Jaguar F-Type V6 S review

One of the happiest times of our life was belting around Millbrook in a Jaguar XKR-S Convertible, so when Jaguar announced the F-Type, a 2-seat convertible that promised to take all the fun of the XKR-S and distil it into a more focused sports car, we knew we’d have to drive it.

We have, and can say that is as exciting, fun and thrilling as we hoped it would be. We also found out how it performs in everyday use.

The car we drove was the F-Type V6 S Convertible, which is blessed with a supercharged 3-litre V6 engine that produces 375hp at 6,500rpm and 460nm of torque. Jaguar claims that the F-Type V6 S will accelerate from zero to 60mph in just 4.8 seconds, and having driven the car we’re not going to argue with that figure. The F-Type V6 S’s top speed is 171mph.

IT’S ALIVE!

Sporty Jaguars feel alive in a way that many other cars don’t. There’s a feeling of barely restrained aggression under the veneer of luxury and elegant respectability. There’s always the feeling that they’ll do something unpredictable to catch you out. It’s this feeling of life and soul that makes cars such as the XKR-S and F-Type V6 S exciting to drive. Even the comparatively pedestrian Jaguar XJ can make you happy in a way that few other luxury cars can.

The F-Type V6 S has this life and soul in abundance, and you only have to drive to your local supermarket to experience it.

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The F-Type S is immensely powerful. You only have to press the accelerator a short distance to be hit with a rush of adrenalin-producing acceleration. The rush isn’t as intense as that delivered by the 5-litre V8 XKR-S Convertible, and you’re not pushed back in your seat to the same extent, but it’s still one of the most thrilling experiences you’ll ever have. There’s certainly no need for greater acceleration on the road, but it is worth noting that there is a 488hp (495ps) 5-litre V8 version of the F-Type, which will propel you from zero to 60mph in just 4.2 seconds.

Remarkably, this immense power is freely available in the F-Type V6 S’s regular, everyday driving mode, yet flick a switch to engage Dynamic mode and the F-Type S becomes even more eager to perform.

The instrument panel lights up in a scary red when you engage Dynamic mode

DYNAMIC MODE

Dynamic Mode releases all restraints on the V6 S, providing more involved steering, a more responsive, freer revving engine and quicker gearshifts. Certain electronic safety aids, such as dynamic stability control, are sacrificed or reduced.

The F-Type S is exciting, engaging and alive in its normal driving mode, but Dynamic mode makes it even more so. The F-Type V6 S has an active exhaust mode that when engaged takes the already gruff tone of the exhaust and turns it into a furious howl. Dynamic Mode engages the active exhaust automatically, so you always hear the glorious roar of the exhaust whenever you press the accelerator pedal.

The F-Type feels even more limber and agile in Dynamic mode, and we think the steering has more life to it, letting us feel more involved in a drive. If you plan on taking your F-Type V6 S on a trackday, you’ll want Dynamic mode engaged.

A must-have optional extra for track-day fans, this plots the G forces you’ve experienced on a graph

There’s one optional extra that’s definitely worthwhile if you’ll use your F-Type V6 S on a track, and that’s the ability to modify the car’s Dynamic mode setup with the touchscreen. You’re shown a view of the F-Type with various systems, such as the engine and brakes, highlighted in red, and you can choose to have them in Dynamic mode or not. If you prefer the feel of the steering in regular mode, for instance, you can retain it in Dynamic mode. Your setup options are very limited, but they’re better than nothing.

This option gives you certain other fun features, though. You can view a G-meter that shows the G forces experienced during a drive, for example, or view lap times, to give two examples.

The Stopwatch lets you view lap times

We found that Dynamic mode had a detrimental effect on fuel consumption, but often couldn’t resist the temptation to activate it anyway, even though it’s totally unnecessary on the road.

