Character. Personality. Soul? Whatever: cars have attributes that make them feel the way they do. The Porsche 911 is the only sports car that feels like a Porsche 911. The Ford Ka – the original one – was the only city car with the vibrancy it had when it was launched. The Mk3 Toyota MR2 was, for me, more engaging than any Mazda MX-5 of the same era. Drive any one today and you will still feel it: character.
And this week, Jaguar proudly said that its new F-Pace SVR is the only car in its class to have a 5.0-litre V8 – and not just that, but with a supercharger, too. And it’s true. Any SVR Jaguar’s character – Project 7, Project 8, F-Pace, F-Type – is defined more than anything by that tremendously appealing (if not very efficient) big engine in its nose.
It defines a lot. The car’s general layout, of course, but also its driving characteristics. Longitudinally mounted and driving most of its power backwards, it gives a car that front-engined, rear-driven balance that I like so much, even when mated to asymmetrical four-wheel drive.
The amount of power and torque it produces pretty much obliges the use of a limited-slip differential. That the engine is big means the wheelbase is, typically, long. And the weights aren’t central, as they are in a mid-engined Ferrari, which changes direction much more quickly and willingly. In a Jaguar, masses are pushed towards the ends of the car, which makes for a bigger and lazier moment of inertia.
The weight in the nose would cause the car to push onwards into understeer in a corner in its steady state, but Jaguar’s engineers work on the dynamics to quell that a little – and the driver can help, too, by getting the entry speed right and trailing the brakes gently towards the apex, which keeps weight on the nose, gets purchase in the front tyres and eases off grip at the rear.
Then you get back on the throttle, the V8 makes a noise like thunder and the car gently starts to move around a little and straighten itself. It’s involving, engaging, alluring. It’s character. Personality. Yes, I’ll say it: soul.
What happens to this, then, I asked Ross Restell, Jaguar’s SV dynamics manager, when you lose the engine? Where does the character come from?
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Has “Electric” been shunted off so no one has to grow up?
Eh? This is a bit of a misplaced and overwrought rant!
I've read plenty of articles in Autocar recently about BEVs, hybrids and the infrastructure needed to support them - they're hardly climate change deniers.
But this is clearly marked as an opinion piece, extolling the virtues of a charismatic car in - shock horror - a motoring website. I'd love a 911, or even a Cayman, but neither is practical enough for an only car. An M340i Touring ticks a lot of boxes, but it's also a near two-tonne car, much like many an SUV.
I've resisted the SUV craze as long as I can, but I'm getting spouse pressure and am f-ing fed up of not being able to see round the other SUVs when moving out of a parking space and the like. So I'm delighted that something like this exists, and gets the seal of approval from Autocar.
Also, taking lifetime environmental impact into account, the current crop of BEVs really aren't all that clean, and that's according to the manufacturers (Volvo/Polestar if memory serves).
Sure, 23mpg is pretty poor, but then so's the 28-ish mpg that the supposedly "MHEV" P400 F-Pace struggles to. And Jaguar's slightly odd pricing structure, standard spec lists and PCP deals actually make the SVR a bit of a bargain in comparison.
Don't do it.
Don’t do it.
Too late, I already did. Expecting delivery around mid-May. Can't wait.
You'd have to have put up a better argument than you have so far to outweigh the points Matt has made in his articles.
Character, personality, soul. Three words that I would not associate with the driver of a V8 SUV.
I am down to just two V8 petrol engined vehicles (used to have four), but I wont be trading them in for an EV.
I think the EV is a one trick pony....the power is there (in some models), but that's it- the one trick! After you have made all your passengers feel sick with neck bending standing starts, what then, (and what has this done to the range too).
The thing about a V8 is the lazy power delivery which makes journeys so pleasurable and stress free. They don't have to be shouty like some JLR product - that can be quite wearing on a long journey. They just perform so well as an all rounder.
The individualism will be gone, and with it personal pride of choice of ownership....cars will be just another 'white good' separated by ever trickier fairy lights and gadgets to schmooze the tech geeks.
I fear that once the entertainment of the ICE engined car has gone, boredom will kick-in and drivers will spend even more time fiddling with the settings in the 'infotainment iPads nailed to the dash, causing monumental crashes