Starting with the droptop made F-Type earn a reputation of “has-it-all” car. Excellent construction quality, great selection of engines and a refined, very well-equipped interior, not only everything is there as it’s also wrapped by an irresistible design. There were so many qualities for only one car that even the toughest enthusiasts of this kind of car would be satisfied, despite having only one body type. But whoever knew this model’s history a little better could at least expect that Jaguar’s plans didn’t end at the roadster: F-Type’s first concept-car was C-X16, which appeared at the ‘2011 Frankfurt Auto Show as a coupé – already looking pretty much like the car showed at this article’s pictures.
In other words, both bodies seem to have been developed together from the beginning, which made releasing the hard-top or not mostly a matter of making a decision. “Mostly” because any automaker which sells multiple cars derived from the same project first needs to consider how each of them will behave in the market. The desirable scenario is to release each sibling with as many exclusive characteristics as possible in order to attract separate groups of customers, rather than fight each other for the same public. So since Jaguar already led with the most charismatic version of F-Type’s bodies, the most likely option to succeed was to invest on what most coupés are best at: performance.
When it comes to design, given how many compliments Jaguar has received for the roadster, it was very easy to conclude there simply wasn’t any need to present a different look for the coupé. F-Type’s “younger brother” has only changed from the windows up and from the windshield back, design-wise. There are the very same muscular shapes and sleek elements that feature several reminders of E-Type’s famous design without stopping to look up-to-date, but now paired to a very elegant hard top. It doesn’t try to look like a sedan, a shooting brake or even some new kind of crossover. It’s a perfect traditional coupé, because this is what this car’s public would want to see.
The only concession to the latest trends is the optional glass roof, which goes all the way between windshields but never opens – there’s an entire convertible version for that. Such strategy enabled Jaguar to achieve the same torsional rigidity as the steel-top coupé’s, and therefore having two versions of what became its stiffest car ever produced. And this is where the coupé’s differences really start to appear, in fact. Leaving all the other purposes to the droptop enabled the younger F-Type to dedicate itself mostly to offer the best possible dynamics. Not to mention the coupé body’s collateral effect of having a 407-liter trunk, which gets to be “bigger than needed” to coupés’s standards.
That “best possible dynamics” comes with the brand new R version, exclusively offered for the coupé. There are better tires, a quicker eight-speed paddleshift transmission and a reworked differential, whose rear system can vary power delivery from 100% to 0% to each wheel in about 200 milliseconds depending on the need. Another exclusive feature is the brake torque vectoring, which slows inside wheels in order to move the nose faster when taking sharp turns. All of that comes with XFR-S’s supercharged V8 engine, capable of achieving 542 hp (54 hp more than F-Type V8 S roadster’s) and 501 lb-ft. Such powertrain takes F-Type from 0 to 100 kph in 4s and then to electronically-limited 186-mph.
F-Type Coupé’s interior repeats the roadster’s standards and the possibility of upgrading them. You can choose from several leather options, a flat-bottomed Alcantara steering wheel, premium audio system, sports exhaust, the aforementioned glass roof and even carbon-ceramic disc brakes. Another great news is that this coupé cuts about £7000 off the roadster’s price. The trim list will also have V6 (335 hp) and V6 S (375 hp), using the same engines seen at the droptop but costing respectively £51,235 and £60,235 – V8 R has a 85,000-pound price tag, which is still cheaper than XFR-S, for instance. Jaguar’s brand new coupé will hit the streets at 2014’s second quarter.
Lançamento no Brasil (29/05/2014)
Agora é a nossa vez. A versão fechada do mais novo sucesso de vendas foi lançada no Brasil de forma oficial em um evento para a imprensa realizado no Autódromo de Interlagos, na capital paulista. Importado da Inglaterra, ele chega em três versões. A F-Type Coupé custa R$ 426.300 e apresenta um motor 3.0 V6, que alcança potência de 340 cv e torque de 45,9 kgfm. Já o F-Type Coupé S usa uma variação “apimentada” do mesmo propulsor, e por isso eleva aqueles números a R$ 497.700, 380 cv e 46,9 kgfm, respectivamente. Por último, o topo-de-linha é defendido pelo F-Type R, que justifica o preço de R$ 662.000 com um 5.0 V8 exclusivo. Tal motor permite ao dono desfrutar de 550 cv e 69,3 kgfm.