F-Type Update #2- Curves

"macanamera" (macanamera)
06/04/2016 at 18:45 • Filed to: None

Honestly, I’m enamored with this car. With this update, let’s talk about curves.

Curves on the car-

This car is staggeringly beautiful. You can see it in the face of almost everyone that looks at it. It’s just a pretty car. The rounded hips, the wide rear track, the coupe roofline, it’s really lovely. The car gets an immense amount of attention. I’ve gotten more “Nice Car!” comments in a week than I had in 3+ years with the CLS63 AMG. I’m also really in love with the color (“Italian Racing Red”), which is just a shade darker/smokier than your general flat “Arrest Me Red” (like my GT-R), and I think it adds a lot of subtlety to the look. It’s also slightly metallic (which I generally don’t like) but it works here.

Car on the curves-

Wow! I mean, dude, it’s a Jaguar, not exactly known for their expertise in making sports cars the last few decades. It helps that the car is generally light in manual V6 form, something around 3500 pounds. This car handles well. It isn’t razor sharp like a GT3- it’s communicative, kind of like an old sports car. There’s not much magic to this- it’s (relatively) light, sticky P-Zero tires all around, 50/50 weight distribution, a firm/sporty suspension, and a pretty short wheelbase. The electric steering is actually surprisingly excellent, the best electric setup I’ve driven (unless the ATS-V is electric? That car is magic.) There is actually tactile feedback through the wheel, which is generally lacking in every EPS car I’ve driven.

I’m struggling to describe how it drives- the word I want to use is eager. Let me explain. I daily drove a GT-R for a few years. The GT-R is one the fastest things on four wheels, period. My GT-R was ridiculously, painfully, stupidly fast. I know that on a track, the GT-R would chew up this F-Type all day, no competition. But- even though the GT-R changes direction faster than basically anything else on the road, it doesn’t feel eager to do it. When you take a turn 40+ mph faster than you thought was possible in a GT-R, it feels like the car is erasing and rewriting the laws of physics. It feels like an absolutely massive amount of AWD magic and duct-tape tires and technological magic is occurring to enabling you to make that turn. The GT-R feels like it grabs the turn, beats the ever-loving shit out of it, throws it out of the bar, and then bangs the turn’s girlfriend.

The F-Type doesn’t feel like that. It does that thing that Porsches do where you turn the steering wheel, and it’s just like “okay!” and it turns. It’s eager to. It doesn’t beat the road into submission with technology and steamroller tires. It’s in harmony with the road, and that makes it excellent. It’s not the fastest (or most agile) car- far from it- but it’s incredibly rewarding and comfortable to drive.

I’ll be around for a while, so AMA about the car or organic chemistry or the best 4k TV’s currently available, or whatever.

DISCUSSION (9)

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > macanamera
06/04/2016 at 19:15

I know a week is a small sample size but what kind of gas milage are you getting?

macanamera > Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero
06/04/2016 at 19:16

13.9 mpg

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > macanamera
06/04/2016 at 19:57

Got enough miles on it to open it up yet? And now you're a bit more comfortable in it, are you starting to wonder if more power would have been good, or is 340 feeling like enough.