You might've noticed the Jaguar F-Type has been facelifted recently. It now has a completely new front which you might've seen in Roy's video,
in which he drove the P575 in Portugal. Today, we're doing an introduction in the Netherlands of a more toned-down version: the P300.
No supercharged V8's today, only turbocharged 4-cylinders.
It's been a while since I drove the Jaguar F-Type. However, I do have to say I can still trust the British with designing interiors.
Take the red leather for example. In a German car, you'd say it's wrong. In a British car however, it's incredibly fitting.
The F-Type gives you a great sports car feeling to begin with. It starts with the dashboard which has a wide and high middle console.
It gives you a truly encapsulated feeling, with the black ceiling. Lots of car in front of you, almost none behind you, a real sportscar.
Right. The 4-cylinder engine. The P300. It has taken Jaguar a pretty long time before they put a 4-cylinder in their F-Type.
It was released in 2013 and four years later, the 300 horsepower 4-cylinder was released.
And it's still in this P300. A turbocharged 2.0-litre producing 300 horsepower. Of course, you mostly know the F-Type from its roaring V8.
Like I already mentioned, my colleague Roy recently drove the P575 which he called the ultimate F-Type.
However, I do have to compliment the sound engineers at Jaguar, because they really did a good job.
Sure, it sounds a tad artificial, but it feels pretty good. It's really trying to get you excited, and that's what you want from a car like this.
I'm not disappointed at all. And now I'm driving it in the Netherlands, I really appreciate the drivetrain.
It's connected to a very alert automatic gearbox, just like the F-Type is a very alert car. It reacts almost immediately to steering movements.
There's not a lot of roll in the chassis. Sports cars like this are always fun to drive. You'll get a similar feeling in a Porsche 718 Cayman or a Nissan 370Z.
Cars like that will shrink around you very quickly.
I do have to say, the P300 isn't fast enough for a car like this. Especially since it looks a lot faster and meaner after the facelift.
It does 0-100 km/h just within 6 seconds, which isn't very quick according to today's standards. And you wouldn't really expect it to take that long.
Be honest, if you look at this car you'd say 0-100 km/h in four seconds at most?
In the inbetween sprints, it does a lot better. It has a great automatic gearbox which does a lot of the work, and it has enough torque.
I already mentioned Porsche, but that's always the case with the F-Type. Sooner or later, you'll draw the comparison with the 718 Cayman.
It's a lot lighter though. 200 kg less than this F-Type. And if you ask me, this version with this engine configuration leans more towards being a GT...
than towards a compact sports car. So what's the deal with the F-Type? The more powerful versions, two V8's with 450 and 575 horsepower,
you should compare those with Porsches 911 or something The P575 could take on the Mercedes-AMG GT to be honest.
The lighter versions like this however are to be compared with the 718 Cayman, which has a 4-cylinder as well.
They have a similar price as well, because the advantage of the 4-cylinder engine of course are the lower CO2-emissions.
That makes it a lot more affordable than the P450 or the P575. However, affordable still means around €93.000.
This being a first edition, it's fully equipped and thus this will set you back more than €100.000.
Anyway. Just consider that in times like this, cars like the Nissan 370Z also cost €111.000. Yes, it still exists and it costs that much.
That might help you position the P300. Also, I think that the P300 has lots of advantages for the Netherlands.
Besides the more affordable price, you can also have a lot more fun with the 4-cylinder than with the V8.
You can take much more corners flat out. Also, you don't make as much noise so you won't upset everyone in a radius of 5 kilometres. And that's worth it.