New member looking for my first ever Jaguar

[MikeM]

Just want to say hello. Over the years I have had all manner of brands, British, German, Swedish, Japanese but never a Jaguar. Recently got to drive a couple of P450’s and just loved them. So I’m now looking for a Coupe MY 2020/22, thinking RWD but would AWD be a better proposition? Don’t need it for bad weather driving this will purely be a weekend car but is the drive characteristic clearly better at reasonable speeds or only if pushing it? Anyway nice to be here, already enjoying the vast amount of useful information here.

[Lunar]

With your experience and expected use I’d definitely go rwd.
I’m sure you’d find awd more secure but less involving - the higher speed you need to “feel” an awd car isn’t a good match for road conditions and speed limits in this age.
A P450 is fine in rwd form.

[scm]

Welcome to the forum!

Regarding AWD - bear in mind that it's predominantly rear biased and only engages front drive when the car thinks it'll help you. Not sure about the facelifts, but on the prefacelifts the bonnet vents of the RWD are cunningly situated (near the windscreen) to let water drip onto the injectors and spark plugs (there are threads on here about it). The AWD has the vents further down the bonnet and has rubber covers underneath to redirect water away.

Good luck finding the right car!

[Lunar]

Good point about how awd awd normally is.
Will also project you out of corners more quickly and securely - but sometimes it’s about the drive not the eta.
Each to their own and worth test driving both variants to see which suits you more.

[MikeM]

Thanks for the feedback, did read about the injectors getting soaked and it looks like the vents on all engine variants of the facelift are moved toward the front. What I have already found (when just looking for P450,RWD) Any official dealer car that’s well spec’d with very low miles certainly sells quickly. Enjoying the hunt so far.

[stefan9107]

I'd say the AWD is a good and bad thing. I went for it as all my performance cars had always been AWD, so I didn't have the RWD experience and didn't want to start with a 550HP car. It definitely has saved me from a couple of hairy moments, but at the same time I think those hairy moments were caused by the complacency that comes with knowing you have the extra grip.

[scm]

I've found the AWD to be very effective - there's a corner I regularly take and my previous 2010 XKR could get very "interesting" on it whereas the F-Type is very planted and has never got squirrely there.