Since 1922, Jaguar has been a manufacturer of sports cars, such as the Jaguar XK120, C-Type, D-Type, and E-Type. The brand has been associated with competition, victory, and engines that roar unapologetically. But we're now at a turning point where, in the not-too-distant future, Jaguars will roar no more. To explore this poignant fact, I decided to recap on the final iteration of the Jaguar F-Type, the V8 Supercharged R75 Coupe Plus. 

The Essence of a Sports Car

If you asked a car-passionate child to describe the key factors surrounding a sports car, they would likely reply with a checklist of familiarities. You could expect to hear items and descriptions such as sleek design, aerodynamics, a powerful engine, big wheels, bucket seats, and loud exhaust pipes. 

For over a decade, the F-Type has been Jaguar's sports car. It's ticked every single box on the sports car checklist to qualify—a sporty and sleek design, a potent powertrain, a purposeful driving position, a snarling soundtrack, and above all else, a pedigree of sports car ancestors dating as far back as the 1930s. Trace the F-Types family tree back nine generations, and you'll be rewarded with the most spectacular list of sports cars and racing cars.

Jaguar C-Type and D-Type

Since the 1930s, Jaguar sports cars have resembled spaceships from another dimension amongst a world of beige characterless boxes. The 30s, 40s, and 50s hosted the gorgeous XK120, XK140, and XK150 sport-tourers. In 1951, Jaguar launched the C-Type with 'C' standing for competition. In 1954, the model was succeeded by the 3-time Le Mans-winning D-Type with its iconic single aerodynamic fin sloping back from behind the driver's head. In the 1960s, the E-Type arrived, and Enzo Ferrari described it as "the most beautiful car ever made".

Jaguar's Evolution through the Decades

The E-Type found its home both on the race circuits of the world and on the city streets parked up by rockstar and filmstar owners. The 70s and 80s hosted yet more motorsport icons, including the XJS and XJR models. In the 90s, Jaguar launched the XK8, XKR and a car that smashed the production car speed record - the now-haloed XJ220 supercar. In the early 2000s, the sports cars continued with the re-birth of the XK name, a car so pretty that Jeremy Clarkson described it as being prettier than the God-created Yorkshire Dales on an episode of BBC Top Gear in 2006. In 2013, Jaguar launched its next sports car, in both convertible and coupe form, and it was awarded the name F-Type. Unveiled initially as a concept 13 years earlier at the turn of the millennium, the arrival of the first '-type' sports car since the 1960s was a big deal for the brand, and the car proved to be such a big hit that it is still available to buy 11 years later in 2024. 

The Final Roar

This is the Jaguar F-Type R75 Coupe Plus, and despite being based on a model that’s now over ten years old and powered by an engine initially used in the mid-1990s, it is possibly the most significant Jaguar sports car ever - for one very unfortunate reason: it's the ending to a very substantial story. 

The F-Type R75 is now the final run for not only Jaguar sports cars but also Jaguar sports cars with internal combustion engines. Once production of the F-Type R75 ends, Jaguar sports cars will 'roar' no more.

A Memorable Driving Experience

I took delivery of the R75 on the day I handed back the keys to a performance EV I'd been testing the week prior. I'd come very close by my seventh day of driving the fast EV to concluding that quick EVs might be 'okay' after all. And I continued in that frame of mind right up until the point of hitting the Jaguar's engine start button to awaken the 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine. At the push of a button, the starter motor whirred, and within a second, the engine barked into life and proceeded to growl as if I'd awoken a sleeping predator. A few short moments later, after pulling out of the office car pack and onto the nearby 60-mile-per-hour roads, I was offered a brutal reminder of what ignites and excites me in performance cars: the drama of what powers them. The F-Type R75 provides a symphony of sounds when accelerating. The low grumble of idle is succeeded by a whine from the supercharger. The whine is then masked by the roar and rasp of the exhaust as the speed and rev needles rapidly make their way in tandem around the red-back-lit clocks. When lifting off the throttle peddle, the roar and rasps are substituted for deep rumbles and the occasional crackle, which speaks to the inner child and results in an impossibly hard-to-disguise smile. The soundtrack alone is enough to warrant an unequivocally positive review, and yet it's only one feature making up many others on an extraordinarily special car. 

