Whenever we drive a Jaguar F-type, the British two-seater provokes a visceral reaction. We swoon over the exterior, chuckle at the crackling exhaust, and get a rush from the driving experience. But for 2018, Jaguar is putting a four-cylinder engine into its sports car, and that may muddle some of those warm feelings.
In the F-type, Jaguar has tweaked its Ingenium 2.0-liter turbo four to make 296 horsepower at 5500 rpm and 295 lb-ft of torque at 1500 rpm. That’s 56 horses and 44 lb-ft more than what this four-banger turns out in the XE and XF sedans (with peak torque arriving 250 rpm sooner). That’s also startlingly near the base supercharged 3.0-liter V-6, which makes 340 horsepower and 332 lb-ft. Paired exclusively with an eight-speed automatic transmission, the F-type four-cylinder hits a factory-estimated zero-to-60-mph time of 5.4 seconds, a tenth quicker than the manual six-cylinder.
Although the aluminum-bodied F-type is heftier than it appears, the four-cylinder version trims a claimed 114 pounds compared with the base V-6 automatic. The coupe’s factory-stated 3360-pound curb weight lets Jaguar reduce front spring rates by 4 percent and the rears by 3 percent. Weight distribution shifts rearward by one percentage point, to 47/53. Brake-actuated torque vectoring, formerly reserved for all-wheel-drive S and R models, is included as well. From the outside, a single trapezoidal exhaust is this engine’s only giveaway.
The 2018 F-type four...