British Design Edition F-Type lands in Aus

JAGUAR has “enhanced” its award-winning F-Type sportscar with an exclusive British Design Edition that celebrates the two-seater's award-winning styling and English heritage, priced from $166,650 before on-road costs.

Based on the mid-range F-Type V6 S, the four British Design Edition versions will go on sale in the second quarter of 2016 and share the same supercharged 280kW engine of the standard range, combined with a choice of rear- or four-wheel drive, manual or automatic transmission, and in a Coupe or Convertible body style.

The most affordable version kicks off with the manual rear-drive Coupe and, like all British Design Edition vehicles, adds to the recipe with extra equipment, exclusive interior and exterior embellishments and the top-quality sound system.

Its extra equipment adds $15,270 to the cost of its regular F-Type equivalent, while stepping up to the eight-speed Quickshift automatic version costs $174,900 – $18,520 more than the standard version.

The same customisation options boost the price of the AWD automatic Coupe by $15,480 to $187,560, while the only convertible to receive the British Design modifications costs $17,600 more than the unfettled rear-drive drop-top with automatic transmission at $192,680.

On the outside, the special edition cars can be identified by unique 20-inch Cyclone wheels in Satin Dark Grey, which house red Super Performance Braking callipers – or coloured black as an option.

Front callipers are twin piston at the front end, grabbing 380mm discs, while single piston callipers deal with the 376mm rear rotors.

A Sport Design pack is optional on more orthodox F-Types but is included as standard on the special edition and brings a gloss black front splitter, body coloured side sill extensions and rear vents – a fixed rear spoiler is also available for the Coupe.

Four colours are available for the British Design Edition including Caldera Red, Glacier White, Ultimate Black, while Ultra Blue is new to the F-Type range. British Design Edition badging completes the exterior look.

On the inside, special edition cars get Jet black leather upholstery with a choice of contrasting stitching in Red, Ivory or Remis Blue, and complementary embossed headrests.

Where aluminium adorns the centre console of F-Types as standard, carbon-fibre replaces the metal finishes in British Design Edition cars with a satin finish to match the Jet leather seat texture.

Comfort features are capped off by an enhancement of the InControl Touch information and entertainment system, which is upgraded to the top of the line Meridian sound system with 770 Watts of power and 12 speakers.

Finally, Jaguar has addressed one of the convertible's most common criticisms and has found another eight litres of boot space by “repacking key components at the rear of the vehicle”, with all 2017 F-Type rag-tops getting the extra volume.

The F-Type's designer and Jaguar director of design Ian Callum described the special version as an enhancement of the traditional British sportscar recipe.

“The F-Type is a sports car that excites the senses, with a visual drama that is both individual and very British,” he said. “Creating the British Design Edition gave us the opportunity to subtly enhance the way the F-Type looks – inside and out.”

Performance for the special V6 S variants is unchanged when compared with the donor versions. Acceleration to 100km/h from standstill takes 4.9 seconds for the auto or 5.5 when fitted with the ZF six-speed manual gearbox.

Top speed is 275km/h for all versions and fuel consumption is rated at 8.6 litres per 100km or 9.8L/100km in the case of the automatic.

The rest of the F-Type range offers a broader choice of performance options starting with the 250kW V6 coupe with rear-wheel drive and a manual gearbox for $119,080, rising through the 280kW versions to the supercharged V8, which tops out with the AWD Convertible R for $269,980.

2016 Jaguar F-Type British Design Edition pricing*

Coupe RWD	$166,650
Coupe RWD (a)	$174,900
Coupe AWD (a)	$187,560
Convertible RWD (a)	$192,680

*Excludes on-road costs