In the previous Avalon vs Range Rover post I concluded the Range Rover is a fantastic truck or car and when you have another car the issues are minimized. In this post I’m going to look at the Jaguar F-Type vs the Range Rover. Since Ford ownership Jaguar and Land Rover/Range Rover have been forced to work together in the Premier Auto Group, they were sold together to TATA. Therefore new Jaguars and Range Rovers share engines, drive train philosophy and other bits.
The Jaguar F-Type is hovering around the 30-40k range used and could even be cross shopped as well as added to a Range Rover owners garage. The Range Rover with the 5.0 SC seems faster and quicker in a straight-line than the 3.0L SC 6 cylinder although I’m not sure it’s rated that way. The steering wheels are very similar in terms of the cushion and tactile feel. The paddle shifters are very similar and shifts seem very fast for an automatic, but not quite up to a dual-clutch speed but unlike a dual clutch, shifts are imperceptible from the passenger seat.
I have heard the feedback that the “resting leg” comfort are not great on the F-type but other than that it’s a very nice cabin, that is made nicer by it’s stability. However, the seating is not up to Range Rover 5.0SC levels.
The Jaguar F-Type feels surprisingly solid over bumps and rough roads, I wasn’t expecting it, especially in comparison to the previous two generations of XKR. The car drives better, handles better, the brakes are actually not as good as I thought they would be, the Range Rover 5.0 SC brakes feel just as good in terms of feel. The F-Type is really much better through corners and back roads where Range Rovers go betokening having a lot to a bit too much body roll. I would say the experience of driving the Range Rover 5.0SC is a bit better, in terms of you know you are behind the wheel of something special. However, the hookup, dynamics, steering, and chassis are all excellent in the F-Type.
Over speed bumps the F-type has almost no flex or rattles but it does communicate the road more than the amazing combination of active springs and active shocks that are found in the Range Rover 5.0SC.
Even as a passenger the F-type feels solid and confidence inspiring, whereas the Avalon and Maserati Ghibli feel like they are flexing over rough roads and bumps. The F-Type is just a great offering by Jaguar and I don’t know enough about maintenance on these, I would get a warranty on both the RR 5.0 Supercharged and any 6 or 8 cylinder F-type because of the timing chain issues I and others have faced. But overall an excellent car this is fun to be in and it looks fantastic.
Fun Factor: If you take the Range Rover 5.0SC to the beach, offroad, I think the Range Rover is more fun. Other wise it is close but the Jaguar F-Type is a more fun because of it’s fantastic exhaust song.
I would certainly consider cross shopping F-type if you are single, or you don’t need an SUV. However, I would give a very slight nod to the Range Rover 5.0SC experience on everything except turns and backroads.