New Jaguar F-Type Coupé available to order

The most highly-anticipated sports cars in recent memory made its debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show this month, and on first impression the wait for the Jaguar F-Type coupé was well worth it.

The hard-top version of the popular convertible car goes on sale from £51,235 in March. That buys you the entry-level 3.0-litre V6 F-Type coupé with 340hp and sports suspension, 18-inch alloy wheels, sports seats and a sports exhaust as standard.

The next rung up – the F-Type S – will cost £60,235 and adds a limited slip differential and adaptive suspension to the standard package. It's more of a driver's car, then, but the most noticeable addition will be the extra 40hp massaged out of the supercharged V6 engine. Top speed also increases by 10mph to a Porsche-bating 171mph.

Unlike the convertible, coupé buyers will also have the opportunity to own the mighty R-spec version, which develops 550hp from a 5.0-litre supercharged V8. Unsurprisingly, the F-Type R is quite dear, starting at £85,000, but the performance on offer will be staggering. From rest it will dispatch 60mph in four seconds dead before topping-out at 186mph.

While the convertible F-Type can hardly be described as uninvolving, the hard-top offers higher levels on torsional rigidity and therefore sharper handling. Aesthetically, it's hard to favour the convertible over the coupé, too, as the sloping roof is so evocative of Jaguars of old. Both cars, however, share the same howling exhaust note, as well as Jaguar's eight-speed Quickshift gearbox.

If March seems like a long time to wait and a drop-top is more your style anyway, AutoeBid can save you thousands of pounds off the price of a new Jaguar F-Type convertible now. Below are a selection of current new car deals across the range that represent the minimum saving.

Jaguar F-Type Convertible 5.0 Supercharged V8 S              RRP £79,870        AutoeBid Price £72,689

Jaguar F-Type Convertible 3.0 Supercharged V6 S              RRP £67,450        AutoeBid Price £61,368

Jaguar F-Type Convertible 3.0 Supercharged V6                 RRP £58,450        AutoeBid Price £53,196

New car deals & discounts