Jaguar F-Type R - long-term review

Last month I put the TG Garage F-Type up against a Porsche 911, because the first thing you do when you’re benchmarking a sports car is get your hands on the equivalent Porsche. Driven back-to-back with a Carrera 4 GTS, the F-Type felt softer and less focussed, with lighter steering, less dramatic gearchanges and a slightly soggy brake pedal. And yet, that didn’t actually do much to dampen my enthusiasm for the big V8 Jag.

Plus, these are all things that should help the Brit bruiser because it’s time to test its grand touring credentials. Okay, perhaps a UK holiday can’t be considered a ‘grand tour’ (although it also shouldn’t be labelled a ‘staycation’ and yet constantly is), but an extended trip from London to North Yorkshire and back with a few detours along the way did give me a chance to load up the Jag with suitcases and stretch its legs.

Ever since it was launched back in 2014 the F-Type Coupe has blurred the lines between sports car, Brit muscle car and GT – never really nailing its colours to any mast. Old front-engined 2+2 Jags like the XK and XJS were clearly grand tourers, but Jag has always referred to the F-Type as a “luxury sports car”. So, how does it cope with some proper mileage?

First thing to note is that motorway runs vastly improved my average fuel economy. Before this month I was seeing just over 20mpg, but after a particularly long motorway stint with many average speed cameras I saw that climb to 25.6mpg – the auto box and big supercharged V8 really settling into a stride.

It’s not the first time I’ve said this either, but the F-Type is remarkably comfortable even in this full-fat R spec. The ‘Windsor leather’ performance seats are heated and cooled and even the largest bumps in our decrepit UK roads don’t seem to rattle through to the cabin. There is a fair bit of tyre noise at motorway speeds, although the Meridian stereo system is excellent at drowning that out.

Inside said cabin I’m finding the build quality to be up to scratch and I’m revelling in the fact that there isn’t a speed limit warning bong or overzealous lane keep assist to switch off at the start of every journey. I have realised that I’ve become a bit spoilt by the wireless phone charging and wireless Apple CarPlay that’s standard fit on so many new cars these days though – on more than one occasion while away I forgot to bring a USB cable out to the car and had to live without CarPlay.

The Jag’s interior isn’t all that practical, either. The door bins are extremely shallow, the centre console bin just about fits my iPhone 11, you only get two cupholders and your only storage behind the seats comes courtesy of a coat hook. If this were the 911 then pretty much all of our luggage could have been chucked on the back seat. In coupe form the F-Type does at least have a healthy 336 litres of boot space though, which it turns out is just enough to take a couple of small suitcases and two rucksacks without having to take the parcel shelf out. Good news for security when parked up, keeping your belongings away from prying eyes. Be warned that some of that boot space is awkwardly shaped though, with soft bags needed to squish things in the space above the rear wheels.

Other observations? The panoramic roof is excellent and really helps to brighten up what would otherwise be a dark cabin with all of the black leather, but on quite a few occasions I was forced to shut the blind so that I was able to see the infotainment screen. Glare seems to be quite a prevalent issue. The rising central air vents above the screen are a neat touch though – they provide a nice bit of drama and help the Jag’s cabin to feel that little bit more expensive.

It would also seem that I find myself taking pictures of the rear of the F-Type more than the front. Even with that tacked-on spoiler I think it’s the car’s best angle, although parking alongside a pre-facelift Aston Martin Vantage did slightly show the Jag up. A quick look in the classifieds shows that the Aston can now be picked up with fairly low mileage for less than £70k. Still a fair chunk of change, but that’s a full £40k less than ‘our’ Jaguar. Worth bearing in mind…