So the car itself, it’s a 2013 (2014MY) V6S in Salsa red. It has all the essential options such as the Performance Seats, 20” wheels, Meridian sound system, active exhaust, folding mirrors, heated front windscreen and reversing camera, To put some context around my car history, my last 14 cars (with the exception of a Honda S2000) have all been BMW's, the difference in build quality is quite staggering . However this is by far the most fun car I’ve ever had. Speaking of quality, these are the issues I noted after driving the car home 400 miles.
• Headlining on soft-top above drivers head rattles\creaks like hell, you can see the previous owner has stuffed a cloth in the there to try to quieten it down, unsuccessfully. Just needed to tighten the bolts holding the headlining on
• There's a creaking coming from the front wheels when turning at slow speed – Sorted, loose inner arch
• Chassis braces corroded – Removed and power coated in satin black. Rest of the underside undersealed.
• Exhaust valves make a horrible squeaking noise when the car starts up for about 20 seconds - I used high temperature grease on the flaps to resolve this when the exhaust was removed to powder coat the chassis braces. That said, valves are now disconnected
• Drivers door speaker rattles and vibrates as soon as there's some bas - Known issue, not fixed yet, rarely have the stereo on.
• You just about about have to break your thumb to engage cruise control, the steering wheel control buttons really don't work – Buttons replaced when fitting new steering wheel, see below
• Rear camera picture is shocking, even after cleaning it you can hardly see anything, like it's permanently misted – Not fixed yet, required rear bumper removal
• Heated seats take an age to warm up and never get truly hot – Just the way it is…
• Lastly, the roof didn’t open upon collection and definitely took the shine off the collection - Turned out the battery was low even after the 400 mile drive home. Turns out these cars are very sensitive to this, I now use a trickle charger and all good.
So with most items above taken care of, I went about a few minor cosmetic upgrades and maintenance:
• Full Service including LSD oil change
• Supercharger replaced under warranty due to noise detected during service, thank god for the warranty. Also took the opportunity to replaced the coolant pipes, known issue with earlier model
• Wheels powder coated in gloss black
• Brake caliper refurbishment in Salsa red to match and new Jaguar logo
• Birds bike rack fitted
• Replaced worn bronze start button with black button and the dynamic bronze toggle switch replaced with a black one
• New flat bottomed steering wheel, picked up an absolute bargain on eBay. It’s actually heated, but not connected in that way. New control buttons fitted and aluminum paddles
• Gloss black Jaguar and F-Type badges
• Extended Side skirts fitted
• New black wheels bolts
• “Dynamic” Rear diffuser
• Gloss black side vents
• Gloss black roll hoops
• Gloss black bonnet vents
• Chrome air vents from facelift model fitted
• Front splash guards
• Rubber mats
• 15m Eibach wheel spacers
What next? I’d like to wrap the front chrome grill in gloss black to match the rest of the car. I do have a set of Eibach’s lowering springs in the garage, but undecided. Also want to fit rear spring isolators to get rid of the small clunking noise, diagnosed by Jaguar and there is a technical bulletin on this for earlier cars. Otherwise just want to enjoy the car this year.
So in terms of ownership and running costs. Depreciation, the biggest “running” cost with any car, is zero, in fact I think I could probably sell for £2k-3K more than I bought for it. The cheapest V6S on them market now is still more than I paid, like for like. Road tax is around £320 a year, insurance around £400 and I’m averaging about 23mpg. Servicing annually is a pain and relatively expensive because of this. I’m used to BMW’s every two years or 18k miles. Other than the supercharger rattle, the car has been great, but there’s always something niggling at the back of my mind making me paranoid something is going to break or fail, never had this in any BMW. I know a lot of parts in the earlier cars have been superseded over the years as Jaguar refine the build. In terms of the driving experience, it’s no Boxster in the handling department, but it certainly makes up for it in the looks and sound department. I did test drive a 981 Boxster S and whilst it’s very competent, just a little lacking in character and soul. That said, the F-Type still handles really well for a relatively big and heavier than it should be car and a decent amount of steering feel since the earlier cars sill have old school hydraulic steering. Absolutely love how loud the F-type is, first weekend car I’ve never wanted to change the exhaust. Every drive is an event, it feels a very special place to be, roof up or down. It certainly attracts lot of looks and the occasional person coming over to speak about it which I’ve never had before with any other car.
So I plan to keep the car another couple of years. can’t stop looking at V8R and SVR’s. I did drive a V8R AWD for 24 hours a couple of years back and it’s absolutely crazy and let’s be honest, our days of owning these types of cars are limited, so could be the last weekend car I ever buy if I make the jump. Girlfriend now has a dog, so a Coupe would be a good choice to maximize the use of the car, albeit at the compromise of top down motoring. Also slightly attracted to the new Supra.
If anyone is in doubt, this is demonstrates the noise and fun pretty well, filmed on a relatively local road to me
- Any questions let me know.
Some pics:
