My F-Type Journey: The Car I Never Expected to Own
Sometimes you don’t go looking for the car that changes everything. Sometimes it is simply sitting there, waiting for you.
There are some cars that you admire from a distance.
And then there are cars that get under your skin.
For me, the Jaguar F-Type has always been the latter.
Ever since the F-Type first appeared, I had been obsessed with it. There was something about the proportions, the noise, the presence and, quite simply, the way it looked that made it stand out from almost everything else on the road.
I never really expected to own one, though.
At least, not at that point in my life.
It started with an XE-S
The story of my F-Type actually began with a different Jaguar.
I had gone into a Jaguar showroom to look at an XE-S.
The XE-S made perfect sense for what I needed at the time. It had the supercharged V6 that I was interested in, it was practical enough to use every day and, importantly, it was a car I could realistically see myself living with.
I wasn’t there looking for an F-Type.
But then I saw it.
My F-Type was sitting in the showroom.
And, as these things sometimes do, the conversation changed.
We started talking about the car, what I was looking for and whether there was a way of making an F-Type work for me.
The more we talked, the more the idea stopped sounding completely ridiculous.
And somehow, we made it work.
The purchase of the F-Type was completed.
I had gone into the showroom to look at an XE-S and came out having bought the car I had been obsessed with for years.
Sometimes life works like that.
The moment it became mine
To say I had to pinch myself when I took delivery would be an understatement.
This was the car I had admired since the F-Type first arrived.
Now it was mine.
There is something difficult to describe about that moment when a car you’ve spent years looking at in photographs, magazines and videos suddenly becomes your own car.
It wasn’t somebody else’s F-Type anymore.
It was my F-Type.
And I think that’s when the obsession really became something different.
I wasn’t just interested in the car.
I was living with it.
I’d already had a taste of the F-Type
There was another reason the F-Type had been in my head for so long.
Back in 2017, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a Jaguar event where I had the opportunity to have free run in an F-Type.
That experience stayed with me.
There are cars you drive and enjoy.
Then there are cars that leave an impression long after you’ve handed the keys back.
The F-Type was one of those cars for me.
So when I eventually found myself taking delivery of my own one, there was a sense that something had come full circle.
The car I’d been fascinated by since its launch had finally found its way into my life.
Why I chose the V6
For me, the V6 was the obvious choice.
That might seem strange when you consider the F-Type range and the reputation of the V8, but my circumstances made the decision relatively straightforward.
When I first took delivery, the F-Type was going to be my daily car.
It wasn’t going to sit in a garage waiting for sunny weekends.
It was going to be driven.
Every day.
It needed to be a car I could actually live with, rather than simply admire.
The V6 gave me the performance, character and soundtrack I wanted while still making sense as an everyday car.
And there was something rather appealing about having a car that could be exciting when you wanted it to be, but still function as your main means of transport.
At the time, that mattered.
Then everything changed
Of course, life has a habit of changing the plans we make.
The pandemic changed the way many of us work, and for me it fundamentally changed how much I use my car.
I now work from home, which means the F-Type simply doesn’t need to do the daily miles it once did.
It is still my main car, sitting alongside our family car, but the role it plays in my life has changed.
The irony is that I bought the F-Type when it was going to be used every day.
Now I have the luxury of being able to use it when I actually want to.
And perhaps that makes me appreciate it even more.
The F-Type is no longer just a car
That’s probably the biggest change of all.
When I first bought it, it was my daily driver.
It was the car I got into every morning.
The car I used for the ordinary journeys.
The car that happened to be extraordinary.
Now, because I work from home and don’t need to use it every day, there is more of a sense of occasion when I take it out.
It doesn’t necessarily need to be a long road trip.
Sometimes it’s simply about finding a reason to drive.
A decent road.
Good weather.
A destination that doesn’t really matter.
The F-Type has become something I make time for rather than something I simply use.
And I think there is something quite special about that.
Why I still wouldn’t change the decision
Looking back, the fact that I walked into that showroom intending to look at an XE-S and walked out having bought an F-Type still makes me smile.
It wasn’t necessarily the plan.
But it was the right decision for me.
The V6 suited the life I was living when I bought the car, and it continues to give me everything I want from an F-Type.
Yes, there are faster versions.
Yes, there is the V8.
And yes, I completely understand why people are drawn to them.
But owning a car isn’t simply about choosing the one with the biggest numbers.
It’s about choosing the car that means something to you.
And the F-Type has always meant something to me.
Still obsessed
I think the funniest part of the whole story is that, years after first becoming obsessed with the F-Type, I still am.
The difference now is that I don’t have to look at one and wonder what it would be like to own one.
I can walk outside and see mine.
I can start it.
I can drive it.
And every now and again, I still get that feeling that this is actually my car.
That probably explains why I had to pinch myself when I first took delivery.
And, if I’m honest, I still do occasionally.
I went into a Jaguar showroom to look at an XE-S.
I left with an F-Type.
I’m very glad things didn’t go quite according to plan.
