JAGUAR F-TYPE

They don't make 'em like this any more or soon won't. Are we sorry to see it go?

- STEVE CROPLEY

FINAL REPORT WHY WE RAN IT To enjoy Jaguar's last-ever high-performance V8 and to remind us of what we'll be missing out on MILEAGE 6940

This feels like much more than the usual kind of goodbye, when a longterm test car simply goes off to its next owner, to be replaced by something else relevant, and all's right with the world.

The big grey V8 coupé that recently drove off down the road from my house, and disappeared around the corner for the last time, represented a kind of Jaguar motoring that won't be available again, at least not in a new condition from a Jaguar showroom. Jaguar is in the process of ending sales of combustion-engined cars forever, and the F-Type R I've driven for 6500 miles is the last of its type.

When the consequences are as large as this, rather than worrying about the usual niggles - a bit of road noise and an ill-fitting glovebox lid - you find yourself thinking of the things that won't be coming again. And in this case, it's two singular properties of the F-Type R: the very special powertrain and the (to me) even more special mechanical layout.