Jaguar F-type P450 RWD

A European road trip puts our grand touring coupe in its element

- Richard Meaden

WHEN I FIRST SAT DOWN AT MY LAPTOP W way back in March of 2021 and opened the Jaguar Land Rover configurator to spec what turned out to be KN71 LWR, I did so dreaming of taking our future Fast Fleet F-type on a long road trip.

I didn't know where that trip would be to, but I knew that if I was to appreciate what this car is all about - and do justice to what is, in all probability, Jaguar's last combustion-engined sports GT - it needed to be beyond our shores.

It took a while to materialise, but that trip came in the form of a recent jaunt to Switzerland to visit family. It's a journey Mrs M and I have done on countless occasions. Many times by car, but more often by plane, as I somewhat ashamedly confessed in my column in evo 302. This time around, with airports in chaos and cheap flights apparently a thing of the past, it didn't even take Man Maths to decide it would be cheaper, less stressful and far more enjoyable to jump in the Jag.

With no kids to cart around, an impractical two-seater is a fine way to slice through Europe. The F-type's boot is a reasonable size, but the depth tapers due to the rakish fastback styling. You can just about fit a couple of carry-on cases in there if you push them right up against the rear bulkhead, but anything else needs to be slim or squashy if you're to make the most of what space there is. The almost total lack of stowage space in the cabin doesn't help.