2020 Jaguar F-Type debuts with debatable facelift and new tech

The Jaguar F-Type has been fairly popular for its handsome design and borderline-illegal exhaust note. But the Indian-owned British sports car has been growing a little old in the tooth, not even counting the fact that it’s actually based on a shortened XK platform that dates back to 2006. Which is why Jaguar decided to update the 2020 Jaguar F-Type Coupe and Convertible. While the classic platform remains the same, the new models get a better design, more tech and powerful engines but they ditch the manual transmission option.

The original F-Type’s design was in no way mundane. The new one though can be a bit debatable but makes the F-Type even sharper. The new LED Headlamps, now standard across the range, are sleeker. The rear of the car sees redone tail light clusters. The main problem with the design is that the front looks like a squished Jaguar XE now, rather than standing out with its own character.

The interior of the F-Type also gets some updates. There is now a digital instrument cluster replacing the analogue dials in the previous model. The infotainment system gets Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

But the biggest changes are under the hood. The 2020 Jaguar F-Type is powered by a set of 4 engines. The most potent of them all sits in the F-Type R model, the Jag’s trusted 5.0-litre supercharged V8 with updated outputs of 575 hp and 700 Nm. This is enough to power the F-Type R from 0 to 100 kph in just over 3.7 seconds. The same engine is also offered in a lower state of tune, at 444 hp and 580 Nm, which brings the 0-100 kph time up to a little over 4.6 seconds.

For those who don’t need the extremely vocal supercharged V8s, there are other two choices carried over from the current model. The base model of the F-Type gets 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine churning out 296 hp. The 3.0-litre supercharged V6 sits above it with 380 hp on tap.

All engines are mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission as standard, with no other choices. Yes, the manual gearbox of the F-Type is now dead. Though it is not a good business case in the first place, it would have been nice for the troubled Jaguar brand to keep it in the range, especially after promoting “save the manual” hashtags when the stick-shift option was introduced in V6 models about 5 years ago.

Expect the new models to arrive in UAE and GCC showrooms early next year.