2015 Jaguar F-Type Coupe R

The launch of the Coupe version of the F-Type brought a new flagship model in the F-Type range; the 2015 Jaguar F-Type Coupe R.

$109.900 is the starting price for one and even though at first it might seem a bit much, you do get an amazing product for the money. It is gorgeous, very fast, extremely loud and surprisingly capable. Easy to live with too, you‘ll find that it can cruise through urban traffic as happily as it would put some rubber down going around corners.

The front is identical to the convertible, with the cat eyes, mouth and nostrils. The chrome around the side window sill is the first indication of the top being solid and a more careful look will reveal indeed how different it is. The wide bum with the thin taillights suits the rounded rear shape perfectly and the glass roof adds to the exclusiveness of the design. The quad tail-pipes are just the icing on the cake.

Inside the tear drop shaped body, the cabin is luxurious, functional, very well built but most importantly, it feels like it belongs to a genuine sports car. Fully trimmed in high quality leather, the blend between sport, luxurious and modern is fascinating.

The seats apart from good looking and fully power adjustable, are perfectly balanced between comfort and sport. Finding your ideal driving position is easy and you can take advantage of the three memory presets to suit your mood. “One” for casual, “two” for relaxed and “three” for attack; I can easily see that happening. Visibility is far better than you’d think based on the shape and the Meridian multimedia system is once again mind-blowing.

Not having to reserve space for folding a soft-top in had a magnificent effect on the cargo area compared to the convertible F-Type. 324 perfectly usable liters of space are at your disposal.

Underneath the reverse-flip hood sits a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine. For the occasion, maximum output has reached 550 HP and 502 lb-ft or torque are delivered to the rear wheels via the staggering 8-Speed ZF ‘Quickshift’ auto-box. 0-100km/h comes in 4.2” and the top speed is limited to 300km/h. The thirst for fuel is also surprisingly limited considering the performance figures, as 12.5lt/100km was our combined average.

The checkered flag dictates the whole experience as it is absolutely amazing how one button can transform a wild cat to a tamed kitty. In normal mode, the suspension swallows bumps and cracks, the exhaust note is discrete, the steering is rather light and the gearbox shifts smoothly. Flip the switch to dynamic mode and “TA-DA!”; The steering gets heavy and crisp, the suspension firms up, the gearbox goes to attack mode and throttle response is explosive. Best of all, the noise…

Handling starts with the seat in this coupe, which is you best friend when it comes to communicating how the chassis is coping. Jaguar has not messed around; the Electronic Active Diff coupled with Torque Vectoring has made this coupe very nimble and sure-footed. The differences in the suspension setup are obvious, as the extra power has not intimidated the superb chassis.

The brake pedal feels crisp and reassuring, the brakes resist fade and are ultra capable of stopping the car. From 100km/h it took only 37m to come to a complete stop while it took us a couple of minutes to reposition our guts.

Trimmed in high quality leather it is as sexy and agile as Catwoman. The F-Type Coupe R is evil, and it is good to be evil, especially when looks, drives and sounds like that. It costs 109,900,000 pennies, and it is worth every single one of them.