this car excites my senses.

The F type R coupe comes with a ZF 8 speed quick shift automatic box which is often praised by the press. The gear lever is a joystick type affair with a trigger and a button on top. The button engages Park, the trigger allows you to engage drive or reverse (pull back or push forward) with neutral in between which does not require a trigger pull.

The car is nose first in the garage so it needs to reversed out. Rearward visibility is not a strong point in this car but it has the reversing camera option. I am not used to using these but its wide angle view plus the sensors at the rear and front of the car make manoeuvres less painfull than they would otherwise be. Apart from the rear its especially difficult to see the front nearside bumper, again the sensors help and when going forward there can be a visual representation on the screen of where nearby obstacles are, relative to the car, at the touch of a button.

My car has the optional panoramic roof which helps offset the claustrophobia of a 2 seater coupe. Once on the move the F type is a comfortable daily use vehicle, leave it in drive with the active exhaust turned off, keep the revs under 2500 and you can potter around swiftly without disturbing the peace. Turn on the active exhaust and the car is more noticeable. You at least have the option to be discreet. Jeremy Clarkson said the V8 is noisy all the time. This has not been my experience, so long as you keep the revs down (easy with more than 500 ft/lbs of torque) no-one will notice the car by its noise. But if they see it you have to accept that all manner of people may stop you to chat about it, men women and kids seems to like the look of it.

On the other hand if you want to use the power by engaging sport and dynamic mode, all discretion goes out the window. You get the growl at low revs, it roars at intermediate revs and it sounds like a v8 race car up to its 7000 rpm rev limit. Then when you back off you get some serious explosions of unburnt fuel going through the exhaust. Richard Hammond criticised the exhaust note commenting that it was tuned by a man with a laptop. This is absolutely true, but I am pretty sure the exhaust note of all sports cars is not left to chance. I have had several good looking cars that handle well but were not exciting to listen to, I have had one good looking car that sounded good but handled badly and of course I have had cars that ticked no boxes. This is the only car I have had that ticks all the boxes and that makes me want to be in it all the time.

In Britain a comparable car is the Aston Martin V12 Vantage, similar power, good looks (depending on your taste better looking), great sounding V12 and a better crafted interior, but the badge is way more expensive than that of the Jag. similarly the C7 Corvette offers exciting looks, fantastic V8 sound and better performance for less money, but again the badge is cheaper than that of the Jag. If I had wanted a track car I think I would have bought a Porsche Cayman GTS or better, I like GTR's but do not like the look of the R35 but acknowledge its awesomeness in every other department. But my track days are over and the Jag truly won me over and still does. Luckily I also have my RX8 (now with a new engine) so I can go to the nearby hills and get my kicks in that instead of putting loads of miles in the Jag. The RX8 may not be very powerful but it has a sweet chassis and is very nimble, great fun to drive on twisty roads where it can embarrass more powerful cars.

 

GX6J6016.jpg

 

The metallic grey is very helpful is not showing the dust, which is the main problem here in the summer, the dark wheels also help in maintaining a clean look even when they are not.

 

Anyway so far its only been a pleasure, I am sure there may be niggles in the future but my last Jaguar gave me 10 trouble free years before I sold it to buy the Audi.

 

102_3551_zpsmjkta7ch.jpg

 

Here is the coupe launch video

 

 

This is a beautifully made film featuring the F Type on a track

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah is that a Vauxhall Nova, the pinnacle of youth "tuning". Never had less than 4 cylinders in my cars (Rotor housings excluded of course), but who knows what the future may hold.

 

But back to the F Type. My car is rear wheel drive, to help cope with the torque, it has an electronic limited slip differential, this uses multi clutch plates to direct the power to the wheels depending on the situation. Surprisingly for a big front engine rear wheel drive car it suffers from little understeer. As well as torque vectoring from the differential there is torque vectoring by braking which brakes the inside wheels to help pull the nose in, the lighter engined V6 is supposed to have better turn in.

 

The worse thing about powerful cars with auto boxes is that they can change gear mid bend. The ZF box is linked to the cars many sensors and knows when it is in a bend and holds the gear.

 

Usually there is a brace across the top of the engine connecting the top of the two shock absorbers, the design team didnt want to raise the bonnet line so the engineers braced the suspension by going around the engine instead of over it.

