A Brief Encounter with the New Jaguar F-Type Coupe

It was a lovely day in Barcelona as we got to spend some quality time with a prototype of the new Jaguar F-Type Coupe. As soon as we saw this car, we knew that it had something special - a very brief encounter with a prototype of the new F-Type Coupe this one's got the V8 engine in it and it's the Full House V8 engine with 542 horsepower few stats um the car is a little bit lighter than the convertible about 20 kg say jaguar um if you specify the carbon ceramic brakes you lose another 21 kg of unsprung weight which is great the big statistic though the one that just I can't quite get my head around really is this the body in this car is 80% stiffer than the one in the convertible 80% and that says Jaguar is what makes the coupe completely different to drive compared with the convertible and we already really rather like the convertible um so let us have a little play with the F-type Coupe around the circuit.

The Catalonia was the perfect place to test this new car, and as soon as we got behind the wheel, we knew that it was something special. The balance of the car is just right - it's nicely weighted and easy to handle. I have to say, how easily can you do that sort of thing? You couldn't do that unless the chassis was really nicely sorted. Okay, let's try the same thing again but in third gear. Wow, this thing has got a really good chassis, a really good feel - it feels completely different to the convertible. Oh man, you can just hold it sideways in third and fourth gear at nearly 100 mph and it definitely feels quite a lot faster than the convertible. Purely in a straight line, I mean, the V8 convertible ain't a slow car, but this thing feels rabid even next to that.

Gear change feels well pretty much as good as it does in the veral - which means about an 8 and a half maybe nearly a 9 out of 10. But then you compare it with something like a GT3 dual clutch gearbox and maybe knock that back to a seven. It's a good gearbox, but it's not a great gearbox. This car has got the steel brakes which are standard on the V8, um you can now specify for the first time on a Jag on a production Jag uh carbon ceramic brakes which add a fair bit to the price - thick end of 10 grand but I just drove a car with the carbon Ceramics on and blind me if you can afford it. If you can afford one of these things surely you can afford the extra money for the carbon Ceramics.

The feel is beautiful, just as nice as the steel brakes. The power and the confidence they deliver is in a different League. You do a couple of laps in this, and the brakes start to feel a little bit tired. Let's face it, but on the carbon Rabits you just do lap after lap after lap - they don't go anywhere just they're brilliant brakes. The steering they say is a little bit sharper, it's kind of hard to tell, kind of hard to judge just from a few laps of a Grand Prix circuit to be honest in a road car I'd quite like to get out onto a kind of proper Welsh B-road to really make a judgment about the steering.

But it feels good - it feels accurate and incisive. And there is decent feel through the rim, you can't really complain about the steering but you can't at the same time go right over the top and go. It's the most beautiful steering I've ever experienced because it is another new trick that the V8's got up its sleeve - a torque vectoring system so what happens is you go into a corner like this, and you just feel like you're kind of running out a bit, the nose is just pushing wide well what happens is the inside brake just tickles the inside unloaded wheel which just brings the nose back into line. It it it just cuts under steer basically and improves the traction a little bit as well if you keep all the systems on.

