jaguar f-type r
and it's pretty impressive this car has
a supercharged v8 with
575 horsepower and a sticker price of
around a hundred and ten thousand
dollars the f-type has always been cool
but it's just been updated for the 2021
model year and today i'm going to review
the new top of the line f-type r
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i've borrowed this f-type r from hoenn
motors jaguar land rover carlsbad which
is my local jaguar dealership here in
the san diego area owen motors has all
of the latest jaguar land rover models
of course including the new f-type and
the f-type r which has just started
arriving at dealerships you can check
out hoenn motors jaguar land rover
carlsbad by clicking the link in the
description below so let's talk newly
revised f-type the f-type first went on
sale for the 2014 model year is the
sportiest member of jaguar's lineup now
it went through some revisions over the
years it got a coupe model and
performance models and there was
eventually a manual transmission but the
biggest change has come for the 2021
model year the f-type has been restyled
it looks different and the lineup has
been paired down for more simplicity the
new lineup offers a choice between three
engines you can get a turbo
four-cylinder with about 300 horsepower
or a supercharged v6 with about 380
horsepower or you can step up to the top
of the line this the f-type r this car
has a 5-liter supercharged v8 with
575 horsepower all-wheel drive is
standard it'll do 0-60 in about three
and a half seconds like other f-type
models with the r you can choose between
a coupe or a convertible body style and
like i said this one has a sticker price
of around a hundred and ten thousand
dollars and today i'm going to review it
first i'm going to take you on a tour of
this f-type r and show you all of the
interesting quirks and features of the
top jaguar performance car
then i'm going to take it out on the
road and drive it and then i'll give it
a dug score
all right i'm going to start the quirks
and features of the latest f-type by
discussing a few of the things that are
different for 2021
the biggest difference is undoubtedly
the styling and specifically the front
end styling you can clearly tell this is
not the same f-type as before you have
these narrower headlights that give it
kind of a sharper more focused almost
aston martin-like look up here it looks
cool very aggressive just like you'd
expect from jaguar's sportiest vehicle
and next up we move under the hood in
the f-type r because one of the other
big differences for 2021 is that this
car's lineup has been just made simpler
last year and in previous f-type models
there were two high-performance versions
you could get the f-type r with 550
horsepower or you could get the f-type s
vr with 575 horsepower so if you went
all the way and spent all the money for
the f-type r you still didn't have the
best model it was all confusing too
complex so now there's basically three
trim levels corresponding to the three
engines turbocharged four-cylinder
supercharged v6 and then the f-type r
the top of the range performance model
like i said 575 horsepower and about 520
pound-feet of torque it is a monstrous
engine especially for such a relatively
small car and it sounds pretty good this
car has quad exhaust in the back which
is fantastic and they make an amazing
sound when you're really going for it
take a listen to this car revving
and next up we climb into the f-type r
but before we do i want to talk door
handles right now you walk up to the car
you can see the door handle is flat so
it might seem a little confusing about
how you open it but if you have the key
on you in your pocket whatever you can
just tap the front of the door handle
and it pops open
and then the rest of it can be pulled
and the door can be opened take a look
at that again you just tap the front
pops open and you pull it now the thing
i like is that when you pop the door
handle open the top part is revealed to
say jaguar just another reminder of the
cool car you're getting into now when
you want to lock the doors you can just
tap the back of the door handle and then
the doors lock and the door handle goes
back into its home
as you can see take another look at that
just tap the back and the door handle
goes back in flush with the car this is
a cool door handle design for a cool car
and you don't have to do it all by
tapping the door handle either if you
have the keyless remote just press the
unlock button and the door handle pops
out or press the lock button and the
door handle goes back into its home and
that's how you know the f-type is locked
but for now
we climb inside
now there are quite a few interesting
quirks and features in this interior but
by far the coolest is the climate vents
in the center okay you look right now
and there are no climate vents in the
center only on the side so where does
air come from well you turn on the
f-type and the climate vents rise out of
the top of the dashboard to provide you
with air from the climate control system
that is a pretty cool feature and it
also means that if you have the climate
control turned off they go right back
into their home and it gives the
dashboard kind of a cleaner look i think
that's very neat and i think more cars
should do that try to hide the climate
control vents when not in use for a
cleaner look but it's challenging to do
but they've done it in the f-type now
when the climate control vents are up
you can see that the little switches
