You Can Now Have Your Jaguar F-Type With A 297bhp Inline-Four

Up until now, you’ve been able to buy an F-Type in two very distinct engine flavours: V6 or V8. Now though, there’s a third option, and it might prove a tad controversial for the moody purists out there. Yep, the F is the latest posho sports car to be offered with a four-cylinder engine.

It’s an all-new version of Jaguar’s 2.0-litre petrol Ingenium unit, putting out 297bhp. In terms of power it neatly fits under the 335bhp V6 which formally served as the entry point, but here’s the thing: as the new car is 52kg lighter, it’s actually a little quicker. 0-60mph takes 5.4 seconds, compared to 5.5 in the base V6. Colour us intrigued.

It gets better, as the bulk of that 52kg saving is - as you’d expect - located at the front. The V6 F-Type feels heavier in the corners than it really ought to, so a sizeable weight saving on the front axle is jolly good news. So it’s quicker in a straight line, should be more nimble in the bends, and uses 16 per cent less fuel than the V6 (39.2mpg combined). It puffs out just 163g/km of CO2, meanwhile.

And now for the downside: dropping two cylinders is - of course - not going to do wonders for this new ‘baby’ F in the noise department. Jaguar has assured the world that the air intake and exhaust have been “meticulously tuned to delivery renowned F-Type sound,” but we’ll be reserving judgement until we hear this beast for ourselves.

Tempted? It goes on sale this Spring in coupe and convertible forms, fitted with an eight-speed automatic gearbox - no mention of manual options just yet. It’ll set you back £49,900, around £3600 less than the cheapest automatic V6. It’ll make its public debut at the New York Auto Show.