BUY BEFORE THEY DIE - Farewell F-Type

A coast-to-coast blast across Spain is a truly fitting send-off for Jaguar's petrol-powered sports car final

- Matt Robinson

AS a tunnel approaches, I shift down a few gears, I double-check I'm definitely in Dynamic mode, and prepare my lugholes for a noisy assault. I don't need to worry about dropping the car's windows, because the Jaguar F-Type P450 I'm driving is a convertible. What comes next is an almost painful V8 cacophony that blasts through the air.

Even with a couple of particulate filters up its exhaust, this F-Type really delivers on the noise front. In some ways, it's better than earlier cars - the pops and bangs of older models weren't compatible with modern regulations, which has left us with a more cultured, and (marginally) less anti-social soundtrack. But it's one that won't be around for much longer.

I'm part-way through a bittersweet road trip, intended to say goodbye not just to the F-Type, but to the concept of the internal combustion-engined Jaguar sports car, too. After this model year, that part of the firm's history will close, with its 2025 electrification target looming. Fitting, then, that the Convertible I'm in today and the R Coupé on the menu for tomorrow are 75 Editions, which celebrate 75 years of Jaguar sports cars, going right back to the XK120 of 1948. Both are now the only V8 F-Type derivatives available.

Winding back the clock a few hours, we set off from the charming Spanish seaside town of Sitges. Just down the coast from Barcelona, this is a smaller, more relaxed sort of place that makes an ideal starting point for the journey, particularly because this quieter location means it's possible to park a bunch of F-Types by the beach, including one that's sitting on the promenade with an XK120. The police come past to have a look, but don't seem hugely fussed. Perhaps they just wanted to check out these dashing machines the drop-tops in the 75-exclusive Gigolo Green do look smashing.