Jaguar F-Type Showdown: Inline-Four Vs V6 400 Sport Vs V8 R

As of a few months ago, choosing which F-Type to buy got a whole lot more complicated. A 2.0-litre, inline-four-engined contender joined the ranks, with a lower price and less weight, promising to turn the F-Type into the proper sports car it so far hasn’t quite been.

Given that we currently have the heaviest, most powerful and most expensive non-SVR in the range - the V8-powered ‘R’ convertible - it makes sense to get it together with a 2.0-litre coupe. Yep, the lightest, least powerful and least expensive. It’s £49,900, compared to £96,345 for the R convertible.

Since three’s company, we shoved a third car right in the middle: the 3.0-litre V6-powered 400 Sport in convertible, all-wheel drive form, which is £81,005. So which car is best?

Let’s kick things off with the shouty V8 one. Which is noisy. Spectacularly noisy. Surely the filthiest sounding engine currently in production, this ageing but wonderful 5.0-litre supercharged eight-banger serves up a guttural bark of exhaust noise that lets people know you’re coming long before you’ve arrived.

The power delivery is fairly linear, with 542bhp giving you pin-you-to-the-back-of-your-seat levels of thrust. Even with the greasy conditions we experienced on the shoot day, the all-wheel drive system hooked up time and time again and let us exploit the available power in an all too effective way - it only takes a few seconds of wide open throttle before you’re forced to back off. 0-62mph happens in just 4.1 seconds, and it doesn’t run out of puff until you hit 186mph.

The old rear-wheel drive R would be useless on a day like that, and it’s not like having the front wheels powered kills the fun here. Push hard enough and back end will step out of line dramatically. Even when you’re not pushing your luck, the rear bias is obvious, yet manageable so long as you’re not being stupid.

But you know what else is obvious? The weight. Jaguar may make a big deal about the aluminium that’s going into the F-Type’s construction, but a light car it is not - this one tips the scales at 1745kg, the damn fatty. It’s just not as eager to turn in as you’d hope, and feels like something that needs to be wrestled around to get the most out of it. Combine that with relatively soft suspension, and you have a car that’s best thought of as a cruiser, not a sports car.

So is the car at the opposite end of the spectrum - the 2.0-litre coupe - the answer? We were hoping to suss out its sports car credentials during our first drive of the thing out in Norway, but the roads weren’t the best for assessing the 52kg fall in weight (mostly at the front end) relative to the base V6. And now… we’re still not 100 per cent sure. Those aforementioned greasy roads meant that the only rear-wheel drive car here really struggled for grip and traction, to an extent that I wasn’t expecting.

The 297bhp, 295lb ft 2.0-litre four-pot overloaded the rear tyres with surprising ease, so it couldn’t be driven in quite the way we wanted to give a definitive verdict on what that front-end weight drop (it’s over 200kg lighter than the drop-top R, by the way) has done to the handling. It does however turn in way more keenly than the V8, with the light steering quickened up to compensate. It’s light on its feet and on a dry day I’m positive it’d be incredibly fun to chuck around, but here’s the thing: I’m not sure the slightly better dynamics are worth the under-bonnet downgrade.

Even with a few pops and bangs from the exhaust thrown in for good measure, the ‘Ingenium’ inline-four lacks the kind of drama to back up the F-Type’s alluring looks. An inline-four is never going to compete with a six- or eight-cylinder engine in the noise stakes, but even for a four-pot, this thing just sounds weedy. And while it may be a tenth quicker to 62mph than a rear-wheel drive manual V6 F-Type (5.4 seconds vs 5.5), it feels brisk rather than fast. It’s also only £3600 cheaper than the least expensive six-cylinder F - and that seems like £3600 well spent.

So if the V8 is too heavy and the inline-four too weedy, is the 400 Sport just right? Hell yes it is. A few choice changes including a 20bhp boost for the V6, a mechanical limited-slip differential and standard-fit adaptive dampers mean that - while still a little way off sports car perfection - the spicier V6 F-Type is a joy to hoon. The V6 feels perkier than you’d expect given the modest power increase, body control is very tidy, and the steering is beautifully fast and feelsome. Oh, and just like the R, the 400 Sport has an all-wheel drive system that’s happy to be a little playful.

"The 400 Sport takes what’s best about the V6 F-Type and refines it"

It also feels the most special. On the outside there are chunky new side skirts, a big new splitter and a bunch of 400 Sport badges, while on the inside there are yet more 400 badges and yellow contrast stitching. It’s arguably the best looking car here.

It takes what’s best about the V6 F and refines it, resulting in something that is fun, engaging and memorable to drive, even if it does still feel a little porky. The coupe would probably be our choice, but even on a cold and wet day, that brassy six-cylinder exhaust noise will tempt you into lowering the roof every time you get in.

For us it’s the high point of the F-Type range thus far, so it’s a shame Jaguar decided to put it in production for just one model year. In fact, it’s now sold out. So from the current range, the 375bhp V6 ‘R Dynamic’ is our F-Type weapon of choice. But it’s worth doing what you can to seek out a 400 Sport - you won’t regret it.