Marc UrbanoCar and Driver
Lap Time: 2:59.5
Class: LL3 | Base: $104,350 | As Tested: $115,235
Power and Weight: 575 hp • 4103 lb • 7.1 lb/hp
Tires: Pirelli P Zero PZ4, F: 265/35ZR-20 (99Y) J R: 305/30ZR-20 (99Y) J
The Jaguar F-types of years past—a 2015 R coupe and the $175,995 special-edition Project 7 in 2016—were more interested in putting on a Formula Drift–style smoke show than laying down fast laps. Despite our best efforts to judiciously use the throttle, the rear-wheel-drive Brits treated every turn as an opportunity for opposite lock.
This newest F-type is much better at keeping its nose pointed down the track. That’s largely the result of splitting the engine’s 516 pound-feet among all four wheels. Jag made all-wheel drive standard on the V-8 R model back in 2016, but we’re only getting around to lapping the F-type again with this year’s facelift, which also sees engine output climb from 550 horses to 575. That extra power, however, is perfectly offset by the 2021 model’s extra 185 pounds; this F-type carries the same 7.1 pounds per horsepower as the rear-drive 2015 F-type R coupe that ran a 3:01.0.
Marc UrbanoCar and Driver
With less energy spent keeping the Jag’s tail in check, we stuck to our intended line more faithfully and trimmed 1.5 seconds off the F-type’s lap. The side effect of an easier-to-drive F-type is that it’s starting to feel less like a live-wire sports car and more like a grand tourer. The carbon-ceramic brakes offered in 2015 are no longer an option, and while the iron rotors held up to the abuse, they almost certainly had a date with a dumpster shortly after we were done with them. It’s a similar story for the Pirelli P Zero PZ4 tires, which coped with track work, but the Jag’s 4103 pounds kept them from excelling.
The F-type is not as athletic as its numbers suggest. Notice that the Corvette, with a worse power-to-weight ratio, beats the F-type around the Grand by more than 10 seconds. The Jaguar is at its best when you’re enjoying the drama it creates—the thundering V-8, the beautiful styling, the sense of occasion it adds to any drive—without a stopwatch running. If going quicker means giving up the theater of the F-type, we’re fine if it never turns a faster lap.
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