First Drive: 2016 Jaguar F-Type Manual and AWD

Tel · Feb 8, 2015

Here we go. remember this is written by our Ayemerican cousins that unfortunately must feel bitter that they cannot get their hands on a RWD version <img src="http://www.ftypeforums.co.uk/images/converted_files/smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0" alt="Wink" title="Wink" /><div> <div>I'm nervous, having ordered the new 2016 V8R Convertible, about the EPAS.... <div> </div><div>http:////www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/first-drives/a24920/first-drive-2016-jaguar-f-type-manual-and-awd-models/ </div><div> </div><div>The text:</div><div> </div><div>Jaguar For 2016, Jaguar is making a few updates to the F-Type's lineup. The three big ones you need to know: 1. All four wheels get in on the party. One of our favorite things about Jaguar's V8 sports car was that its rear wheels downright refused to follow its fronts. Apply any throttle at all, and the F-Type turned into an Ikea shopping cart - great traction at front, casters at the back. It was the ultimate English drift machine. It probably tried to kill every one of its 80-year-old buyers. Which, we suspect, is the real reason that the rear-drive hooligan-machine V8 F-Type is dead. So, too, is the low-output 510-hp V8. From now on, if you want an F-Type with a V8 engine, it'll send 550 hp to all four wheels. The F-Type's computer-controlled all-wheel drive system sends power forward via a shaft exiting the side of its ZF 8-speed automatic transmission. It can send anything from no power forward to about half the engine's output, and anywhere in between. Jaguar's made lots of noise about keeping the old car's rear-drive feel, something it's accomplished by favoring rear-drive unless it's necessary to send power to the front. Since the system is predictive, you'll be hard-pressed to spin the rears: in fact, we drove V6-powered AWD F-Types on a wet autocross course and the cars exploded off the line with not a single squeak. On a dry track, the F-Type does indeed send power to the rear on initial throttle applications. That serves to fling the car sideways—and then the system quickly transfers torque forward, pulling the car straight. Unfortunately, the transition is anything but natural, and it doesn't occur when or how you want it to. Getting the all-wheel-drive F-Type to actually drift around a corner takes serious work, huge commitment, and a lot of real estate. And many aborted attempts. The previous rear-drive car might have been a hilarious handful at the limit, but this one is just plain unpredictable. It's safe to say the addition of all-wheel drive has turned the F-Type from a car that did exactly what an experienced driver asked of it into one that does what it wants instead. There's no question that, with all driver aids on, it'll be faster around a race track—and far easier to drive on the street—but it's no longer a trustworthy back-road drift companion. Oh well, looks like we'll have to lust after the V6. Which is fine, because… see point No. 2. 2. A proper manual, at last. Rumor has it that Jaguar put a manual transmission in this sports car not because we journalists moaned about the lack of a clutch pedal, but because dealers reported that real-world customers wanted it. Well, holy synchros, the world hasn't completely gone to hell. For 2016, the F-Type is available with a ZF 6-speed manual on both the 340-hp base V6 model and the 380-hp V6S. The manual is incompatible with all-wheel drive, so don't ask for it. Jaguar claims the manual has a short-throw shifter with "just" 1.77 inches of travel. Uh, seems the development engineers haven't driven a Miata lately. That said, the shifter doesn't have a truckishly long throw - in fact, if you closed your eyes while playing with the stick, you'd swear you were in a BMW. The Jag shares the Bavarian's longish, rubbery feel. That's not a bad thing, especially if you're a BMW fan, but the shifter is certainly no Honda, Porsche, or Miata. The clutch is smooth in its take-up, with appropriate pedal effort. It did seem a bit weak on our V6S test car, however, refusing to clamp down sufficiently after quick shifts. Let's hope this was due to previous abuse and not an inherent weakness. Especially because the new stick-shift Jag is even more fun to fling around back roads than before. Jaguar Jaguar's 90-degree V6 (which, remember, is basically the V8 with the rearmost cylinders unused) is even harsher and more unrefined here than with the automatic. It reminds us of the Nissan VQ37VHR last-generation Infiniti G37, with a beautiful, melodic exhaust n
oise filling the hills and dales, but a marbles-in-a-blender soundtrack inside the car. Solution: put the top down and beat it mercilessly. Showing us that the engineers at Jaguar "get it," there is no stupid auto-blipping feature; you'll have to learn to heel-and-toe all by your big-boy self. And don't think you'll be able to mask your bad shifts with the stereo—the volume control is all but blocked in first, third, or fifth gears. Rightfully so: the addition of that clutch pedal transforms the F-Type V6 into a real driver's car, not a cruise-the-strip machine. Finally. 3. Electric power steering that's up to par. The engineers who play with leaping cats have resisted installing electric power steering in their cars until it was, in their words, "developed far enough." This is one of the many reasons we love Jaguar engineers. WE RECOMMEND Watch Ken Block slide the 2016 Ford Focus RS around We won't go so far as to say that the F-Type's electric setup is better than the old hydraulic - it's not, or even as good as the electric setup in the new XE, but this is a fantastic start. In fact, it's so good that it gives us hope for the future. If EPAS had started out feeling like this, we wouldn't have needed to complain about it these past few years. The weighting is completely natural once you're moving past parking-lot speeds. (It's terribly overboosted for easy maneuvering at a crawling pace.) Low-frequency on-center feel (the wheel coming alive in your hands when you hit things like one-wheeled bumps) is actually present—something we haven't experienced in most EPAS systems. The high-frequency stuff is still missing, though, so you can drive over cobblestones and not feel them in the least. And you won't be able to tell when your right wheel is riding along the white line on the right side of the road. Jaguar's old HPAS was magnificent in on-center feel, and though the new EPAS isn't quite as good, it's better than many (most?) other companies' hydraulic setups. We'll call this a new start for electric assist and hope that it just gets better from here on out. All of the new 2016 F-Type models will be on sale in the summer of 2015.</div>
</div></div><edited><editID>Tel</editID><editDate>2015-02-08 21:19:04</editDate></edited>

First Drive: 2016 Jaguar F-Type Manual and AWD

Tel

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