After announcing its best ever May sales this year (up 18 per cent on this time last year ), Jaguar confirmed last week that the new F-Pace SUV has become the fastest-selling car the company has ever built. Here is a brand that has benefited enormously from the British public’s appetite for more premium cars, which shows no sign of stopping.
The new SVR is a four-wheel-drive F-Type R with some new and improved added touches, what, exactly, does Special Operations bring to the party? Less weight and more power alone won’t cut it with the discerning collector. Bespoke materials, a different sound system, new colour finishes and 20″ alloy wheels add to the aggressive stance this F-TYPE portrays
The supercharged 5.0-litre V8 develops 564bhp and 516lb ft of torque, the latter figure too much for a manual transmission, which is why it’s mated to the eight-speed auto gearbox. That’s enough to give this F-Type supercar-territory performance figures. The headline is a 200mph top speed, making this the fastest F-Type produced; it hits 60mph in 3.5 seconds. The SVR has also shed some weight; it’s 25kg lighter than the F-Type R AWD, or 50kg lighter if you take the carbon-fibre roof panel and pack with the carbon ceramic brakes and as for the four-wheel-drive system that accompanies this F-Type, purists need not fear; it’s still rear-wheel drive the majority of the time, with power sent to the front wheels when needed as part of an adaptive-dynamics system.
On the track two difference were immediately apparent from the standard 5.0 V8: The optional carbon-ceramic brakes just keep soaking up the displaced energy, and the intelligent dynamics package is the business. Should it sense the car understeering, torque vectoring unobtrusively brakes the inside wheels to bring the nose back into line.
Out on the road, things are just as impressive: the titanium quad exhausts, with valves that open at 2,500rpm to enhance the noise, emit a brilliant sound more akin to splintering metal than a soulful note.
The chassis is a brilliant balance of compliance and notable stiffening over the R version, with new dampers and anti-roll bars, stiffer rear knuckles and wider tyres. Jaguar is keen to stress this is “an all-weather supercar, useable day to day”, and so it proves: that stiffer damping still has an element of give in standard setting. Exterior design changes to muscular aerodynamic additions, while the interior consists of a unique quilted leather on doors and seats (the heritage “lozenge” shape), an SVR steering wheel and aluminium paddle shifters.
If you want more information on the F-TYPE SVR or would like to request for a brochure please email us at sales@swindonjaguar.co.uk or call us on 01793 414 214