Back when I was just commencing this fun yet hectic career of being an automotive journalist, I was given the chance to drive a Jaguar F-Type. But it’s far from the usual week-long lend-outs. After all, it was a Jaguar.
It was a rather abrupt encounter but nothing short of fun. We tested the then-new two-door sports coupe at the Clark International Speedway.
No speed limits, no rules, just pure unabridged time behind the wheel of the fiercest cat within the British marque’s lineup. You can probably imagine that fun we had back then. To this day, I still smile whenever I reminisce about the time I went full flat out on the course’s main straight. My grip tightened, back of my head firmly buried on the cushion, adrenaline pumping through my veins – it was pure bliss. Something I’d trade anything to experience again.
Imagine the elation I felt when Jaguar Land Rover Philippines gave me the pass to see the new F-Type in the metal.
The new F-Type is just as captivating in the metal as it was when I tested its predecessor. The clean lines are as purposeful as they should, and there’s no fakery of sorts in its styling. I love the fact that Jaguar kept its clamshell hood configuration for the new model. It’s a callback to the E-Type from the 1960s. A worthy successor to a true classic.
The massive hood revealed a 2.0-liter four-banger, which isn’t the best that Jaguar can offer for this car. I wish I’ve had a glimpse of the glorious V8 that I had a taste in the past. It would have been a reunion I wouldn’t mind.
The reworked cabin here is classier than from what I remember, largely because of the tan upholstery that populates the cabin. But I don’t mind – a sports car with a touch of class will never be wrong in anyone’s book.
Unfortunately, my encounter with the new Jaguar F-Type was just to satisfy my haptic and visual senses, primarily for still captures that you see in this story. I wasn’t given time behind its wheel and feel the same euphoric experience I once had with the model it replaces.
And I’m afraid that won’t happen anytime soon. All of the Jaguar F-Type units in the Philippines have already been spoken for at the time of this writing. That’s within a week of its arrival, mind you.
I’m not surprised. I know that there are many out there who have the same adoration for the furious cat even before its arrival. If only I have the means, I would have joined the cause.
Someday, maybe.