It’s time to live vicariously through a manufacturer’s website. That’s right, it’s an RFD build your own feature, this time we are constructing a new Jaguar F-Type R. At this point, we have done hypercars, supercars, and blue collar badass cars. In that order. So this has evolved into as much of an evaluation of the “build your own” website function as it has a fanciful romp. Consumer advice, we has it.
The Jaguar F-Type R, according to the landing page for the coupe, is the “ultimate expression of Jaguar performance supremacy, with supercar levels of performance combined with advanced dynamic technologies”. Cool. With 550 HP from a 5.0 liter V8 Supercharged engine this little cat will hit 60 mph in 4.0 seconds. That’s pretty quick, but what else does a $99,000 starting price get you? Well thankfully it gets you a pretty decent website. After choosing from coupe and convertible, you pick your “Type” (obviously we went “R”) and are greeted with the page below.
Nice. I have built a lot of cars online, daydreaming of the day where they are being built with an actual purchase intent. I enjoy the layout above, you see the car the entire time and you get a nice pop up menu for each item, which sure beats just choosing from a static text menu off to the side. I think I’ll choose a color first.
Two colors costs extra, and they are nationalistic in nature – British Racing Green and Italian Racing Red. For $1500 Jaguar will spray your Type R with those two hues, but I went with a nice, ostentatious orange. If you’re spending $100K on a car (and we will before it’s done) you might as well make sure it doesn’t blend. This bitch needs some new rims.
I cobbled together a quick image of some of the rim options. From left to right, the “stock” 20″ Gyrodyne wheels, for another $1000 the same wheel but with “black and diamond turned” (whatever that means, I like it), the $1500 20″ Cyclone wheel in black, and the OMG WHAT BOX DID I JUST CHECK $12,000 20″ black and diamond turned (there it is again) Storm wheel. But this is really just the carbon ceramic brake package, hence the price. Overall, the names are are a little hokey, I feel like some of those came out a Mr. Tire catalog, but they look nice. In the end, I dropped $1500 for some Cyclones and moved on to brakes.
Interesting, you get red calipers standard, but for $450 they will paint them black. And there’s the super brake package again, but my budget is stretched already from the 2nd mortgage I got to purchase my Jag in the first place, so I’m skipping those for now.
However, I am happy to add the $1200 panoramic roof. I am pretty sure I paid more than that for the package required to get a moonroof in my Focus ST. Check. While I’m at it, I checked off the “Black Pack” which blacks out some brightwork for $400. Nice. On to the interior!
Look at that! That’s pretty isn’t it? Fine English craftsmanship, I want to sit in that seat. And for $1000 to get this nice looking “suedecloth” interior (is that like sort of suede?) I’m in. That pretty much covers the interior (with suedecloth!) as that gets you a headliner made of the same material. For $2500 you can get it all covered in red leather, but in my opinion that makes you one step away from some sort of weird S&M themed Jaguar. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Now on to “Dynamics”, that sounds interesting. But was just a steering wheel. Flat bottomed or normal? Oh I think you know where I’m going with that. *Sings* Flat bottomed wheels, you make the driving world so right!. Sorry. Well at least it didn’t cost me anything. Nice work Jaguar.
The last section was “Additional Features” which, as it sounds were some features that you could addition to your F-Type R. Outside was a power lift gate (this isn’t a minivan), heated windshield, inside the car were some sort of app thing, and an illuminated kickplate. My favorite group was the generic “accessories” section which had the most British thing I have seen all day, an umbrella holder for the trunk.
That just happened! Sign me up. Although, in the rain, I’m mildly inconvenienced that I have to pop the trunk (or power it upward if I chose that option) and run back there in to get my umbrella. But it’s a sports car, not a Rolls Royce.
And what’s this? Snow socks? Is that a thing? Apparently it is, and Jaguar will sell them to you (is that by the pair, or what?) along with a “snow traction system” aka “chains”. I do actually really like that they seem to be willing to help out the poor sucker who buys a 500hp RWD coupe in the snow belt. But I digress, here’s the summary of our cat.
- Exterior Color -Firesand Metallic
- Wheels -20″ Cyclone Wheel – Black $1,500
- Roof – Panoramic Glass Roof $1,200
- Brakes and Calipers -Jaguar Super Performance Braking System, Red calipers
- Black Pack – $400
- Seat – Performance Seats in Suedecloth with Suedecloth Interior Pack
- Trim -Suedecloth Interior with Cirrus Contrast Stitching
- Console Finisher – Center Console – Dark Technical Weave Aluminum with “R” Graphic
- Headlining – Suedecloth Upper Environment -$550
- Carpets – Jet Carpet
- Seatbelts – Jet Seatbelts
- Pedals – Pedal covers – Stainless Steel
- Suedecloth Interior Pack – $1,000
Interior Total $1,550
- Sport Exhaust – Switchable Active Sport Exhaust
- Steering Wheels – “R” Steering Wheel – Flat Bottomed Leather
- Dynamic Mode – Configurable Dynamic Mode with ”Dynamic-i” information displays
Base cost: $99,000
Configured options: $4,650
Final price: $103,650
So that’s our F-Type R, bright orange, black wheels, suedeish interior. I want one. How does Jaguar’s configurator stack up to others in the business? Pretty well, I liked the layout, it was easy to use and graphic heavy. I could see all of the options appear on the car, a pet peeve of mine, and could envision what it might be like to actually go shopping for a $100,000 Jaguar. How will the F-Type R stack up to competition from Porsche, with the class establishing and leading 911? And how about new competition from Mercedes in the AMG-GT, which we think is the natural competitor of the F-Type R? Time will tell, but we definitely want to get on the test drive list to find out for ourselves.
Header image: Motorward
