You’d think I would have had enough of Jaguar F-Type SVRs by now. After all, the British luxury marque gave me a Velocity Blue-painted 2018 to play with a couple of years ago, followed up by a near identical coupe in Santorini Black for 2019, but this year’s Madagascar Orange convertible was just too tempting to pass up.
I jest of course. I could never get enough of any SVR, the 575 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque from this top-tier F-Type’s 5.0-liter V8 making every second behind the wheel a memorable experience. Better yet, without the coupe’s fixed aluminum roof in place there was no way to keep the thunderous titanium Inconel exhaust from penetrating Jaguar’s triple-layer fabric roof. If its baritone note isn’t the best in autodom, it’s second only to the high-Cs emanating from Ferrari’s tenor.
Nothing cuts through the silence like the Jaguar SVR’s 5.0-liter V8
The retractable roof is beautifully made, incidentally, and nicely soundproofed with Thinsulate no less, but not even the alternative hardtop can silence the SVR’s crackling and popping tailpipes when the active sport exhaust system is engaged. Sure, you can stealthily rumble into sleepy nighttime neighborhoods as needed, but when the sun is up and the sky is blue it would be criminal to silence such a harmonically dissonant mechanical cacophony by leaving the top up and the active element of the sport exhaust unengaged.
Mechanical machinations in mind, the F-Type SVR is the antithesis of electric. Where EVs are touted as all things good, clean and virtuous, F-Type SVRs are loud, obnoxious rebels with a cause, Jaguar’s anachronistic AJ-8 engine dating back to 1997, yet still fabulous in every way that matters (and fuel economy doesn’t matter in this class). Electrics might be quick, but where’s the auditory soundtrack? Where’s the sensory overload? Pin the F-Type SVR’s throttle and a chainsaw-through-metal-like blare sends shots of adrenaline to the mind as the car bullets from standstill to 60 mph in a mere 3.5 seconds, and on to 200 mph in the coupe or 195 in the convertible. The upcoming Tesla Roadster will be significantly quicker off the line and provide a faster top track speed, but it won’t necessarily excite as much. It’s like comparing a Harley V-Rod to a mobility scooter (ok, it’s more comparable to a Zero SR ZF12.5, but you get the idea).
Sure, there’s an element of cool to Gattaca-like silence, especially when hooked up to the Citroen DS Cabriolet and Studebaker Avanti used in the 1997 sci-fi flick starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and Jude Law, but this is real life and we’re multi-sensing creatures after all, so, while silence is golden, riotous clamor can go a lot further when wanting to make a point. No doubt Jaguar will bring us an F-Type electric (they’re reportedly in the process of trademarking the name “Jaguar EV-Type”), and it will probably sell even better than the relatively successful and ultra-impressive i-Pace I drove not too long ago.
Beautiful from the outside in
Where the i-Pace is plenty attractive as far as low-slung mid-size crossover SUVs go, the F-Type continues to be drop-dead gorgeous. Doused in the aforementioned orange hue, it pulls eyeballs from passersby more effectively than anything I’ve driven in recent memory—the rasping exhaust note that I’ve gone on about ad nauseum making sure anyone not paying full attention pivots on the spot to take in its glorious shape as you blast past. And while the driver inside may be one handsome devil, believe me they’re looking at the car.
One consolation to not personally getting noticed is the enjoyment of one of the more impressive cabins available at the SVR’s very reasonable price point. My tester’s was stunning, with perforated, quilted leather in a classy diamond pattern on the seat and door inserts, contrast-stitched solid leathers elsewhere, plus suede-like Alcantara across much of the dash and headliner, including the sun visors. Carbon fiber surfacing highlighted key areas too, particularly the center stack and lower console, while a tasteful assortment of brushed and bright metals joined tightly woven wool carpets for a decidedly upscale British look and feel.
Jaguar has made big strides in electronic interfaces
While luxury has long been a Jaguar strongpoint, the brand didn’t always earn positives for infotainment. Now it does, with a large, colorful multi-information display housed between the primary cluster’s dual analog dials, the former providing most of the same features as the center display in an easy-to-see, highly legible format, while the just-noted touchscreen gets filled with attractive high-definition graphics and loads of functions including navigation, media, phone/bluetooth, climate, cameras, apps, etcetera, plus Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone integration.
Better yet is the My Dynamic Setup section allowing individual calibration of the drive system. In other words, you can fine-tune the engine, transmission, suspension and steering dynamics to best suit the outside conditions as well as your mood. It’s easy to use and allows for good flexibility, such as choosing quicker engine/gearbox response yet providing a softer suspension setup in order to keep all four wheels planted firmly to the road when negotiating the type of uneven patchwork pavement found on the various mountainside and riverside country backroads I used for testing.
The F-Type SVR was made for winding two-lane country roads
Such circuitous two-laners are what the F-Type SVR was made for, the phenomenal power matched evenly to its lightweight aluminum body structure, chassis and suspension. Turn-in is immediate and the rear wheels track perfectly no matter the speed, with just the right amount of oversteer for a little tail-wagging fun. The big yellow calipers within each 20-inch wheel denote Jaguar’s optional carbon ceramic brakes that work miracles in such situations, slowing the roadster at a more rapid rate for better control overall. This is a seriously capable car when driven in anger. It’s not as easy to control at speed as a modern-day 911 Turbo, at least for a novice, but it’s probably more fun at the limit for those with skills. Then again, the 911 Turbo is significantly quicker off the line, with the SVR closer on pace to the considerably less expensive Carrera S.
The F-Type SVR provides shockingly good value
This said you can get into a 2020 Jaguar F-Type SVR Coupe for just $123,600 ($141,700 CAD north of the 49th in Canada) or $126,700 ($144,700 CAD) for the 2020 F-Type SVR Convertible. That’s a savings of $47,200 ($52,700 CAD) when compared to the new $170,800 2021 Porsche Turbo Coupe ($194,400 in Canada) or a difference of $56,900 ($64,300 CAD) when more directly shopping the drop-top Jag against the $183,600 2021 Porsche Turbo Cabriolet ($209,000 in Canada), plus the British brand is discounting thousands off 2020 F-Types right now. If you’re just seeking performance and can do without the SVR’s exotic look and accoutrements, the just-noted 911 Carrera S can be had for $115,100 ($132,700 CAD), but such cold, dry logic will inevitably lead the conversation to the new mid-engine Corvette, so we’d best just leave this bang-for-buck topic alone.
Changes to the 2021 F-Type might make it the better choice
Also, now that 2020 models are making way for the 2021s, it’s important to factor in the nicely refreshed 2021 F-Type that’s said goodbye to the SVR nameplate (at least temporarily) and hello to the same 575 horsepower engine in an uprated F-Type R. Along with the name change (or performance bump, depending on how you look at it) is a $20,400 price drop for the coupe and $20,800 reduction for the convertible, not to mention much greater price differentiations when comparing the two Porsche models, making either Jaguar worthy of serious consideration.