Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

The best sports car you can buy in India

April 21, 2016 15:15 IST

The Jaguar F-Type Coupe R is a sports car from the Tata Motors-owned British carmaker. The two-door performance car is blisteringly fast and has the best exhaust note, writes Faisal Khan, MotorBeam.com.

The Jaguar F-Type is the new poster boy of recent times simply because it gives you thrills just by looking at it.

The British sports car has that ferocious yet classic mix of styling that sticks in your mind instantly with its unique design.

The best part about the design is the rear profile, which reminds you of the legendary Jaguar E-Type, one of the best looking cars in the history of automobiles. 

Ian Callum is one of the most renowned designers in the industry who has given the F-Type a beautiful stance.

The convertible and coupe version both look menacing but the latter has more beautiful curves and proportions to drool at.

We drive the wildest cat in Jaguar’s India portfolio that not only looks wild but also drives like one. 

The Jaguar F-Type Coupe R exhibits interesting details the British carmaker has thrown in. Unlock the car and the door handles pop out.

Once you crouch and settle inside the cabin, it feels like you are sitting in a fighter jet and about to take off to your combat zone.

The all-black interiors along with a subtle use of orange buttons and stitching on the seats tell you that you’re sitting in a serious performance machine.

Powering the Jaguar F-Type Coupe R is a 5.0-litre V8 supercharged engine producing 550 PS of herculean power and 680 Nm of twisting force.

Push the engine start button and the supercharged motor comes alive roaring like an angry animal.

Your neighbours just can’t ignore that growly howl out of those quad exhaust pipes at the back.

To make it even louder you have an active exhaust button to play with.

The USP of the F-Type is its crazy sound while accelerating and even more satisfying when you lift the throttle and you hear a series of crackles like it’s Diwali time. 

Push the throttle and you vanish within no time. 0-100 km/hr is just a 4.2 seconds job.

You need to be careful with the accelerator though, as the throttle response is very sharp and the tail gets very excited to dance around on low traction surfaces.

The F-Type just pulls relentlessly from the word go and gets wilder at higher revs redlining at 7000 RPM.

The top-end thrust is quite amazing and the loudest so you can feel the chills down your spine.

It is equipped with a 8-speed automatic transmission and the gear shifts are extremely quick while the manual mode is a pure delight to extract maximum juice from the engine. 

The Jaguar F-Type Coupe is an extremely fun car to play with but at the same time you have to be careful with its tail happy nature.

The handling is sharp and agile while the grip is amazing too considering your foot is light on the throttle.

But once you push the pedal to the metal in mid-corner, the tail is easily out and you fight with the steering to get it back in line, which is extremely fun.

The steering is responsive and gives proper feedback but a tad heavy at low speeds. 

The ride quality is stiff as expected from a sports car and the potholes filter through the cabin.

Also, the ground clearance is low so you need to tackle big speed breakers giving some angle.

However, the damping is excellent and driving on pothole free roads with normal undulations feels like a usual car in the F-Type.

It also comes with a Dynamic Mode that stiffens up the suspension and extracts the maximum from the engine, which is best used on a race track or smooth tarmac and wide roads. 

The Jaguar F-Type Coupe R ticks all the right boxes for people ready to buy a sports car in India.

It has the looks to catch eye balls in a jiffy, the super loud exhaust is irresistible and very addictive, the hardcore performance skips a heartbeat and there is a snob value of Jaguars in India.

The British carmaker has also come up with a more powerful version christened as F-Type SVR that does 0-100 km/hr in just 3.7 seconds with a top speed of 322 km/hr. It will be coming to India soon.

Powered by

Faisal Khan