Jaguar F-Type SVR 2016 review ~ station of gear

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15 Jun, 2016 (All day) Steve Sutcliffe

New ultimate Jaguar F-Type SVR delivers on its looks with a great drive

Lighter, stiffer, faster, louder and considerably more expensive than any other F-Type to date, the new £110,000 SVR Coupe is, claims Jaguar, “the 200mph all-weather supercar”.

It’s powered by a tweaked version of Jaguar’s established 5.0-litre supercharged V8, and boasts 568bhp, 700Nm of torque and a 0-62mph time of just 3.5 seconds. So the 200mph F-Type SVR is not just a skirts-and-spoilers job from Jaguar’s burgeoning Special Vehicle Operations division. They don’t do that sort of thing at SVO.

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Instead, they tend to go back to the beginning in engineering terms, and then start all over again in most areas. Hence, the SVR’s all-wheel-drive chassis has been comprehensively retuned to include fractionally softer springs and dampers at the front (to improve the turn-in response), with slightly stiffer springs at the rear (ditto). Bigger anti-roll bars are fitted front and rear and there are wider 20-inch forged alloy wheels wearing bespoke Pirelli P-Zero tyres, plus a much beefier rear suspension knuckle, all in the name of increased agility and composure at high and lower speeds.

The standard brakes are steel, but for the SVR, due to its track potential, Jaguar has developed an optional carbon ceramic set-up (fitted to the car here) while the eight-speed “Quickshift” auto box has also been recalibrated to deliver faster, smoother shifts across the performance envelope.

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Visually, the SVR F-Type isn’t hard to tell apart from lesser models. It features various carbon add-ons on the outside to reduce lift at high speed, including a “live” rear wing. And on the inside there’s a delicious pair of quilted leather front seats that can, and will, be appreciated at any speed.

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Then there’s the new titanium exhaust, tuned to produce a far more hard-edged note than for any previous Jaguar (or Range Rover) powered by Jaguar Land Rover’s 5.0-litre V8. This alone accounts for 16kg of the possible 50kg that the SVR shaves from the weight of a regular 4WD F-Type, assuming you specify the optional carbon brakes, which are 21kg lighter than the steel brakes on their own.

So what’s it like to drive? For the most part, it’s hard to fault and very easy to fall in love with. Jaguar’s claim that the SVR is “addictive” dynamically is not without substance. The SVR is thunderingly fast, sounds absolutely delicious, its retrimmed cabin is a place of real sporting luxury, and its ride, handling and steering are all significantly improved over the regular F-Type R’s – especially the rear-drive version.

Strangely enough considering the SVR’s aspirations not of grandeur but of enhanced sporting precision, the stand-out dynamic quality is its ride. You can tell it’s more refined in its suspension response within the first 50 yards, and the further you drive the car, the more impressive its ride composure appears.

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That is until you reach a quite clearly defined point, which usually involves a fast undulating road, where the limitation of its stiffened rear suspension manifests itself in the form of a curious lack of vertical control, plus a slight squirming sensation at really high speeds. The SVR is not a Porsche 911 Turbo dynamically – not quite in a straight line, anyway, and definitely not when it comes to howling around corners.

But, on the other hand, the Jag arguably has more charm than the 911 Turbo in just about everything else it does, especially inside. Except, perhaps, for its gearbox, which feels a bit like the transmission from a Range Rover, not a sports car. And again, against its most cutting-edge rivals, the SVR suffers here in not being quite thrusting enough. Its recalibrated gearbox is okay in use, but nothing more.

However, as a flagship for an already great range of cars, the F-Type SVR does a genuinely fine job. Not everyone wants a German sports car, after all, and at £110,000 for the Coupe (£115,000 for the Convertible), it also represents decent value beside its most talented, but more expensive, German rivals.

But we love it mostly, not merely, because it sounds – and looks – a million dollars.

This £110,000 F-Type is the first Jaguar to wear the increasingly credible SVR badge, and it does so with pride. Monstrously fast and very wonderful to listen to and travel in, the SVR is very nearly as good to drive as we’d hoped. If anything, it needs even bigger fangs to take on the likes of the 911 GT3 and Nissan GT-R, but, as a very rapid luxury grand tourer, it takes some beating.

Model: Jaguar F-Type SVR Coupe
Price: £110,000
Engine: 5.0-litre V8 supercharged
Power/torque: 568bhp/700Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto, four-wheel drive

0-62mph: 3.5 seconds
Top speed: 200mph
Economy/CO2: 25.0mpg/269g/km
On sale: Now

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