Convertible Sports Car Shootout - Jaguar F-type vs Porsche 911 Targa

This still feels like a sports car test to me. Which is, I suppose, a feat of marketing – and, perhaps, a feat of the fact that cars without roofs are not quite so crippled dynamically as they once were. It’s mostly the marketing, though, I think.

Had Jaguar’s F-type arrived first in coupé form, instead of the roadster  that you see here, would you see it as the F-type sports car? Or would it be the poorer relation? The roadster was bigged up as the new Jaguar sports car when it was launched. “You’ll know within 50 metres,” Jaguar’s people said, “that you’re driving a Jaguar like none before it.”
 

MattDarringer - 7/25/2014 5:21:48 PM

+1 Boost

Hands down: Jag F Type V8 for me. Just as the E Type had the engine in the right place and the 356 had it in the wrong place so it goes with their modern equivalents.

Terry989 - 7/25/2014 6:32:27 PM

0 Boost

The right place for the engine in a true sports car is the middle, not at either end of the pendulum. The front is just as bad as the rear if you want the most neutral balance.

MattDarringer - 7/25/2014 9:10:43 PM

+1 Boost

@Terry989...empirically speaking you're refuted.

Terry989 - 7/26/2014 3:09:04 AM

+1 Boost

As usual, all opinion and blow with zero proof. It's hard to find a single reviewer writing that rear and mid engine cars handle poorly.

poot66 - 7/27/2014 11:30:21 PM

+1 Boost

The problem with mid engine cars isn't that handle poorly it's that they are crap to own and maintain.

Also there are ways to get a 50:50 with front engine cars

mini22 - 7/25/2014 7:46:15 PM

+2 Boost

I don't know. A Vette manages alright with the engine in the front.

Terry989 - 7/25/2014 8:50:12 PM

+1 Boost

I agree - - - and Porsche GT3 and GT2 manage just fine with the engine in the rear. Purpose built race cars are almost always mid engine as are the cars with the fastest ring and track times. Mid is the best place to put it, but not necessarily the cheapest place to put it. Corvette continually toys with the idea of moving to mid engine, but the cost and their market may preclude that happening. Corvette based mid engine Daytona Prototypes are pointing the way - - - an awesome combination.

MattDarringer - 7/25/2014 9:11:25 PM

+1 Boost

Said the Super Beetle fanboy....