 

I have had to tame my very heavy right foot, when I first got the car there were many inadvertent wheel spins from being too indelicate with the throttle, now that rarely happens. On full throttle starts (with the traction control on) I was surprised that the rear of the car stepped sideways (to the left) a bit before straightening itself. I thought the TCS wasnt working, but Jaguar let the tail move a bit and use the diff to straighten it up instead of using the TCS. Of course if you really overdo it the TCS will cut the engine power. A full throttle start requires the power to be fed in progressively even more so on the exit from bends.

 

Sadly on the one bit of road that snakes up a hillside with rock sides, the tarmac is really broken so I have to be really gentle on the throttle as it will break traction too easily, also I have to take a slow line through the corner for fear of cyclists coming the other way, they tend to go really fast, really wide and cannot stop. However when I can see further I can open it up and the sound is tremendous.

 

 

For those that are interested here is a video of the F Type roadster being built

 

 

This video shows one of the Jags designers explaining and drawing the roadster. I used to love drawing cars as a child so I found this especially interesting.

 

 

One more video on the design philosophy for the F Type Coupe

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ian Callum spoke about building these cars using registered unbuilt chassis numbers from the 60s a while back.

 

Eagle have also started building these with slightly updated parts, although the Jags will be blueprinted and perfect.

 

Having said that I do not especially like the look of these lightweight racers, I prefer the look of the coupé or roadsters.

 

Its a shame that all the remaining unbuilt D type chassis' were destroyed in a fire, to me they look better than the E Type. But this is my favourite Jaguar.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Disagree about the D types mate never liked the look but your bang on about the XJ13 what a beautiful car.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Long nose D Type is sweet

 

dtype_zpssjqd8pik.png

 

But the E type is magnificent as well.

 

Thanks Rocky, here's another shot.

 

20150330_115607a_zps9sp4zi9i.jpg

 

 

Here's a bit of info on the engine:

 

The 5.0 liter V8 features lightweight die-cast aluminum block which is stiffened with cross-bolted main bearing caps, increasing rigidity and refinement

 

The supercharged V8 engine combines high compression, direct fuel injection, dual independent variable cam timing (DIVCT) and a supercharger to deliver their high levels of performance and efficiency. A twin vortex supercharger is mounted in the engine's "V", and a water-cooled intercooler reduces the temperature of the intake air to optimize power and efficiency. The supercharged V8 uses a compression ratio of 9.5:1.

 

In both the V6 and V8, the aluminum cylinder heads package an innovative valve control system. The dual independent variable cam timing (DIVCT) system is activated by the positive and negative torques generated by the movement of the intake and exhaust valves, allowing exceptionally quick actuation rates of more than 150 degrees per second throughout the rev range.

 

Spray-guided direct injection delivers precisely measured quantities of fuel directly into the center of the combustion chambers at pressures of up to 150bar (2175 psi) , creating a more homogenous air-fuel mixture for cleaner and more efficient combustion. This is aided by spark plugs that are precisely indexed both in relation to the injector and within the combustion chamber.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...

The F Type went in for a service yesterday, no faults or niggles. I enjoy it as much today as when I first bought it. I will have to replace the rear tyres soon, I will probably buy the Michelin Pilot Super Sports instead of the Pirelli P Zeros. from what I have read they let you use more of the Jags power in the dry and in the wet. I dont understand why Jaguar dont use them as standard.

 

Here is the replacement car Jaguar lent me.

 

20160404_093311_zps3zrgevii.jpg[/url

 

This is a diesel XF. I was surprised at how refined this diesel is, it is quiet and has plenty of low down grunt that works well with the ZF 8 speed box. Very nice but it is huge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If they consider the Michelin to be a better tyre they will offer it at a premium price, for customers to choose as an option. Just another way of generating more revenue.

Did the same thing at AML, with Bridgestone as the standard tyres and Pirelli p zero as the premium price option.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The decision is yours but (dependant on how hard you drive) I would not mix tyres, even factory spec'd. JLR would not have vehicle tested with mixed tyres.

Also, technically you could null your insurance, if the oem specifications don't include mixed tyres. End up in a smash and any assessor doing a proper job would check tyre fitment straight away and non specified rubber can invalidate your policy.

