Say Hello To 'My' Savage New Jaguar F-Type R V8 Convertible

This, ladies and gents, is what you call a ‘worldie’, a car so sexy it should come with a NSFW warning. I’m even holding off putting this pic on Instagram for fear of getting sued by Greenpeace because people double tapped through their screens with such force, it made the Earth weep in pain…

What we have here, then, is by far the best looking car currently on sale. Anyone who disagrees is either lying or wrong, so with that out of the way, welcome everybody to ‘my’ savage new car, a facelifted V8 R convertible, that I’ve got the keys to for a few months. The V8 R replaces the pre-facelift V6 S [video] I handed back to Jaguar recently, and first impressions between the new car and the old car are good. So here are a few things I’d like to run you through…

1. We have to start with the noise!

Jaguar V8s are known to sound great, but this F-Type R is…wow….it’s phenomenal. On start up, it roars into life antisocially, reverberates off my house and shakes my girlfriend out of bed. After the initial drama, the exhaust note quietens down to a deep and acceptable rumble, but not for long, because this car - like the blue V6 S I had - is fitted with an active exhaust button. Or, as my aforementioned girlfriend refers to it, the “sunglasses button“. The sunglasses button is always turned on, and ensures that the supercharged V8 breathes as robustly as it can.

2. Awesome interior, with a much-improved screen

The first time I sat inside my faclifted F-Type, I’ll admit I wasn’t really sure what exactly was new about it. But there are differences. The seats, for example have been redesigned, and the seat frames themselves are 8kg lighter. You can also move the seats back an extra 50mm, but at 5’ 7”, that’s not something I’ll be taking advantage of (although I am still hoping for a really late growth spurt!).

The biggest news for me is the screen, which, before now, was slow and occasionally frustrating to use. The screen itself was also pixelated, which I’m happy to see has been improved to the HD quality you see above for the newly-named InControl Touch Pro system.

3. It's fast. REALLY fast!

Because the F-Type is so nice to look at, it’s easy to forget that it’s also really fast.

As a recap, here are the numbers: 5.0-litre supercharged V8, 542bhp, 502lb ft torque, 0-62mph in 4.1 seconds and 186mph. I’m guessing you’re sitting there with an impressed smile on your face, so believe me when I say that flooring the throttle is an amazing feeling. The eight-speed auto gearbox (don’t get a manual F-Type, not that one’s available with a V8) is smooth and slick, and makes acceleration in any gear incredibly strong.

My favourite thing at the moment is powering out of a 50mph average speed check zone with all the V8’s force, and making the cars behind look like they’re driving in reverse. It’s awesome.

4. The 'R' is AWD only

The holy grail of the car world is a big engine, a manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive. Which means that’s only one out of three for the F-Type R, then…

But as we know, the F-Type doesn’t suit a manual gearbox, and for the facelifted car, Jaguar decided to offer the R as an AWD car only. Why? Presumably because supercharged V8 + RWD = brown pants. There’s also the fact that sales of the RWD R plummeted after AWD was offered, and while I miss being able to light ‘em up, I also appreciate not wasting any of the Jag’s 542 horses when I accelerate.

5. Let's talk money...

OK, so the F-Type R is expensive. But before I reveal how much, we need to remember a few things…

1. Best looking car currently on sale
2. Sounds incredible
3. Addictive performance
4. Look. At. That. A$$

So, then, here goes: the F-Type R convertible costs from £96,345 before options. The car you see here - which adds special 20-inch wheels with carbonfibre inlays, a reversing camera, tracker and a few other bits - will set you back £102,355. That is a lot of money. Or is it?

You see, you need to remember what other cars you can buy for the money or thereabouts. There’s the slower, less pretty BMW M6 Convertible, or how about a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet? Again, it’s slower, less sexy and missing a couple of cylinders.

OK, let’s up the ante with an Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster. It’s handsome, RWD and makes a wicked noise too, but it is an old car now and 120hp down on the F-Type.

And finally, we have the Mercedes AMG GT (which costs an additional £13,000). It’s very slightly faster (0-62: 4.0sec / 188mph), dynamically superior and rear-wheel drive. But if it were my money, I’d choose the car that always makes me turn around whenever I walk away from it. And for that reason, it’s got to be the F-Type.

What do you want to know?

Like I said, I’ve got the F-Type R convertible for a few months. I want to share that experience with you as much as possible, so if you’ve got any questions about it or suggestions of what you’d like to see, then let me know!

And before you ask: no, I cannot fit in the boot…