Living With A Jaguar F-Type V6S AWD: One Month Anniversary

If you’re a regular Car Throttle reader, then you’ll a) be an outstanding human with a wicked sense of humour and b) will know that I’ve been handed the keys to a pre-facelift Ultra Blue F-Type S Coupe AWD British Design Edition. It’s the only car I’d ever buy new, and despite one fault, I stand by that statement.

I’ve just celebrated my one-month anniversary with the car (I have it for three months), after which Jaguar will hand me the keys to a facelifted V8 model for another three months. (F-Type aficionados will also know that an all-new version of Jaguar’s 2.0-litre petrol Ingenium unit, putting out 297bhp has been announced for the F-Type, so maybe we could make that another three months. Just to be safe).

Anyway, let’s answer some of your questions first before I get into the nitty gritty:

Can it go off-roading? (KENMERI)

Possibly. But probably definitely not. We actually have a Vlog coming out soon on the main channel in which I state “if this video gets one million likes, I will personally buy an F-Type and take it off road”.

How much MPG does it give? (Akashneel)

I’m currently averaging 23.5mpg, which I think is pretty fair. My E36 M3 returns very similar numbers. The maximum mpg I’ve seen is around 29 on the motorway.

Can Alex fit in the boot? (Denzloid)

No, we tried yesterday when we went out for a filming day with it.

I would really like to know if you can pull nice big slides like in the rwd version. Because personally, I think that the awd variant just spoils the F-Type experience. This car isn’t about traction, but about fun and foolishness on the road. (DriversDelta)

I’ve not tried to slide this car I’m afraid, but F-Type AWD owner Benjamin Händel responded with the following:

“Since i own an F-Type R AWD i can tell you: it doesn’t spoil anything but makes it a lot more usable, especially in bad weather. You can pull more of its power anytime and still have your slides depending on how you configure your cars settings (ESP / Traction Control, Dynamic/Comfort/WinterAWD Settings etc.).”

Does it have launch control, and if it does how does it compare to other cars of that level? (ferrarman11)

Yes it does. I used it for the first time yesterday and AWD traction shot me off the line really nicely.

Now that’s cleared up, I’ll address the fault that I alluded to above. In completely normal driving (usually below 15mph in town), the car occasionally (once every two weeks roughly) gives me an ‘Adaptive Dynamics Fault’ warning followed by ‘2 Wheel Drive Only Traction Reduced’. I took the car to a very swanky JLR dealer (free cappuccinos, pastries, Wifi, the lot) a couple of weeks ago for a diagnosis, and as is always the case, the fault could not be replicated for it to be investigated. Something was reset, but the problem has arisen again, so the car will have to go back to Jaguar for, I presume, a new Chassis Control Unit (as mentioned by the dealer).

This small issue aside, life with an F-Type is exactly as expected. I love driving the car, I push the sports exhaust button with urgency (because the V6 sounds incredible - the best six-cylinder noise ever?), and long, short and medium-length journeys are always an adventure because people admire the car, want to talk to me about it, and lose their minds when I rev for them.

To my eyes, it also remains the most beautiful new car on our roads, and despite having a small boot (especially with the space-saver slap bang in the middle), there’s enough (ish) space to fit a week’s worth of shopping, especially if you excelled at Tetris as a kid.

I’ll keep you updated with the goings on of F-Type life again soon, but in the meantime if you have any comments or questions about the car and my experience so far, let me know below. In a couple of weeks’ time we’ll also have a cool F-Type video on the main channel so look out for that.