Jaguar F-Type: On sale 20th April 2013

But that’s set to change this month with the new Jaguar F-Type officially going on sale on 20th April (in the UK, at least), when Jaguar are expecting many of the thousands of ‘Expressions of Interest’ in the F-Type to turn in to confirmed orders. And so they should.

From an initial scepticism about Jaguar’s seemingly ‘premium’ pricing of the F-Type, we eventually concluded it was nothing of the sort. In fact, for what’s on offer, it’s something of a bargain – the F-Type is comparable to the Aston Martin Vantage but at half the price.

Even the entry-level F-Type comes with a supercharged V6 offering 340PS and a 0-62mph of 5.1 seconds and costs under £60k. True, you will have to venture deeply in to the options list for stuff like Performance leather seats (that’ll set you back a tidy £2k – £3k if you want the premium leather around the cabin too), but it’s still a lot of car for the money.

Perhaps the big seller will be the F-Type S that gets a beefier version of the V6 S/C with 380PS and can get to 62mph in 4.9 seconds. Yes, it’ll cost you £67.5k but you will get more performance and fun and more equipment too.

But the stellar F-Type (at least until the F-Type R arrives) is the V8 S, a proper sports car with a supercharged V8 engine good for 510 PS and a 0-62mph in a scant 4.3 seconds. It gets more equipment and a better noise, even if it will set you back from £80k.

First customer F-Types should arrive in time to get some summer sun (assuming we get some summer sun).

By Cars UK