that allow you to position the air say
jaguar on them jaguar never seems to
miss an opportunity for branding they
know they don't have the brand name
strength of a porsche or even a
mercedes-benz in this segment so they
put it everywhere those switches but
also how about the glove box opener
instead of just a little button it's a
button rimmed with jaguar established
1935
because you always want to know the year
your car company was established when
you're opening your glove box
interesting but anyway more interesting
quirks and features there are some
interesting buttons and switches in this
center console area one of them adjusts
the drive mode you can see there's like
a little lever to the left of the gear
selector if you push it up that puts you
into snow and rain drive mode if you
push it down that puts you into like
race or competitive drive mode and if
you press either of those a second time
it'll just put you back into normal but
it's weird to see this like switch or
lever that you can push up or pull down
to enter the different drive modes don't
think i've ever seen that in any other
car before stranger than that however is
the gear selector it looks just like a
fairly standard modern car electronic
gear selector you pull it down to put
the car in drive you push it up to put
it in reverse and it always stays in the
same position no matter what gear you're
in which is pretty common except if you
go into s for sport and you can shift
gears yourself then it switches over to
the left now this presents a little bit
of a problem for jaguar because what
happens if you're driving the car in
sport mode but then you want to park it
how do you make sure the gear lever goes
back to the middle where it will need to
be when you start it up again to go back
into gear the answer is it does it
automatically you're in sport you press
p
and the gear lever moves over as if a
ghost has put it back into the center
where the gear lever needs to live very
strange watch that again you're in sport
you press park and then the gear lever
moves itself over the whole assembly to
go back into its neutral position kind
of a strange thing but i guess they had
to do that here to make it work with how
they wanted the gear lever to operate
and next up some more interesting quirks
and features in this area going to the
climate controls you have three dials
like you do in a lot of cars the middle
one lets you change the fan speed the
one on the sides lets you change the
temperature no big deal there the
interesting part is that if you push one
of the temperature dials that becomes
your heated seat control and your cooled
seat you can then twist it to turn on
your heated seat or your cooled seat
push it again and you go back to
adjusting your climate control
temperature this is a pretty nifty way
to integrate heated seat controls
without having to put an extra button
somewhere in here and make it look
cluttered you just make it part of the
climate control dial that already exists
that is pretty smart thinking i like
that and next up a few other interesting
controls in this area one of them is the
hazard light button which isn't actually
a button in fact it's rather a switch
and a fairly large one you push it down
to turn them on and back down again to
turn them off and it's rather satisfying
to do that also in this vicinity you
have a few other controls one of which
is the exhaust you press this little
button and that turns on the sport
exhaust system which is what you heard
earlier and this car has quite a sound
with a v8 and with that sport exhaust on
the button right below that shows the
back of the car with a couple of arrows
that will raise or lower the rear wing
you press that the wing goes up you
press it again and the wing goes down
the wing also goes up automatically at a
certain speed but you can put it up with
the press of a button if you simply want
everyone to look at you and know that
you're cool because your car has a wing
the other button switch in here is the
one for the power convertible top
obviously a car with a roof off and
arrows is very clear what this does but
since you always seem to enjoy watching
tops go up and down well
here you go
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and next up a few other notable quirks
and features in here one is the sun
visors which are just unbelievably tiny
and thin you put them down and they're
like three inches but i guess it's a
small car with a low windshield so you
don't really need a lot of sun visor
another interesting f-type interior
detail i've always liked with this car
is that the passenger has handles you
have one on the passenger side of the
center control stack and then of course
you have another one in the door panel
and so the passenger has two places to
grab onto in case the f-type ride just
gets a little bit too crazy you see that
in a lot of off-roaders will you be
bouncing around off-road not as common
in sports cars but i do love the two
handles so you can sit here grabbing on
for your life in case things are going
fast and next up we move on to another
change of the newer f-types and that
would be the driver's gauge cluster you
no longer have any sort of old-school
gauges instead it's all a screen in here
which is more modern more cars are going
to it it's nice to see it in the f-type
one interesting detail the default
screen is a picture of the f-type so you
can look at the car you're driving while
you're driving it but it is a beautiful
car so you might want to in fact do that
