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Jaguar lets first outsiders drive new F-Type

What do you do when you're an automaker with an all-new and brand-defining sports car, one of them with a supercharged V8 cranking out 495 horsepower? You let proven race drivers test them out on track and on the road.
And what do you do if you're Jaguar and you're in that situation? Why, naturally, you make a video of it. That's how we get footage of racers Martin Brundle, Justin Bell and Christian Danner being choppered into the UK's Snetterton track to test the V6-equipped Jaguar F-Type S prototype. Then when they're finished with kerb-lined apexes, they take the V8 S prototype out onto the roads to run it through hedge-lined apexes.
According to one of them, "very fast, very nimble, great engine" is what will soon be headed our way. Check it out in the video below.

Jaguar spotted testing hardcore F-Type SVR

Jaguar keeps churning out more and more potent versions of the F-Type. And if these latest spy shots are anything to go by, it's got an even more powerful version in the works. Spotted undergoing testing near the Nurburgring is what appears to be a more hardcore variant of Coventry's shapely sports car. Beneath the usual swirly camouflage we can make out a reshaped front end with a deeper splitter and bigger air vents, along with a giant rear wing affixed to the tail atop an enlarged diffuser and quad exhaust tips. The wheels look like they're mounted to a lowered suspension and pack bigger carbon-ceramic brakes as well. Following the Range Rover Sport SVR, Jaguar is likely to label the new F-Type performance flagship as an SVR as well. Jaguar spokesman Richard Agnew confirmed to Autoblog that the R-S badge that previously adorned the most potent Jags is being phased out. That leaves the SVR badge as the most likely to appear on the back of this beast once it reaches production, although that much has yet to be confirmed: "As we stated when Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations was formed," says Agnew, "it is our intention to create a high-performance Jaguar SVR and we are currently evaluating what product to launch first." Nameplates aside, we're more interested in what this amped-up F-Type is packing underneath. We'll likely be looking at an even further enhanced version of the company's signature 5.0-liter supercharged V8 pumping out a good 600 horsepower, which would eclipse both the 550 hp in the F-Type R and the 575 in the Project 7 speedster – potentially driving all four wheels. We'll just have to sit tight to find out, but in the meantime you can scope out the spy shots in the gallery above for a closer look at what Jaguar's Special Vehicle Operations division has got in the cooker. Related Video:

2018 Jaguar F-Type 2.0T First Drive Review | Less soulful, still sexy

Jaguar is eager to promote its Ingenium turbocharged inline-four as a legitimate object of performance desire, and what better way to do so than drop it into its most desirous car? The 2018 Jaguar F-Type Coupe to this point has featured six- and eight-cylinder engines, all supercharged, but this is the first time that the other type of forced induction has made its way under the F-Type's long, sculpted hood. The new pairing looks pretty good on paper. The 2.0-liter engine's 295 pound-feet of torque is available from 1,500 to 4,500 RPM. It makes 296 horsepower at 5,500 RPM, 44 horsepower shy of the blown V6 model, but weighs 117 pounds less. That's enough to motivate the 3,360-pound F-Type to 60 mph in the mid-5-second range, only 0.3 seconds behind said V6. The 2.0-liter is also a lot cheaper – $8,100 less than a bare-bones V6. That'll probably make the decision for a lot of folks, dropping the base F-Type into a whole 'nother class of sporty two-seaters. I'll posit, however, that the F-Type isn't a raw numbers car. It's a passionate thing that appeals to an emotional part of our brain. Just look at it! The coupe we tested, in Fuji White, was fresh as a mountain stream despite the platform's age. The sheetmetal is, quite simply, most of the appeal. Even the base wheels, 18-inch, 10-spoke alloys, look phenomenal. And since the F-Type 2.0 is sexy, undeniably quick enough to back up its sporting looks, and a significant price savings over a V6, it's almost a killer app. If only the little Ingenium turbo-four was as passionate as the F-Type itself. It's a workaday unit, coarse and gruff. After all, it sees duty in just about everything else Jaguar-Land Rover makes, from the lowly Discovery Sport to the big XJ. Its clattery four-cylinder noises and thrashiness don't jibe with the premium sports-touring vibe the rest of the car exudes. We've gotten used to, if not come to universally love, four-cylinder pony cars like the Mustang and Camaro, but the divergence in character between car and powerplant here is vast. It does the job, sure, but you enjoy the F-Type in spite of its engine, rather than because of it. Low-speed tractability issues don't help things any, whether the engine's charms are important to you or not. An odd combination of boost, driveline shunt, or transmission confusion make low-speed maneuvering jerky, regardless of drive mode. Putz around a mall parking lot or sit in traffic for a few minutes, and it'll be clear what I'm on about.