F-Type Dilema. Which one to buy.

R

rogerpaulsen

New member
Hello all my fellow F-Type enthusiasts.  I owned a base model, 2014 F-Type for a few years and then got rid of it because I needed a larger vehicle.  I have regretted that decision ever sense.  Now I've decided to buy another F-Type.  I am looking at two different cars.  One is a 2017 F-Type R with all wheel drive and 44k miles.  The other is a 2018 F-Type 400 Sport with all wheel drive and 32k miles.  I really liked the AWD in my original F-type, so I'm going for that instead of RWD.  My dilemma is, which one should I buy?  I want something quicker than my original, base model F-type, and it has to be convertible...just because I said so.

Can anyone share any experiences or any reason why they would pick one over the other?  I know that inevitably it's a matter of personal preference. I need as much information as I can get to make the decision, but I think I would probably be happy with either one.
 
I'd definitely go for the 400 Sport mainly because I think the V6 is the ultimate engine for the F-Type and a 400 Sport or V6S arguably is the ultimate F-Type. Besides, the 400 is a facelift car with a number of improvements over the pre-facelift car.

But at the end of the day it all depends on what you expect of an F-Type and how you want your F-Type to sound and behave. Both are brilliant options but quite different. Do you want muscle car like V8 rumble with a bias towards straight line performance or do you want the more high pitched raspy V6 scream with less straight line performance but a bit more nimble handling? As you say that's all down to personal preference.

Where and how you intend to drive it also makes a difference I'd say. Red light racing in the US? Mainly British B roads? Autobahn? Scandinavian roads?
 
Short, quick and obvious answer... test drive both, see which one you prefer.

Some will argue there are different handling characteristics between them as far as driving dynamics... I'd argue you won't notice until you get to 9/10th's, which you won't whilst driving at realistic public road speeds. Maybe on a track it might become apparent, but even then I think it's just the journalists and V6 owners looking for something to say to set them apart.
I can't speak to the kit levels of the two cars or anything like that, but the real difference is just going to come down to the engine. The R feels a bit more like a brutish muscle car with that V8 power and torque with the exhaust note to match. The 400 is plenty fast make no mistake, but it won't pull like a freight train that snorted cocaine like the R. This can be good though for the 400, as it will give you more opportunity to enjoy the theatre of the "sportier" sounding exhaust note as you'll hit license losing speeds a fraction slower than the R.

I kind of view it a bit like this... Would you rather have the British classic with the engine from an German muscle car (think 6.2L AMG), or would you rather have the British Classic with the engine from an Italian sports car (yes everyone, I know the engine isn't German or Italian. It's a metaphor).

Speaking as an R owner... I'd take the 400.
 
stefan9107 said:
Would you rather have the British classic with the engine from an German muscle car (think 6.2L AMG), or would you rather have the British Classic with the engine from an Italian sports car (yes everyone, I know the engine isn't German or Italian. It's a metaphor).
Click to expand...

Spot on. Best metaphoric comparison of the two engines I've seen.
 
I'd go for the 400 Sport all day long ;) The 400 is a facelift with lots of toys (and LED headlights) as standard so do compare the interior specs with the R, the VED will be cheaper if it's a MY18, and it looks different as standard with its unique bodykit. I'd still love a V8 as it would be the ultimate noise making machine for a petrolhead. Oh, I almost forgot to add that the 400 is rarer than the R too...

Do you have any links to the cars so we can have a look at both?
 
Thank you everyone for your comments. There are several supposed sports cars that I won't consider because they appear to have been designed only drive in a straight line for a quarter mile. My plan is to get in the car on a nice sunny day, put the top down, get on the road and drive until the sun goes down. It's all about the driving experience. Thank you all for informing me and helping me make my decision.

Drive safe.
 
Didn't realise you were US based until I saw the orange indicator on the 400 sport and then saw the steering wheel.

Drive both. Then decide.
 
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