British design is on the ascendance, claims Richard Webb, as he ‘takes one for the team’ at the global launch of the Jaguar F-Type in Spain.
Read articles about some really cool cars and you’ll find the word ‘iconic’ littered around like fairy dust in a Peter Pan story, but what does iconic really mean when applied to design?
An icon sets a benchmark for others to follow, is ground-breaking in terms of its technology and improves on the past. It stands the test of time and is often emulated by other designers. The London Underground map is a prime example. Designed by Harry Beck in 1931 he designed the map based on an electrical circuit board, with each line in a different colour and diamonds for interchange stations. This has become iconic.
The red Routemaster London bus and the Mini are icons as well. And then we have the Jaguar E-Type. That right there is an iconic car. Even Enzo Ferrari gave it the nod when he called it “the most beautiful car ever made”. Jaguar sold more than 70 000 E-Types between 1961 and 1975 and now, over fifty years after its debut, Jaguar has finally gone beyond their path-finding CX-16 concept to produce what is arguably one of the most anticipated cars of 2013.
There has been plenty of speculation as to why it has taken Jaguar, since the last E-Type in 1975, to re-join the sports car ‘party’. So when I was at the launch of the F-Type in Pamplona, North East Spain with Julian Thomson, Jaguar’s Director of Advanced Design, I asked exactly that question. His response was honest and right on the money, “It’s been an intimidating car to do in many ways. Expectations are massively high. The design team have tried to make that emotional connection that Jaguar had with the C-Type, D-Type and the E-Type,” he says.
Jaguar will have a large sales bounty to gain if it gets the F-Type right. If it can find that critical acclaim, thousands of customers will warm to the idea of buying other Jaguars in the range, now and in the future. Equally, if it doesn’t meet expectations the iconic E-Type has partially created, it will have failed – even if it sells well. In part, it is these risks that explain why it has taken Jaguar so long to come to market with this car.
The British have some real heritage in this market, however, and Jaguar even more so than most. This reality shines through in this two-seat sports car. There is a choice of two engines, a 3.0-litre V6 or 5.0-litre V8, both with Roots type twin vortex supercharging. Both of these engines have carried over some technology from other Jaguar models.
The range topping V8 S has a handy 364 kW and 625 Nm of torque to play with. All S models get adaptive dampers and a (very) active exhaust, likely to annoy distant neighbours but delight petrol heads. Depress the bronze ‘start’ button on the dash and the howling burble immediately telegraphs the driver-focused credentials of the car as the supercharger spools up to speed. It sounds Machiavellian, as it spits, fizzes and pops on the over-run, causing small children to hide and three abreast cyclists to make some highly unflattering hand gestures.
At R1 345 000, the V8 S may not be considered a bargain, but it certainly is great value for money. This car delivers in pretty much every dynamic area possible. On a 240 km blast over the serpentine, undulating Spanish Pyrenees roads, the V8 S proved to be a titan of a car, with 0 to 100 km/h flashing up in 4.2 seconds on the way to a restricted 298 km/h at full pelt.
Performance is rather dramatic across the entire range. The entry-level, R825 000, V6 offers some truly satisfying driving dynamics to rival that of Porsches’ finest efforts. With the 0 to 100 km/h sprint over in just 5.1 seconds and a ride and steering as dynamic as any of its competitors. Even quicker still, coming in at 4.8 seconds, is the V6 S, priced at R945 000. It delivers even more urgency and poise, becoming the car of choice for journalists around the Circuito de Navarra F1 testing circuit. This was where the mechanical limited-slip differential and two-stage stability control was put to good use.
Inside, the cockpit flows around the driver instead of being horizontal in front of you and the interface is intensely tactile, urging the driver to fully explore its mechanics with each nano-quick gear change. A row of toggle switches below the dials echo the Jaguar sports cars of the past, while Meridian Audio systems provides audio reproduction outputs of up to 770W if the cars’ engine note gets a bit too much.
The F-Type oozes showroom-floor appeal and is thoroughly modern, with exquisitely detailed lines worthy of its sports car bloodlines. It’s modern, for sure, but the boot, a one-piece clamshell bonnet and slender rear lights are obvious nods to the E-Type.
Practicality is a tad limited by the small 196-litre boot, but the electric roof folds at speeds of up to 50 km/h without steeling any of that precious boot space. Handy if you don’t want to look like a prat when the traffic light turns green half way through the lowering of the roof. Every F-Type has stop/start as standard and the base-level car emits a parsimonious 209 g/km of CO2.
So, did the F-Type manage recapture that magic of the E-Type? Whether it will be iconic or not will be the subject of much chattering, but it has definitely moved the benchmark along for others to follow and is a superb all-round package worthy of all the hype.
| Pricing | |
| Jaguar F-Type V6 | R825 000 |
| Jaguar F-Type V6 S | R945 000 |
| Jaguar F-Type V8 S | R1 345 000 |
Pricing includes a 3-year/100 000km warranty.
