The inevitable Jaguar F-Type Coupe has been caught wearing camouflage on its roof designed to look like a softtop. It’s not fooling anyone, and it isn’t exactly a secret that Jaguar is working on a fixed-head F-Type. Despite debuting as a roadster, the F-Type was first previewed in concept-car form as the roofed C-X16.
The F-type puts the fight to Porsche’s Boxster and Cayman and it will need to offer the same breadth of roof choices. The expansion of the F lineup proves that Jaguar is serious about its sports-car plans.
The F-Type coupe will ride on the roadster’s chassis. Cosmetically, the only difference between the two cars will be the coupe’s sloping, fixed roof. The lid stretches nearly to the trailing edge of the F-Type’s rear deck, giving the car a gorgeous fastback shape that directly apes the C-X16’s look. Even wearing heavy camouflage, the F-Type coupe very clearly slots into the same “rolling sex” category as the roadster. Better still, there’s a pretty good chance the fixed roof will bring additional chassis rigidity relative to the open-topped car. We didn’t notice any flex in our first drive in the F-type, but stiffer is always better.
Expect the coupe to offer the same V6 and V8 engine choices as the roadster, as well as the same ZF eight-speed automatic transmission. The roadster offers three trim levels that are tied to engine output, and we suspect the hardtop will inherit these choices, too. The base model gets a 340-hp, supercharged 3.0-litre V6; the V6 S uses the same six but works with 40 more horsepower; and, finally, the V8 S model charges hard with a 495-hp, supercharged 5.0-litre V8.