Ten miles into my twenty-mile commute home from the office, I'd forgotten almost everything I liked about the EV I'd been driving the week before. I didn't second guess my opinion that the EV was still an excellent car, but it didn't make me, the driver, feel special. Whereas the Jaguar absolutely did.

Design and Usability

The F-Type is a worthy platform for carrying forward the '-type' sports car name. It looks purposeful yet agile, and the interior is equally fitting in design for purpose. Any other car maker would describe their two-seater sports car as precisely that, 'a two-seater sports car'—but not Jaguar; the F-Type is a 1+1 coupe. Comforts are plentiful inside the car, with a superb driving position, exquisitely comfortable seats, and a sound system, thanks in part to the small cabin, which is good enough to appease even the most demanding audiophiles. 

Its sleek and long sweeping bonnet houses a genuinely exciting engine that fires all sorts of characterful sounds and tones through a stainless steel exhaust system. The engine, a 5.0 litre supercharged V8, has been tuned and developed, especially for the R75, pushing out a sublime 567 BHP and 700nM of torque. These figures, whilst impressive, are also reassuringly usable on the road thanks in tandem to the all-wheel-drive powertrain. The ZF8 paddle shift gearbox has also been tweaked and tuned to reward a more aggressive and engaging gearshift - BMW's M division could learn a lot from Jaguar in tuning the same gearbox for its M cars. The tweaked engine and gearbox results in a top speed of 186 MPH and a 0-60 sprint in 3.5 seconds.

The R75's geometry and suspension setup offers the perfect 'firm but fair' blend of sporty and engaging attributes while being comfortable and usable for everyday driving. Driver modes are reassuringly simple, with a toggle switch on the centre console allowing you to switch between three modes: a wet/snow mode - prioritising traction and stability, an everyday driving mode - a happy medium for get-in and-go convenience, and a sport/track mode - the most performance focussed mode which rewards a sharper throttle, crisper gear changes and a sequence of open valves in the exhaust system for the most satisfying soundtrack.

Aside from the excitement of the drive, the F-Type holds its own in terms of practical usability, thanks to a spacious 310-litre boot space and plenty of internal storage in the cabin.

A Future without Roar

Despite now being a 10-year-old car, the F-Type Coupe feels just as special today as it did when it first arrived, and the updates and tweaks to the engine, gearbox and chassis help maintain that essence.

When I requested the F-Type from the Jaguar press office, I did so out of intrigue to see if the car was still worthy of consideration, given its age and modern-day competition. I believe it unequivocally is and, if anything, represents excellent value with a starting price of £104,000. What I didn't expect to unearth in my week with the car was a feeling of sorrow when considering the future of the Jaguar brand. 

It has been announced that starting in 2025, Jaguar will cease the production of internal combustion engine cars such as the F-Type. Jaguars will no longer bark into life, crackle through downshifts or whine through the torque band of acceleration. They will instead be silent EVs. Curiously, amidst a flurry of other brands and manufacturers eagerly showing off concepts, early production prototypes, and starting to launch a new wave of EV models, Jaguar has yet to launch or even reveal anything new since the i-Pace came along in 2018. Spokespeople for the brand have repeatedly shared insights of future models being market-leading luxury electric vehicles, but beyond some vague concepts and a very cryptic Instagram feed, there is no clear indication of what's actually coming, how much it's likely to cost or when it might arrive. This is a brave move from Jaguar when the heritage of previous models is combined with the modern-day way in which we, the public, choose and buy our cars.

The Uncertain Road Ahead

What comes next for Jaguar needs to be special, and I don't doubt that it will be. But will it ever be enough when considering the legacy of sports cars, racing cars, and GT cars that have paved the way for the brand since 1922? Only time will tell. 

In the meantime, there is a Jaguar that does bark into life, rewards a feeling of specialness, fits perfectly in the Jaguar sports car timeline, and, most crucially, is available to purchase right now. The F-Type R75 is a genuinely beautiful and inexcusably special sports car offering the perfect blend of practical usability and driver engagement.

If you have been sitting on the fence considering the possibility of owning a Jaguar V8, this is your sign to pull the trigger. Go and get one whilst you still can and embrace the final roar. 

words John Marcar
pictures Henry Falkner-Smith
e-type Jaguar photo by Amy Shore Photography