A Monday Morning Drive with the Jaguar F-Type
Many people dread Monday mornings, but how many would look forward to it when they had the kind of Monday I had earlier this month? Instead of the usual virtual meeting, my morning was spent on a drive up to the mountains of Rizal in a Jaguar F-Type sports car.
The British brand unveiled the F-Type to the world in 2013, and, less than a year later, already introduced a refreshed version that managed to make it to the Philippines. There are countless vehicles plying EDSA on a typical Monday morning, but you’d be lucky if you spot a Jaguar, let alone one of its fine two-seater sports cars. So when the invitation to take it out for a leisurely drive was extended, the answer was a pretty quick and easy yes.
Jaguar F-Type: a usable sports car
It was the entry model—the one with a two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, 300 horsepower, 400 Nm of torque—that Jaguar Philippines country manager Chris Ward eased out of the showroom, with me riding shotgun. Even from the passenger seat the car exuded power and sophistication: leather seats, chrome accents, electronically adjustable seats, exquisite detailing.
“The beauty of the F-Type is that it’s a usable sports car,” Chris says as he weaves in and out of light traffic. “We had two ideas about the F-Type. First is we wanted that ease-of-use character. Like when you're driving into traffic, you want a nice, easy ride; you don't want that a car like it's constantly wanting to get away from you, like it’s so eager to go. You want it to be nice and comfortable and compliant.”
He demonstrates what he means on the steering wheel. The car is visibly responsive to the slightest touch or command. Somehow, my slight nervousness at actually getting behind the wheel is tempered knowing that it wasn’t going to be a problem taming this beast.
“But then you can change it into more like the racing side of Jaguar,” Chris adds. “We've got sport mode and we have dynamic mode. It stiffens up the steering, holds gears for longer. So the whole character of the car changes and that's for when you're on roads like we're going to go on now. So when you want a more sporty drive, great. Dial it into the car and it changes its character. Off you go. That's the beauty of F-Type.”
Along Marcos Highway, Chris gives me the Cliff’s Notes version of his career so far. Before Manila he was stationed in places like the Middle East, including in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. He tells me stories of the insanely wealthy who would buy a multi-million peso car, drive it out, crash it, and buy another one just like it like it was nothing. He’s handled other brands, too, mostly others in the luxury and ultra-luxury space. But the focus now, obviously is on Jaguar.
A compliant sports car
After about 40 minutes we stop by a quiet roadside and I finally get the chance to slide behind the wheel of the F-Type. After adjusting the seat and the steering wheel, I put the car into drive and we were back on our way.
Immediately the sensation was one of comfort and familiarity, which was surprising because it usually takes ma a while to warm up to a new car, especially a sports car like this one. But, just like how Chris explained it, the F-Type may only be intimidating to look at but it’s certainly an easy and pleasurable drive.
Up the gentle slopes and through the winding roads of the Marilaque Road, Chris and I chatted some more, mostly about his experiences in the automobile business and about my own job in the publishing industry. Eventually talk revolves around the cars competing against the F-Type in this segment. Other brands are mentioned, but Chris extols the virtues of Jaguar. Outside of the general specifications of a two-door sports car, he says Jaguar hit a sweet spot with the F-Type.
“It's not a very busy market, for a sports car like this,” he says. “Plus, we do a three-liter version of this and then a five-liter supercharged (version). So we range from P6.2 million up to almost P16 million. And if you go for the what they call the SVR, that’s really a very different animal. Yes, it's the same shape and everything else. But that goes up to 575 horsepower and reaches 200 miles an hour, with a lot of specialist stuff on it, including carbon fiber and titanium and all sorts of things.”
Finally we reach a quaint al fresco café just off the road. It had started to drizzle a bit and the landscape of green hills was covered in a light mist. Over a mid-morning meal of tapsilog (for me) and Filipino-style spaghetti (for Chris), we chatted some more about the provenance of the F-Type. Jaguar started with the C-Type, which established the brand in racing. It then moved on to the D-Type, then the E-Type.
Design cues
“And now we are at F-Type,” he says. “So there’s that family, or that lineage. But some of the subtleties are carried over. So when you start looking at the side profile of the car, typically long bonnet, which for E-Type was necessary because we had V-12 engines. And, obviously, this lovely kind of coupe swooping down. You'll see that line carried on in the F-Type.”
After the meal we walk over to the car and Chris points out the lines and silhouettes of the F-Type that hearkens to models past.
“Even in the way that we're swooping around here, all similar lines to the previous car. And also here, these haunches,” he says pointing to the section of the rear. “So all that kind of heritage has stayed with the car, but carried through and just updated.” Chris also points out a nifty safety feature of the car. An airbag is located just under the hood, whose job is to pop up in the unfortunate incident that a pedestrian is hit in the front. The airbag then lifts the hood and creates a sort-of “crumple zone” that significantly cushions the impact for the pedestrian.
“This is aluminum so it will allow a little element of flex,” he says. “So it’s really quite a clever way of protecting pedestrians.”
Finally, on the way back down to the city, Chris engages the sport mode and immediately the shift in the car’s temperament is noticeable. He demonstrates for a bit behind the wheel before we switch and I once again take over driving duties. Down the steep road and along the twists and turns, I finally hit my stride and put the F-Type through its paces. It didn’t take long before we were back on the congested streets of Metro Manila. It wasn’t even 1 p.m. but already I experienced what would prove to be the highlight of my day, and even my week. I soon realized that the biggest hazard about driving a Jaguar F-Type on a Monday morning is that it was going to be all downhill from then on.
