Jaguar F-Type Gets Four-Pot Engine

Downsizing is apparently a necessary evil in today’s automotive world. No manufacturer (except probably Lamborghini) has been able to escape the wave of downsizing, having to come up with a replacement for displacement. Jaguar are no different, plonking their new Ingenium engines under the hood of the XF and XE luxury saloons. More recently, the F-Pace crossover also fell prey to downsizing.

You would think Jag would have to stop at that since larger cars like the XJL and the gorgeous F-Type simply don’t go well with puny four-bangers. You would find yourself to be wrong as Jaguar have indeed made a new four-cylinder F-Type. So now you have a choice between the V8 (that sound!), the V6 (still fast enough), and the Ingenium 2.0-litre turbocharged inline-four petrol motor (reserving judgement). The Ingenium-laden F-Type is incidentally Jaguar’s first four-cylinder sports car.

The new engine in question makes 296 hp and 400Nm from 1500 RPM. All the specs help the F-Type reach the ton in 5.7 seconds with a top speed of 250 kph. Now you would argue that the V6 is faster and the V8 much more so. But in real life, 0–100 kph under six seconds is proper fast. And for how long are you going to hold on to 250 kph in India before a cow decides to total your car? Also, all variants of the F-Type look the same, so you would still be arriving in absolute style wherever you go.

The difference is apparent to the keen eye, and the ears. While the V6 has “a wide range of intoxicating sounds” (as per Jeremy Clarkson while reviewing the F-Type) and you just cannot argue with a supercharged V8 roar, the tiny Ingenium is unlikely to be the aural pleasure the other two are. Sure, Jaguar have integrated a trick active exhaust and revised the intake, making the car sound louder than it actually is. Sometimes you just need a big-bore engine to satisfy your needs of tailpipe drama. The four-cylinder F-Type gets a single central exhaust as opposed to the twin central pipes of the V6 and those ultra-sexy quad pipes of the stonking V8.

Also, one of the factors differentiating the smallest F-Type from the bigger ones is the size of the tyres. The V6 and V8 F-Types look absolutely proportionate wherever you look at them from, and you can have them with 20" rims. The four-pot has to make do with 18" or 19" options.

So there you have it. A beautiful car with a tiny engine that may not have the growl of the V8, and is a little bit more fuel-efficient than its big-engined variants. If it sounds like your kind of ride, Jaguar is selling the coupe for ₹90.93 lakh and the convertible for ₹1.01 crore, pan-India. We’d still take the V8 any day though.