By: IOL Motoring Staff
Durban - Jaguar Land Rover is on a superlative mission.
In just one day we've received news of the Project 7 , which is the fastest and most powerful street-legal Jaguar ever made, and the Range Rover Sport SVR that plays that same role for Land Rover.
Before the day is even out, Jaguar announces that its ferocious F-Type Coupé has gone on sale in South Africa, as the most “dynamically capable, performance-focused” production Jaguar ever to reach local shores.
SUPERCHARGED
Of course, that's providing you order yours with an 'R' badge, in which case it leaps from 0-100km/h in 4.2 seconds and easily reaches an electronically limited 300km/h top speed. Powering it is the most potent iteration of JLR's 5-litre supercharged V8, pushing 405kW and 680Nm.
To keep things on the steady - relatively speaking, given that this is still a lightweight, insanely powerful rear-wheel drive coupé - is an electronic active differential that works hand-in-hand with a new 'torque vectoring by braking' system to sharpen the Jag's cornering ability.
Two 'tamer' F-Type Coupé options are available, both powered by Jaguar's supercharged 3-litre V6 engine. In the F Type S Coupé, you get 280kW/460Nm and the ability to screech to 100km/h in 4.9 seconds and reach a top speed of 280km/h, according to claimed figures. Even the 'entry level' F-Type Coupé is good for 250kW, 450Nm, a 5.3-second 0-100 and 260km/h top end.
All engines are mated to Jaguar's eight-speed 'Quickshift' gearbox, linked to flappy paddles on the steering wheel.
CERAMIC BRAKES
If you're a little nervous about the prospect of bringing your F-Type R or S to a stop, a carbon ceramic matrix braking system is available as an option. There is a glut of wheel and tyre options too, although as standard you get 18-inch rims on the F-Type, 19-inch on the S and 20-inch on the R.
Though the F-Type tin-top loses the wind-in-hair appeal of its convertible sibling, it adds a new gush of style inspired by the C-X16 concept. The real aesthetic glory is at the back end, as far as we're concerned, where the rearward-tapering cabin is squashed between a shapely set of haunches.
However there is no weight advantage over the open-top, a testament to the fact that the F-Type was designed from the outset as a roadster, although the rigidity advantage is still there - the Coupé beating all previous Jags with torsional rigidity of 33 000Nm/degree.
PRICES
F-Type - R843 404
F-Type S - R982 404
F-Type R - R1 534 189