Obviously, I've turned them all off because we're on the track, it's the great opportunity to have a play so of course, you're going to have a play but when you do have a play like me, it's just awesome. I mean right, that's mental - that's fourth gear at I think we were doing nearly 120 at the exit then completely crossed up smoke pouring off the rear tires. You couldn't do that unless this thing beautifully sorted.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is the circuit the catalunia at Barcelona and that is the new fart CP the new ftype Coupe is as you can see a pretty spectacular car for all sorts of reasons not least because it can do this sort of thing all day long but we'll come back to the car itself in a while and in the meantime here's a little background story about where it came from and why it looks the way it does because let's face it the ftype coupe quite clearly takes its styling cues from one of the best looking sports cars there has ever been and that car of course is the E type Unleashed upon the world in 1961 and designed by a chat called Malcolm SE the E type was the car that silenced Ferrari and Aston Martin in a heartbeat and even today it's still buet W takingly Beautiful In the Flesh this particular e type belongs to a fell you might have heard of actually and you can probably tell from the number plate it's it's Martin brundle E type and it's a really really special one it's been done for him by eagle and it costs about £400,000 but fundamentally it's still an e time it's still got a 4.2 engine it's still got exactly the same body shell that you get on an e type and that ultimately for me is what the E type is all about I mean it is just stunning to look at this car the surprise although perhaps not that much of a surprise considering how much it costs and how much work they've done on it is how well it this one drives it is beautiful to drive this car the suspension has been really heavily worked on and it just feels not modern but just composed in a way that you do not expect a car that looks like this to be like on a road like this but this thing just Glides across it no problem at all lovely steering power steering really good brakes a lovely gear change but that's Eagle's gear change it's a it's a five-speed and it feels really modern really precise but what's so lovely about the E is the cabin is the view forwards down this lovely Bonnet The View out from that gorgeous rear end there's just nothing quite like it or is there or can the ftype capture some of the spirit that this car delivers I kind of doubt it but let's go back to Barcelona and see if it can so let's get this clear this is a very brief encounter with a prototype of the new ftype Coupe this one's got the V8 engine in it and it's the Full House V8 engine with 542 horsepower few stats um the car is a little bit lighter than the convertible about 20 kg say jaguar um if you specify the carbon ceramic brakes you lose another 21 kg of unsprung weight which is great the big statistic though the one that just I can't quite get my head around really is this the body in this car is 80% stiffer than the one in the convertible 80% and that says Jaguar is what makes the coupe completely different to drive compared with the convertible and we already really rather like the convertible um so let us have a little play with the ftype coupe around the circuit the Catalonia and see what it does it's so nicely balanced I have to say I mean how easily can you do that sort of thing you couldn't do that unless the chassis was really nicely sorted okay let's try the same thing again but in third gear wow this thing has got a really good chassis a really good chot it feels completely different to the convertible oh man you can just you can hold it sideways in third and fourth gear at nearly 100 mph and it definitely feels quite a lot faster than the convertible purely in a straight line I mean the V8 convertible ain't a slow car but this thing feels rabid even next to that gear change feels well pretty much as good as it does in the veral which means about a sort of 8 and 1 half maybe nearly a 9 out of 10 but then you compare it with something like a GT3 dual clutch gearbox and maybe knock that back to a seven it's a good gearbox but it's not a great gearbox this car has got the steel brakes which are standard on the V8 um you can now specify for the first time on a Jag on a production Jag uh carbon ceramic brakes which add a fair bit to the price thick end of 10 grand but I just drove a car with the carbon Ceramics on and blind me if you can afford it if you can afford one of these things surely you can afford the extra money for the carbon Ceramics the feel is beautiful just as nice as the steel brakes the power and the confidence they deliver is in a different League you do a couple of laps in this and the brakes start to feel a little bit tired let's face it but on the carbon rabits you just do lap after lap after lap they don't go anywhere just they're brilliant brakes the steering they say is a little bit sharper it's kind of hard to tell kind of hard to judge just from a few laps of a Grand Prix circuit to be honest in a road car I'd quite like to get out onto a kind of proper Welsh B road to really make a judgment about the steering but it feels good it feels accurate and and you know incisive and there is decent feel through the rim you can't really complain about the steering but you can't at the same time go right over the top and go it's the most beautiful steering I've ever experienced because it is another new trick that the v8's got up its sleeve is a torque vectoring system so what happens is you go into a corner like this and you just you just feel like you're kind of running out a bit the nose is just pushing wide well what happens is the inside brake just tickles the inside unloaded wheel which just brings the nose back into line and it it it just cuts under steer basically and improves the traction a little bit as well if you keep all the systems on obviously I've turned them all off because we're on the track it's the great opportunity to have a play so of course you're going to have a play but when you do have a play like me it's just awesome I mean right that's mental that's fourth gear at I think we were doing I think we were doing nearly 120 at the exit then completely crossed