Jaguar F-Type R - long-term review

Good God, that noise.

It may be a cliché, but I’ve always been a massive fan of the mechanical, metallic sound created by Porsche flat-sixes. Heck, the Cayman GT4 RS at 9,000rpm had me seriously considering a bank robbery in order to be able to stump up the circa £130k price for a Weissach pack version, and this current 992-gen GTS chunters away like a race car at idle. And yet, with twin-turbos deadening the sound of the 911 slightly, it’s the Jag I’m driving every day that encourages involuntary expressions of excitement like the one up above.

When the active exhaust flaps are open and the eight-speed auto gearbox is in manual mode, the Jag’s 5.0-litre V8 barks and gurgles like Ray Winstone in a sound effect recording session.

Earlier this year I drove a Defender 130 V8 and worried that JLR’s supercharged 5.0-litre lump had laryngitis, such was the lack of drama. I needn’t have been concerned. It is the same AJ1333 V8 engine in the Defender as in the F-Type, but in the longest Land Rover it’s detuned to 493bhp. In the F-Type R it’s making 567bhp and sounds just as good as ever.

Anyway, that’s a rather long-winded way of saying that I’m very much enjoying life in the Jag. There’s just the one problem so far - Porsche.

Yep, as fantastic and dramatic as the F-Type is, it has always had the task of going up against the 911. And as many sportscar makers will tell you, that’s not an easy feat. We’ve done this Anglo-German test on many occasions, and a quick search through the archives proves that V8-engined Jags lost to 991-gen 911s in three separate group tests. The V6 S F-Type Convertible did put up a good fight against the Carrera 2 S Cabrio and the Boxster S in 2013, but the rear-wheel drive F-Type R also suffered a shock loss to a Corvette C7 Stingray at Speed Week in 2014.

So, before the Jag goes off sale later this year, I wanted to get the 911 in for one final head-to-head. It’s a royal rumble, or if it was 2020 all over again (please, no) I’d be referring to this test as ‘The Last Dance’ and making lots of basketball references that I don’t fully understand.

Anyway, it’s actually fairly tricky to pick the right 911 for the job. If we were to pick solely on price then the Jag would be going up against a boggo Carrera 4 with just 380bhp. When did the entry price for those hit £103k?! Ideally we’d probably have a Carrera 4 S with a healthier 444bhp and a start price of £116k, but Porsche will soon facelift the 992 (it first entered production in 2018) and so the standard 911s have gone from the UK press fleet.

Not to worry though, because the 4 GTS that you see here will provide quite the stern test for the F-Type R. It gets 473bhp from its 3.0-litre flat-six and a 0-62mph time of 3.3 seconds with the Sport Chrono Package. The Jag takes an early lead though, because if you’re ordering a 4 GTS today you’ll have to fork out at least £128,000. The F-Type R starts at just under £105k and gets two extra cylinders and nearly 100bhp more.

Like the F-Type, the Porsche is wearing resale-safe grey paint over black wheels. Booo. Unlike the Jag though, the Porsche makes no bones about being an out and out sports car. The driving position is spot-on, the steering wheel thinner of rim and clad in Race-Tex (Porsche’s own form of Alcantara), the steering itself heavier – requiring more work – and the brakes full of feel. Despite the turbocharging the 911 feels whipcrack quick too, the responses to your inputs are almost immediate and the suspension much firmer. It’s lighter too, with its 1,595kg DIN weight playing the Jag’s 1,780kg.

With four-wheel drive, both of these cars have huge amounts of grip even in the wet (not something that could always be said about the first-gen F-Type), which I’m extremely thankful for as the heavens open above Finmere Aerodrome. Inside the Jag you feel more enclosed by its high window line and raked windscreen, but the interior itself is less sporty with softer seats, mushy paddleshifters and swathes of leather. The F-Type is supremely comfortable – it rides down a rough road with remarkable composure – but there is clearly less feel to the steering and a dead point at the top of an otherwise snatchy brake pedal.

After this test I’m even more sad that it’ll soon be confined to the history books, though. The Porsche is technically the better car here. It’s much more involving to drive and still has rear seats, but there is clearly a place in the market for the Jaguar. Yes, you could just have a lesser Carrera 4 if (for argument’s sake) you were in the mid stages of your life and wanted a softer sports car, but the F-Type still looks utterly fantastic, and the driving experience is all about the noise and the drama. Make as much of it as you can, most passers-by will thank you.