BABY WANTS TO SLIDE

With so much power going straight to the rear wheels, you need to be careful how you use the accelerator pedal when tackling corners. Apply the throttle too liberally and the F-Type’s rear will try to overtake the front. It’s easy to catch this at slower speeds, with only a slight jiggle giving the F-Type’s intentions away, but this can happen whether you’re tackling a twisting B-road or exiting the Canary Riverside car park. This need to tame the F-Type is just another thrilling characteristic of the F-Type V6 S that makes it addictive and rewarding to drive.

In general use, and when driving at motorway speeds, the F-Type is fairly restrained. You only have to dab the accelerator pedal to potter around town in a calm manner, and the V6 S’s power is no more than a centimetre or two away should you need to overtake.

Powerful brakes are essential given the F-Type’s immense power and the F-Type S’s have enough stopping power to reduce speed quickly without your heart having to skip a few beats.

The only thing we’d improve is the feel of the steering, as it’s a little numb, giving less feedback than we’d like. This makes it perfect for cruising around town or when travelling on the motorway, but it detracts from the F-Type’s sporty feel. Dynamic mode sharpens it up a bit, so that the F-Type is quicker and more eager to turn, but it still doesn’t give us the feel we desire. This is a minor quibble, though.

The F-Type is equipped with Jaguar’s QuickShift gearbox, and you can either change gears with the steering-wheel mounted paddles or with the gear stick. We preferred to use the paddles. There’s very little travel in the paddle switches, which gives changes a suitably sporty feel, and the QuickShift gearbox allowed incredibly quick gear changes, even in Normal mode.

The F-Type’s ride is hard by modern standards, which means that you’ll feel every bump, pothole and imperfection on the road, but you won’t feel a violent jolt. This adds to the excitement when you want to have fun on a quiet A- or B-road, but it means motorway drives will quickly tire you.

WINTER MODE

It’s fairly easy to make the F-Type V6 S’s rear swing out in the best conditions, so the Snow and Ice Mode is a very welcome feature when the heavens open.

With this mode activated, the F-Type is much more restrained in its power delivery, and the rear end feels more planted and sure-footed. It’s tempting to say the F-Type feels sluggish in this mode, and compared to the car in Normal and Dynamic modes, this is true. However, you can still make use of the V6’s power for overtaking; you just have to be a little more patient and insistent.

ECO MODE

In common with many new cars, the F-Type V6 S has an intelligent stop mode. Whenever you come to a stop, such as at traffic lights, the engine will cut out to preserve fuel. The engine re-ignites as soon as you take your foot off the brake, so it’s perfect for when you find yourself driving around town in slow moving traffic. You can, however, disable this feature if you want a more sporty feel and need to pull away from junctions and roundabouts as quickly as possible.

INTERIOR

The F-Type’s interior looks as exciting and sports-focused as it is to drive. The interior is dominated by a wide centre console that provides a few controls, a cubby-cum-drinks holder and a second cubby that houses a DVD drive and a USB port.

We found the seats fairly comfortable, but couldn’t escape the feeling they were made for larger people. We normally complain about side bolsters on sports seats being too intrusive, but on the F-Type they’re too far away and didn’t provide the snug feel and lateral support we wanted. The seats were electrically adjustable in just two ways, and we had to move the seat forwards and backwards mechanically. Some may see this as a minor complaint in a sports car, but Jaguar sports cars combine luxury with exciting performance, and we’d expect fully electric seats as standard.

We certainly like the way the interior wraps around the driver. Everything you need is within easy reach, whether it’s on the centre console, the touchscreen or the multifunction steering wheel, and this increases the focused feel of the F-Type. Everything seems to give you a feeling of motion, even if you’re going nowhere.

You can attach USB drives and smartphones so that you can play music and videos from them. Our F-Type even played DVDs.

The leather and plastic coverings feel high quality, but the cubby lids and glove box didn’t operate as smoothly as we’d expect, which lessened the F-Type’s luxury feel.

We were happy with the small multifunction steering wheel, as all the controls you need are located close to your thumbs, with audio controls on the left-hand side and cruise control settings on the right. Our only criticism is that we had to give the buttons a hard press for our commands to register.