with that said you can go through
various other screens in here i've shown
this off in other land rover models
landover and jaguar of the same parent
company so they use the same technology
i'll link those in the description below
if you want a more thorough tour of this
gauge cluster screen with that said two
notable quirks in here that i do want to
cover one is a feature called last alarm
if you go deep into the menus in here
you can find something marked last alarm
you click on it and it tells you what
the last alarm was in the car the last
thing that beeped to notify you so in
case you're driving along you thought
you know something was beeping at me
this morning that i forgot what it was
well you can check and it will tell you
even if it's no longer a problem anymore
which is kind of interesting another
interesting quirk in here something i
love is the blue lines that appear on
the tachometer and the speedometer when
they're higher up you can see like below
where the needle is is blue and it just
looks really cool for both the tack and
the speedo i really really like that
look and it helps you figure out exactly
where you are in these digital gauges
but the blue is just a nice touch now
speaking of this gauge cluster one other
interesting item is right above it this
little shroud over the gauge cluster
standard in basically every car the
strange part is the material on top of
the shroud it's this odd alcantara
almost looks like mesh a very strange
material that appears nowhere else in
this entire interior and i suspect it's
there for glare if they had put the
regular leather in that spot it would
reflect under the windshield under
direct sunlight but this material isn't
as reflective and so that's why it's
sitting out there just kind of an
interesting detail and finally before i
move back outside the f-type i want to
give my general impression of the
interior a few thoughts one is it's
still nice in here good materials feels
very luxurious everything is nice and
high quality with that said it is
starting to get a little outdated in
this interior there are a few details
that just aren't quite up to par anymore
especially at this price point you have
a lot of plastic buttons for example in
this center console area same deal on
the steering wheel the buttons to
control the gauge cluster are plastic
which definitely don't look as modern or
as futuristic as the electronic buttons
on land rover steering wheels and i'm
surprised they didn't just stick those
in the jaguar and also the general
design of this interior isn't quite as
flowy and modern as some more recent
sports cars the overall design has
stayed basically the same even though
jaguar did put in the new gauge cluster
and a new infotainment system better
technology but basically the same look
so it stayed about the same since this
car first came out still looks good but
not quite as modern a little more
outdated than some of its rivals and
next up we move on to the trunk in the
f-type which has kind of an odd design
to it pop it open on the key open it up
and you can see all of this stuff stays
put when the trunk is open only sort of
the panel on top opens up and that means
you have a pretty big lip if you want to
load anything in here you don't just
load it over the bumper you have to get
over the license plate and the tail
lights and it's a pretty high bar in
case you're trying to load something
very heavy into your f-type which you're
probably not now when you get into the
trunk i have to say i love the graphic
on the tire repair kit it's this great
cartoon graphic that shows a blown out
tire and then it being refilled jaguar
could put tire repair kit on there in
english but then they would have to
translate that into every language and
every market they sold this car so they
just use a picture instead and frankly
that picture does a pretty good job of
getting the point across what that is so
i guess it works and finally the last
item i want to discuss on the outside of
the f-type is the fact that it's pretty
subtle out here
about this being the high performance
model you have an r badge in the back
that tells you it's the r you also have
an r badge up front and that's it
there's no more exterior badging letting
you know that this is the best one you
don't even have crazy wheels with crazy
brake calipers that are like orange or
bright blue or something you just have a
fairly simple and subtle vehicle even
though you're getting the performance
model i personally like that although it
may turn off some people who buy this
car who want everybody to know just how
crazy their f-type is then again they
rev the engine and people will figure it
out pretty quickly and one other notable
item in the back of the f-type is the
reverse lights now the f-type has some
very distinctive tail lights they have
this cool flowy design they wrap around
the side of the car the back and the
side and they look really good but
they're all red jaguar obviously wanted
that assembly to just be red because
they felt it was better looking the
problem with that is then you can't have
a place for the white reverse light so
where are they back here well you got to
look down next to the exhaust tips you
have these tiny white lights mounted
sort of vertically those are your
reverse lights hidden in the back of the
f-type so as not to sully the cool look
of the tail lights kind of interesting
and so
those are the quirks and features of the
new
2021 jaguar f-type r
now it's time to get it out on the road
