First Drive: F-Type 400 Sport | Kitty On Steroids
Jaguar's flagship got a bit more sporty last year
Last year at the end of April I had some stuff I had to go through before I could focus on this website again, the F-Type 400 Sport was a car I drove just before and now I finally rounded up that article. To summarise: very enjoyable car, but the 'sport' part it has been marketed on doesn't really translates beyond subjectivity (in normal use).
When Jaguar announced the F-Type 400 Sport, I was quite thrilled to be honest. Driven all types of F-Types (pun intended), the 6-cylinder versions always gave me the biggest smiles-per-gallon. Their relatively low weight and their soundtrack make for a better marriage than the V8s will ever do. So could this sport version be even better?
I won't summarize what Jaguar changed on this car in comparison to the standard V6 S, I'm too lazy for that. So here: our article from when it was first released. Read it? Didn't think so, so I'll weave some facts into the rest of this article.
Walking up to the F-Type Sport 400 AWD feels different to the regular ones, the company successfully managed to give this car a special aura. It has little details littered all over the place, giving you the feeling it's a serious car. Open the door and sit your ass down in the grippy seats and you're rewarded with a similar feeling. Jaguar managed to get you feeling special, but when something says 'sport' it has me thinking about more than presence or logos.
Driving it? Well, 20 more horsepower isn't something distinct you feel in a car weighing over 1.6 tonnes, nor is the small weight drop. I pushed it hard before felt a difference to the 380 version. Same for braking (now 380 up front), keeping the body-roll under control or cornering: it's a marginal difference. But driving well is something the V6 has been doing brilliantly ever since it came out. Thus I prefer to see this car as Jaguar acknowledging how good their V6 setup is rather than the special edition they claim it to be.
Just wait till these drop down from their premium pricing and you'll be able to snatch up a very well optimized F-Type. There's very little second-hand-offers that give this much car for your money. Oh, and it comes in all flavors: RWD, AWD, coupe or convertible.
