Tinashe Makichi Motoring Reporter
Zimbabweans are well known for their penchant for owning and driving top of the range vehicles from Sports Utility Vehicles to the latest sedans. This have seen some well to do individuals importing the latest models of different makes such as Mercedes Benz, BMW, Toyota, Ford and Isuzu amongst others.
One of the makes that has caught the attention of locals is the Jaguar, which has been holding its own in the local market.
Various Jaguar models have graced the country’s roads over the past few years as Zimbabweans continuously upgrade as more models are being released.
Some of the proud owners of Jaguar vehicles include African Sun chief executive Mr Shingi Munyeza who owns a Jaguar XJ and Prophet Passion Java of Java Ministries, caused a stir when he bought three cars worth $500 000 at Premier Auto that included two Range Rover Vogues and a Jaguar XJ.
Jaguars are a brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer, owned by Tata Motors since 2008.
Of late executives have been jostling to buy the new Jaguar F-Type which comes with a linear delivery of performance, and instant access to high levels of torque at all engine speeds.
The Jaguar F-Type is an all wheel-drive sports sedan, which is a prerequisite for any manufacturer serious about racking up sales in markets where the weather can get frightful.
Jaguar learnt the hard way in places like the American Northeast, where BMW’s xDrive, Mercedes-Benz’s 4MATIC, and Audi’s Quattro AWD systems made the British car maker’s models look ordinary.
That’s not to say that Jaguar is all of a sudden a bigger player in comparison to the Teutonic trio, but its sales exploded when it fast-tracked and retrofitted luxury sedans.
Jaguar recently announced that certain variants of the 2016 F-Type would be available with AWD, too.
The new Jaguar F- Type is powerful, agile and utterly distinctive. A true Jaguar sports car which is the latest in a distinguished bloodline.
Motoring specialist Mr Cosy Marimo said they couldn’t just call it F-Type; they had to make it F-Type.
“F-Type is engineered for high performance and instantaneously responsive handling. Powerful, supercharged engines and a lightning-fast gearbox; lightweight aluminium body construction and an obsession with balance and proportion; a superb suspension and a host of advanced driving technologies; peerless design and a driver focused cockpit.
“Together they produce a uniquely connected driving experience, and a sports car that only Jaguar could create — ultra-precise, powerful, sensual and, most of all, alive3.0 V6 380 (280kW) supercharged Jaguar high performance braking system,” said Mr Marimo.
The Jaguar F-Type has super charged engines where power is delivered from a range of three highly advanced engines 3.0 V6 340PS (250kW), 3.0 V6 380PS (280kW) and 5.0 V8 495PS (364kW).
Each features a roots-type twin vortex supercharger mounted in the ‘V’ of the engine to maintain the power plants’ compact dimensions.
Jaguar is a leader in the field of supercharged induction technology. The advantages of supercharging are clear and compelling.
It provides a linear delivery of performance, and instant access to high levels of torque at all engine speeds, minimising the gap between the driver’s demand for power and the engine’s response.
F-Type’s sports exhaust delivers a crisp note from start up with the promise of performance, building to a race-car inspired crescendo at high rpm and during overrun.
Exhaust is standard on F-Type S and F-Type V8 S and optional on F-Type. The system features active bypass valves which open during performance driving to allow exhaust gases to exit more directly for a deep, dramatic sound. The F-Type S and F-type V8 S have an optional switchable active exhaust that allows manual control of the system, for even greater driver involvement.
F-Type’s quick shift automatic transmission is both lightning-fast and superbly refined, offering the benefits of a double clutch transmission and a conventional automatic without the limitations of either.
Eight closely-spaced ratios keep the engine within its most effective rev range for longer, providing instantaneous response and outstanding driver feedback, while also optimising the engine for both economy and outright performance.
The transmission control system is intelligent and adaptive. It monitors the driving situation together with the demands the driver is making on the car, and responds to provide a truly dynamic experience.
Adaptive software automatically modifies the gear shift strategy, ensuring the right gear is selected for every situation.
Fast throttle-off recognises when the driver is making rapid throttle adjustments, for example during multiple manoeuvres, and automatically holds the gear ratio in anticipation of the next move.
Corner recognition senses when the car is in a corner and holds the ratio ensuring the car is in the correct gear when rounding a bend.
When decelerating and changing down, the speed matching management system matches the engine speed to the gearbox speed, and automatically ‘blips’ the throttle during down-shifts when in Sport Automatic mode, while spontaneous vehicle deceleration enables F-Type to rapidly down-shift under very hard braking conditions.
Dynamic launch mode standard on F-Types applies maximum torque through the gear changes delivering optimum acceleration from rest to 100 km/h.
The driver can, of course, take full manual control of the transmission using either gear shift paddles mounted behind the steering wheel, or the joystick-style Sport Shift gear selector. Once in manual mode, the quick shift system delivers rapid and precisely timed engine torque interventions, creating shorter and crisper sounding gear shifts.
A shorter car is more agile a wider car is more stable. The relationship between F-Type’s length of 4,470mm and width of 1,923mm was precisely engineered to deliver inherent agility and means that the car has outstanding driving dynamics. Its low centre of gravity reduces body roll in corners, while short front and rear overhangs mean that the mass is concentrated within the wheelbase.
These essential factors combine to ensure that F-Type is naturally agile.
Three braking systems are available, each engineered to deliver confident, progressive feel and sustained, consistent high performance.
The front callipers make extensive use of aluminium to reduce the unsprung mass of the car, benefiting both handling and ride refinement.
Each system features large, ventilated brake discs up to 380mm in diameter on the high and super performance systems.
This large swept area improves braking force as well as providing greater capacity for the discs to absorb and dissipate the heat energy generated during braking.
Brake cooling is also enhanced with additional suspension scoops and ducts developed with the assistance of advanced computational fluid dynamics systems.
This channels cooling air directly to the brakes, reducing fade, and helping sustain their performance during extended periods of dynamic driving.