Edited by Watchman~SPARTA~
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is surprising.

What you have to think about is the fine tuning tyres go through for this type if high performance car.

The most an off the shelf tyre is rated to is 155mph, that's why your average performance saloon is limited to that. Beyond these speeds the tyres are custom created and will invariably have a unique marker on the tyre wall to differentiate it from its off the shelf relative.

I had this issue at AML where our parts department were complaining that dealers were going to the high street for tyres as they were cheaper. When I pointed out the the Bridgestones on the high street were the standard REO50 Potenza rated at 155mph and not the OEM fit AM8 variant, tuned to 192mph, they had no idea the risk they could've been putting customers at.

By fitting a non OEM approved tyre you're effectively customising a car which over here, has to be advised to your insurer.

It is rare for it to happen but the few instances I've seen documented relate to very expensive high performance cars, where insurers are trying wriggle out of 100's of thousands claims.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is no hard driving at the moment. Its hard to get heat into the tyres, when theyre warm theyre not bad, but I have to be gentle on the throttle at the moment. For now i'll get a feel for these tyres. Once I am confident they are better or at least no worse I will commit to Michelin. If not I'll go back to Pirelli and sell the michelins. To be fair this is the first time I havent stuck to the OEM tyres.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Usually cost, it's an expensive development cycle. Plus marketing, not sure with Jaguar as the F replaces the XK but if you have a model range, speed is always a differentiator.

With Aston, the V8 was good for 175, the db9 was 186, the dbs was 192 with the hypercar 177 topping out at 200.7.

All of those cars could have comfortably topped 200mph

Edited by Watchman~SPARTA~
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The new F Type SVR is good for over 200 mph. It only has 25 more hp. But the aero is different, especially the wing at the back. I have a spoiler that must be a huge air brake, the SVR has a more aero dynamic wing. Its all academic unless i find a runway I'll be lucky to hit 150.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont often get a chance to see the underside of my cars but here is the F Type up on the ramp to change the rear tyres. A bit dirty but you can see the Aluminium platform, diff and suspension components. The bracing appears to be steel. Check out the rim with the new Michelin Pilot Supersport next to it. These are 295/30 20's, the new SVR has 315's, the same size as the Z28 Camaro has all round.

 

20160412_113226_zpsthbpczna.jpg

 

Here is a picture of the smaller front rim.

 

20150328_104600_zpsxyb2rqdt.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of Z28 Camaros....

 

I heard that the 2017 Z28 is going to come basically set up like the new Corvette... producing roughly the same HP. I saw a picture of one, and it looks a little smaller now also, but that could have just been it's styling giving that appearance.

But I have a feeling Chevrolet is beginning to blur the line between a Z28 and the Corvette... this could produce a real steal in being a very cheap (relatively speaking) sleeper capable of matching up with other super cars.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

oh yeah... just went and looked it up.. Zeno this 2017 may be a sleeper price wise... or the cat may be out of the bag.

2017-chevrolet-camaro-zl1-sports-car-mo-

Supercharged powerhouse

Under the hood, you’ll find a supercharged LT4 6.2L V8 engine with intake and exhaust features that are tailored specifically for Camaro. With an estimated 640 horsepower and 640 lb.-ft. of torque, ZL1 is the most powerful Camaro ever produced.

 

ZL1 features a performance-tuned suspension system that includes Magnetic Ride technology that adapts 1,000 times per second, adjusting the suspension for performance driving. Standard electronic Limited-Slip Differential is designed to improve stability and responsiveness for better handling and balance.

 

2017-chevrolet-camaro-zl1-sports-car-mo-

Get in your gear

Choose between a standard six-speed manual transmission with active rev matching, or an available all-new, paddle-shift 10-speed automatic that helps maintain optimum RPM levels for maximum responsiveness and quicker lap times

Standard RECARO® performance seats with suede inserts plant you into the perfect position. You put your hand on the suede shifter, press your foot down on the accelerator and you’re gone, ready to take on the track or a cross-country jog. That’s the refined, performance-minded interior of ZL1.

 

They have certainly blurred the lines between the Camaro and the Corvette. It appears to me it is getting smaller also which is a good trend really. It got too big.

Edited by Zathrus~SPARTA~
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...