The instrument panel is easy to see, and consists of a speedometer and rev counter separated by a multifunction display that shows your selected gear and trip information among many other things, although the information displayed will change depending on context. We’d prefer to have a central rev counter, with the multifunction display located to the side of it.

The control for the roof is conveniently located on the centre console and we timed the roof opening in 15 seconds and closing within 16. With the roof up you can hear noise from the tyres and the wind, but it’s no more intrusive than it is in a much cheaper hatchback.

TOUCHSCREEN

The F-Type has a massive 8in touchscreen that dominates the upper dashboard, and you’ll predominantly use it for navigation and selecting a track to play.

The touchscreen’s operating system is graphically basic, but it is at least easy to navigate and operate, and it’s pretty responsive too. The satnav’s maps, for instance, look positively ancient compared to those of rival systems such as Renault’s R-Link system. Even so, it conveys all the information you need to know, such as the exit to take at a roundabout and points of interest such as petrol stations, and recalculates the route very quickly if you miss a turn. It’s also easy to find a destination with a postcode and revisit old destinations. This system could compete with the best if it’s given a graphical rather than functional refresh.

We were less keen on the 180W Meridian surround sound audio system fitted to our F-Type. The mid-range had a decent amount of punch, but the high-end was a little too tinny, and the audio system didn’t produce the degree of clarity we’d expect from a high-end audio system. It sounded best with folk music and rock, such as Simon & Garfunkel and the Foo Fighters, rather than newer, electronic music.

There’s plenty of volume, though, and you can adjust the balance of the audio system with the F-Type’s touchscreen, but we’d still demo the other Meridian audio systems in a Jaguar showroom before opting for this system.

STORAGE

The F-Type Convertible’s 196-litre boot is woefully small, and you’ll struggle to stuff a big shop in it, never mind a large suitcase. We managed to squeeze a tiny suitcase, a holdall and a couple of carrier bags into it, so it’ll be okay for a short trip. The main problem with the boot is that it’s wider than it is deep, so you’ll have to shove bags under the lip of the boot towards the front of the F-Type. There isn’t much height between the boot floor and the ceiling though, so you’re limited in the type of luggage you can use.

LIVING WITH THE F-TYPE V6 S

The F-Type S is a supremely fun and capable sports car that fills you with an excitement that you don’t get in many other similarly priced cars, even the excellent Porsche 911. The trouble is that it’s completely wasted on many of Britain’s roads, with their many potholes, vicious speed bumps and camera-enforced average speed limits.

Everything about the F-Type, from the way it looks to the way it drives and the way the interior wraps around you gives the impression of speed, and urges you to drive it quickly. However, when you’re stuck in a rolling traffic jam on the M6 with an enforced speed limit of 40mph all these things conspire to frustrate you, and we found ourselves longing for the comfortable luxury of the Jaguar XJ.

The F-Type V6 S needs and deserves open, twisting roads. Zipping around the Cotswolds in the F-Type with the roof down on a hot day is a heavenly experience, and there’s nowhere else you’d rather be.

There’s no reason why you couldn’t use the F-Type S on the daily commute, but it’ll be wasted if you have no intention of ever exploiting it on a track. We think many potential buyers would be better off buying the 335hp F-Type V6. It’s still stupidly fast, has the same looks and interior as the V6 S and is cheaper.

The F-Type V6 S Convertible costs £67,520 on the road for a car with base specification. Our review car was packed with optional extras, and this increased the price to a lofty £80,990. That’s a lot of money, but there are some features that we couldn’t live without and that don’t cost a lot. One option is the reversing camera, as the 8in image shown on the touchscreen is a real boon when trying to park the F-Type in tight spaces.

Fuel consumption figures for the F-Type V6 S are 22.4mpg around town, 40.9mpg out of town and 31.4mpg combined. Charging around in Dynamic mode will increase the F-Type V6 S’s thirst even further.

If you want a car that’ll provide you with excitement, thrills and lots of admiring glances, get down to your local Jaguar dealer and test drive the Jaguar F-Type V6 S.