Goodwood Test: 2021 Jaguar F-Type P450 AWD Review

The Jaguar F-Type is the successor to the E-type. Sort of. It’s a big two-seater coupe powered by an equally big engine and making a sound that’s enough to make a deity go weak at the knees. It straddles the line between Grand Tourer and muscle car, able to comfortably munch a continent in a lazy day, but also an easy shredder of rubber and shocker of local children. The first F-Type, launched as the CX16 concept 50 years after the E-type launched, and 11 years after the first concept to be called F-Type arrived in 2000. But now, there is a facelifted version, one that sees in a new decade that could well be its last.

This is the F-type in P450 guise, which is going to probably be the sweet spot in the range. Jaguar’s nomenclature is very simple these days, P450 means it has around 450PS, there is a P300 below (which has the four-cylinder) and the R above, which now comes with the V8 taken from the old SVR. All V8 F-types are a 5.0-litre supercharged unit, thankfully sticking with a tradition that is found almost nowhere else. That means the full 450PS (331kW) is found high up the rev range (6,000rpm) and that you do still have a little lag before reaching peak torque of 580Nm (428lb ft). But that old school style is very in character with the rest of the car, so it isn’t a worry. There’s also plenty of that big capacity ability to just chug through at lower revs before the supercharger kicks in, and the torque curve is then flat, with peak torque remaining from 2,500rpm to 5,000, not too far before you wang into the red line. With that older school feeling of proper supercharged torque also comes an old school sound. The old V8 F-Type was a famous shouter, and while the new one has definitely been told to just keep it down a little, it still can roar with the best of them. There are certainly fewer pops and cracks from the four outlets behind you, but with the exhaust in sport mode the big Jaguar coupe feels no less angry and sonorous than it ever did.

Behind that engine is an eight-speed automatic gearbox. There will never be another F-Type with a manual, simply because in the last year of sale for the old car they sold seven. Yes, seven. It’s not the most sophisticated of changes, with a proper hit to the back with each upshift if you’re really on it, but does the job perfectly well. The metal paddles are also enjoyable to use, although there’s literally no way you’ll ever get your fingers behind them to relax if that’s your driving style.

The P450 comes with two transmissions, either rear-driven – the only V8 F-Type that will not send power to the front, as the R has gone AWD – or all-wheel-drive as per the First Edition spec car we’re driving here. While I loved the lairy nature of the rear-driven car, it did leave some feeling a little on edge, with the safety of the more mature transmission appealing to many. If you are looking for a bit more of that wild fun side, you won’t be too disappointed in the all-wheel-drive version. Power is routed largely to the back, with assistance from the front, so when it gets wet or sticky the F-Type is still an absolute handful. But you will notice that the car feels altogether more planted than you might expect, with mid-corner throttle something you can apply more readily without worrying that the back is going to get all fighty. The steering is decent and the suspension is excellent in normal mode. Sport mode does offer a firmer ride if you wish, but you can customise sport mode and we found sticking the dampers in comfort to be fine for all circumstances away from a track, and less likely to remove a filling. One thing you can do with the AWD car you could never do with the older rear-drive cars is pitch the nose into a corner harder and pull the car through on the throttle. That character has only been enhanced in the new model, feeling a little sharper than the old one, a bit more able to string corners together whereas the old one was sometimes a bit of a “take it one corner at a time” beast.

There is nothing new about the interior of the Jaguar F-Type. OK so Jaguar say they have added a step up in quality and the instrument binnacle is now entirely digital, but step into the new car and you will think you are in the old. The sports seats fitted to the car in this First Edition spec are excellent, and worth the relatively paltry money for an upgrade, the infotainment system is pretty much the same as ever – not the excellent new PIVI-pro system found on XF and F-Pace, but still easy enough to use, and the old systems for sat-nav etc. were decent enough so why change them? It also retains the silly, but still rather fun, rising air vents in the dash, although they do seem at times to have a mind of their own as to whether they should actually come up.

This is where the F-Type is perhaps being left behind a little. As we said that is pretty much the same interior as the car had in 2013, so it’s not exactly littered with tech. This is the top whack version but you still shouldn’t expect to find things like proper voice control, a USB-C connection, Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, or a full 360-degree parking system. That said it has everything you should need for a long cruise, including navigation, climate control, a reversing camera, that 10-inch screen touchscreen, a Meridan sound system, Bluetooth connectivity, a DAB radio, lane keep assist, front parking sensors and emergency brake assist. Things like heated seats are an optional extra, but even in First Edition mode the F-Type is only £80,890 as standard, which is a considerable saving compared to a (slower) base spec Porsche 911 Carrera. The fantastic seats are a £500 extra as well as the powered boot lid (£479) two-zone climate control with heated windscreen and wheel (£670), bringing our test car to £85,395 – which is still well below an equivalent 911.

The Jaguar F-Type will definitely not be for everyone. It is well behind its rivals when it comes to interior tech and design, and the engine is probably not going to last emissions regs for long (it averaged around 19mpg for us and kicks out a combined 239g/km of CO₂). But to the right person it really is a car that cannot be compared to many others. Still absolutely stunning to look at the shout is now toned down to match the exterior, but the drive is still a weighty enjoyable one, with the ride calming down wonderfully for the longer slog. You have to get used to some of its quirks to begin with – the throttle is very sudden to begin with and good luck knowing where the end of the nose actually is from the driver’s seat – but for all those quirks it is hard not to smile when you hear the roar of that engine and the surge of the supercharger. The F-Type, at least in its current form, will probably not be around in a decade or so, so for now we should all enjoy it as much as we can.