up smoke pouring off the rear tires you couldn't do that unless this thing beautifully sorted right one last bit of Mayhem just to show you how well sorted this thing is this is third gear remember the FYE coup bloody marvelous car hthis is the circuit the catalunia at Barcelona and that is the new fart CP the new ftype Coupe is as you can see a pretty spectacular car for all sorts of reasons not least because it can do this sort of thing all day long but we'll come back to the car itself in a while and in the meantime here's a little background story about where it came from and why it looks the way it does because let's face it the ftype coupe quite clearly takes its styling cues from one of the best looking sports cars there has ever been and that car of course is the E type Unleashed upon the world in 1961 and designed by a chat called Malcolm SE the E type was the car that silenced Ferrari and Aston Martin in a heartbeat and even today it's still buet W takingly Beautiful In the Flesh this particular e type belongs to a fell you might have heard of actually and you can probably tell from the number plate it's it's Martin brundle E type and it's a really really special one it's been done for him by eagle and it costs about £400,000 but fundamentally it's still an e time it's still got a 4.2 engine it's still got exactly the same body shell that you get on an e type and that ultimately for me is what the E type is all about I mean it is just stunning to look at this car the surprise although perhaps not that much of a surprise considering how much it costs and how much work they've done on it is how well it this one drives it is beautiful to drive this car the suspension has been really heavily worked on and it just feels not modern but just composed in a way that you do not expect a car that looks like this to be like on a road like this but this thing just Glides across it no problem at all lovely steering power steering really good brakes a lovely gear change but that's Eagle's gear change it's a it's a five-speed and it feels really modern really precise but what's so lovely about the E is the cabin is the view forwards down this lovely Bonnet The View out from that gorgeous rear end there's just nothing quite like it or is there or can the ftype capture some of the spirit that this car delivers I kind of doubt it but let's go back to Barcelona and see if it can so let's get this clear this is a very brief encounter with a prototype of the new ftype Coupe this one's got the V8 engine in it and it's the Full House V8 engine with 542 horsepower few stats um the car is a little bit lighter than the convertible about 20 kg say jaguar um if you specify the carbon ceramic brakes you lose another 21 kg of unsprung weight which is great the big statistic though the one that just I can't quite get my head around really is this the body in this car is 80% stiffer than the one in the convertible 80% and that says Jaguar is what makes the coupe completely different to drive compared with the convertible and we already really rather like the convertible um so let us have a little play with the ftype coupe around the circuit the Catalonia and see what it does it's so nicely balanced I have to say I mean how easily can you do that sort of thing you couldn't do that unless the chassis was really nicely sorted okay let's try the same thing again but in third gear wow this thing has got a really good chassis a really good chot it feels completely different to the convertible oh man you can just you can hold it sideways in third and fourth gear at nearly 100 mph and it definitely feels quite a lot faster than the convertible purely in a straight line I mean the V8 convertible ain't a slow car but this thing feels rabid even next to that gear change feels well pretty much as good as it does in the veral which means about a sort of 8 and 1 half maybe nearly a 9 out of 10 but then you compare it with something like a GT3 dual clutch gearbox and maybe knock that back to a seven it's a good gearbox but it's not a great gearbox this car has got the steel brakes which are standard on the V8 um you can now specify for the first time on a Jag on a production Jag uh carbon ceramic brakes which add a fair bit to the price thick end of 10 grand but I just drove a car with the carbon Ceramics on and blind me if you can afford it if you can afford one of these things surely you can afford the extra money for the carbon Ceramics the feel is beautiful just as nice as the steel brakes the power and the confidence they deliver is in a different League you do a couple of laps in this and the brakes start to feel a little bit tired let's face it but on the carbon rabits you just do lap after lap after lap they don't go anywhere just they're brilliant brakes the steering they say is a little bit sharper it's kind of hard to tell kind of hard to judge just from a few laps of a Grand Prix circuit to be honest in a road car I'd quite like to get out onto a kind of proper Welsh B road to really make a judgment about the steering but it feels good it feels accurate and and you know incisive and there is decent feel through the rim you can't really complain about the steering but you can't at the same time go right over the top and go it's the most beautiful steering I've ever experienced because it is another new trick that the v8's got up its sleeve is a torque vectoring system so what happens is you go into a corner like this and you just you just feel like you're kind of running out a bit the nose is just pushing wide well what happens is the inside brake just tickles the inside unloaded wheel which just brings the nose back into line and it it it just cuts under steer basically and improves the traction a little bit as well if you keep all the systems on obviously I've turned them all off because we're on the track it's the great opportunity to have a play so of course you're going to have a play but when you do have a play like me it's just awesome I mean right that's mental that's fourth gear at I think we were doing I think we were doing nearly 120 at the exit then completely crossed up smoke pouring off the rear tires you couldn't do that unless this thing beautifully sorted right one last bit of Mayhem just to show you how well sorted this thing is this is third gear remember the FYE coup bloody marvelous car h\n"