CLOSE your eyes and imagine a Jaguar, any Jaguar.

If you are thinking of an almost endless bonnet, skinny wirewheels under wide curvaceous arches and two seats, then you are not in the minority, because the E-Type is probably the most recognisable car to ever wear the roaring-cat badge.

And therein lies a problem for the Indian-owned English car-maker: how do you follow up an act that is widely considered to be one of the all-time greatest sportscars?

Enter the F-Type. The long bonnet is back, and so are the knee-weakening looks with more than a coincidental nod to the past. It has two seats, a soft-top and – with just one stick missing from a capital E – even the name looks similar, but is this 3.0-litre supercharged cat really the spiritual successor to the E-Type?

And competition from its own past wasn’t enough, the F-Type has to go head to head with a handful of other accomplished sports brands - all with their own reputation and history – Porsche and its Boxster and 911 convertible models first and foremost.

Click over to the next page to see what we make of this mid-range F-Type S...

Click here for the full review...