It’s hard to screw up the design of a 2-seat sports car. It’s so easy to make them look good. Just stretch out the nose, chop off the rear, and keep the top of the car low to the ground.
The Jaguar F-type follows this formula. But Jag’s designers went beyond the easy formula and made sure that the F-type wasn’t simply attractive, but beautiful. They made sure that as you got out of the car and took a few steps away, that you’d turn around just to look at it. Again. Every time.
You can’t help it. The proportions are that perfect. The character lines emerge from nowhere, are exquisitely resolved, and tastefully finished. The total design is a perfect blend of femininity and masculinity, voluptuous in effect and muscular in detail. That ain’t easy to do, folks.
Inside, you don’t have to be told that this is a driver’s car. All the controls, gauges and cockpit are oriented around you, the driver. Your passenger is only there for the ride, and maybe to hold onto the grab rails.
And hold on tight, that is. With a supercharged 5-liter V8 cranking out 444 horsepower the F-type leaps off the line like a thoroughbred bursting out of the starting gate. And with 428 pound-feet of torque it pulls like one of those giant tow trucks that can yank a semi out of a ditch.
There’s a toggle switch on the center console that allows you to put the car in “Dynamic Mode.” Do it. Don’t ask why. Just do it. And leave it there, every time you drive. I promise you that it will make your teeth whiter, your smile brighter and your sex life better.
Everywhere you drive the F-type, people will come up and tell you it’s a beautiful car. They will tell you that they wish they had a sports car like that. And maybe they do, but they’ll never buy one. They’ll never pull the trigger because they’re too rational to follow their heart’s desire.
No, the people who buy sports cars are a breed apart. And the F-type is a sports car for people who are a breed apart from them.
Price as tested: $84,350
By: John McElroy
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John McElroy is an influential thought leader in the automotive industry. He is a journalist, lecturer, commentator and entrepreneur. He created “Autoline Daily,” the first industry webcast of industry news and analysis.
