Same sound – lower tyre costs.

Jaguar has bolstered its local sportscar offering, with a new F-Type engine option.

The characterful British sportscar, will now field a second 5-litre V8, offering less power and performance. Jaguar’s marketing logic is to offer the sound signature of its large-capacity V8 engine, at a more affordable price point.

Enabling this is the F-type P450. It uses a milder version of JLR’s 5-litre supercharged V8, boosting 331 kW and 580 Nm. Those outputs are down from the 423 kW and 700 Nm on offer in Jaguar’s F-Type P575, but the strong V8 acoustics should be equally dramatic with the less power P450 engine.

Like the P575, Jaguar customers will have the option on either an all-wheel or rear-wheel-drive configuration, for the new P450.

Although it is slower than the P575, this new Jaguar F-Type variant is still rapid, in absolute terms. It will run the benchmark 0-100 kph sprint in 4.6 seconds and is capable of a 285 kphtrue top speed.

Jaguar South Africa will be introducing the P450 coupe and convertible derivatives during the second half of this year. For those driving enthusiasts who value the drama of a V8 engine sound, but find the prospect of an F-Type P575’s power potentially overwhelming for most scenarios, the P450 could be a choice solution.

If you fancy the idea of a V8-powered F-Type but don’t want the dilution of all-wheel drive to handle 423kW, the rear-wheel-drive P450 would be an ideal configuration.

ZF’s eight-speed automatic transmission and fully adaptive dampers at all four wheels should make the F-Type P450 a useable V8 sportscar in all road and traffic conditions. The pre-facelift F-Type V8 was a handful in rear-driven format but the introduction of all-wheel-drive, a few years later provided a more balanced driving experience.

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