and see how it drives all right driving
the f-type r
got to go windows up for sound and
speaking of sound this car makes a
pretty good one when i showed you the
exhaust note before it won't rev over
4000 when it stopped but listen to this
that's a sound
oh yes
all right couple things about this car
the complaint about the f-type has
always been oh it's great but
dynamically it's no 911. i don't agree
with that let me tell you why the 911 is
an amazing car it really is but it has
become
so big
and so touring car-like and so luxurious
i know that dynamically it's probably
excellent still i mean i've driven it is
excellent but it's not
it this car is more nimble let's put it
that way this car just feels more nimble
and more live and i don't know that i
would have said that about the f-type
when it first came out against the last
911 but the 911 just seems to get bigger
and more luxurious more expensive and
more high-tech with every redesign and
this car you still get
911 doesn't sound like that this car i
just think it feels to me it feels more
fun it feels more muscle carry it feels
more get the tail out of the stop light
the 911 just feels more sanitized to me
with that said there are some benefits
to the 911 obviously porsche brand name
is a big one and i think the biggest
thing jag has had to overcome is not the
capabilities of this car which everyone
agrees have always been fantastic it's
more the fact that yeah for that money
though i could have a
and you know people who are spending a
hundred grand had 911s on their bedroom
well their friend has a 911 they've you
know wanted a 911 since their uncle had
one and it's just a hard sell to get him
into this sort of cool new thing jaguar
but anybody willing to give it a shot
will be really impressed it really is a
fun car it's tossable it's exciting it's
nice frankly i think my only drawback
with the f-type in last year was that it
it was old it felt old the gauge cluster
old school the styling was starting with
gold the interior they've remedied some
of that but not all the gauge cluster
has been changed modern full screen
looks good the styling i think looks
great it's a little bit more generic
than it used to be but it's also just
more modern and more focused and i think
overall it was a positive the only real
drawback to me is the interior just
isn't it still feels a little old like i
mentioned some old switches old buttons
all the layout um but the car drives
nice it drives new and has the
performance of an excellent modern car
and i think that's the real benefit uh
to me of the f-type uh it really it's
fast and it's fun and it's exciting and
it looks cool and the drawback to a car
at this level always be it isn't the 911
the king of the segment just like the
drawback to a seven series is always
it's not an s-class if you're willing to
look past it i think you'll find a
fantastic car a fun one an amazing sound
and of course a great top-down thrilling
driving experience if you get the
convertible um it's a good car and it's
just been refined to make it a little
better uh for 2021 a little bit better
look a little bit better technology uh
and it's still a nice excellent vehicle
and so
that's the 2021
jaguar f-type
r
this is an impressive car with
impressive styling and impressive
performance and an impressive engine
note
no it's no porsche 911 which has been
the f-type's biggest hurdle since it
first came out but it is a worthy
competitor with a big v8 and big
performance and now it's time to give
the f-type a doug score
starting with the weekend categories and
styling the f-type is gorgeous although
its design is starting to get a little
familiar the new look helps but it also
seems a little more generic than before
still it looks great and it gets a seven
out of ten acceleration does zero to
sixty in three and a half seconds and it
gets a nine out of ten handling is
excellent and it gets a seven out of ten
fun factor is also excellent between the
sharp handling the acceleration the top
down fun and that exhaust note and it
gets a 7 out of 10. cool factor is
decent about normal for cars like this
and it gets a 6 out of 10 for a total
weekend score of 36 out of 50. next up
are the daily categories and features
the f-type is fine and the new
technology improved things a bit but
it's a little down on some of the latest
stuff and it gets a 6 out of 10. comfort
is decent for a car like this and it
gets a 6 out of 10. quality is good the
interior is nice but there are a few
drawbacks like i mentioned and it gets a
seven out of ten practicality is normal
for a two-seater and it gets a two out
of ten finally value and this is a good
one given the performance for the money
it's well priced though the jaguar
nameplate brings it down a notch in the
sports car world versus porsche or even
bmw and it gets a 6 out of 10 for a
total daily score of 27 out of 50. added
up and the doug score is 63 out of 100
which places the f-type r here against
some potential rivals it trails the 911
and the lexus lc which are its closest
competitors though the f-type equals or
beats those cars in the weekend scores
the f-type's real problem comes in the
daily scores where it doesn't have back
seats and where it's a bit down on
technology and material quality compared
to rivals still this is a fun car that
offers impressive performance a great
sound and good driving enjoyment in a
world where the porsche 911 just seems
to be getting bigger and more luxurious
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you