Jaguar F-Type SVR review: It’s a £110,000 sports car that you can use everyday and takes the fight to the Audi R8
Mid-life facelift has made minor revisions to the looks of the Jaguar F-Type SVR and it's one of the most usable everyday sports cars on sale
THIS is the car that keeps me playing the Lottery.
If I won just the £111,000 that Jaguar demands for the F-Type SVR – and not a penny more – it would all go on this. In blue.
What separates it from a lot of 550-plus bhp sports cars is it can be used every day.
The Audi R8 also has this quality. The Dodge Viper, for example, does not I know how usable it is because I drove it through Paris in the spring time. Ever tackled the mayhem of the Arc de Triomphe?
It’s like driving in Mumbai.
But despite packing more in the trouser department than a Dream Boy dancer, the SVR purrs at low speeds, eases through tight backstreets and glides over cobbles.
If you’re struggling to see what’s different about the new SVR over the last model, don’t give yourself a hard time – not a great deal has changed.
The LEDs, front and rear, are new and there’s a fresh bumper.
Small nips and tucks here and there have made it lighter, mainly on interior fittings such as the seats.
The driving experience is business as usual – and that’s a great thing. I don’t think I’ve ever driven a car so perfectly balanced, so fine-tuned in every area, it compliments even the most cack-handed of pilots.
The phenomenal off-the-line punch is afforded by 567 horses under the bonnet, thanks to a five-litre supercharged V8.
When you want to pull the pin, the SVR leaps into life, hungrily devouring revs and begging for more on the upshift.
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A limpet-like AWD system hugs the tarmac and refuses to break its embrace, even on neck-aching, second-gear corners or launching from zero on sludgy, greasy roads.
And I don’t need to tell you how good looking it is.
Even the snooty Parisians – who hate car drivers, not to mention ones on British plates – couldn’t help but gawp or salute with a wave and cheer.
I’m off to the corner shop for another lucky dip.