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2018 Jaguar F-Type 2.0T First Drive Review | Less soulful, still sexy

Jaguar is eager to promote its Ingenium turbocharged inline-four as a legitimate object of performance desire, and what better way to do so than drop it into its most desirous car? The 2018 Jaguar F-Type Coupe to this point has featured six- and eight-cylinder engines, all supercharged, but this is the first time that the other type of forced induction has made its way under the F-Type's long, sculpted hood. The new pairing looks pretty good on paper. The 2.0-liter engine's 295 pound-feet of torque is available from 1,500 to 4,500 RPM. It makes 296 horsepower at 5,500 RPM, 44 horsepower shy of the blown V6 model, but weighs 117 pounds less. That's enough to motivate the 3,360-pound F-Type to 60 mph in the mid-5-second range, only 0.3 seconds behind said V6. The 2.0-liter is also a lot cheaper – $8,100 less than a bare-bones V6. That'll probably make the decision for a lot of folks, dropping the base F-Type into a whole 'nother class of sporty two-seaters. I'll posit, however, that the F-Type isn't a raw numbers car. It's a passionate thing that appeals to an emotional part of our brain. Just look at it! The coupe we tested, in Fuji White, was fresh as a mountain stream despite the platform's age. The sheetmetal is, quite simply, most of the appeal. Even the base wheels, 18-inch, 10-spoke alloys, look phenomenal. And since the F-Type 2.0 is sexy, undeniably quick enough to back up its sporting looks, and a significant price savings over a V6, it's almost a killer app. If only the little Ingenium turbo-four was as passionate as the F-Type itself. It's a workaday unit, coarse and gruff. After all, it sees duty in just about everything else Jaguar-Land Rover makes, from the lowly Discovery Sport to the big XJ. Its clattery four-cylinder noises and thrashiness don't jibe with the premium sports-touring vibe the rest of the car exudes. We've gotten used to, if not come to universally love, four-cylinder pony cars like the Mustang and Camaro, but the divergence in character between car and powerplant here is vast. It does the job, sure, but you enjoy the F-Type in spite of its engine, rather than because of it. Low-speed tractability issues don't help things any, whether the engine's charms are important to you or not. An odd combination of boost, driveline shunt, or transmission confusion make low-speed maneuvering jerky, regardless of drive mode. Putz around a mall parking lot or sit in traffic for a few minutes, and it'll be clear what I'm on about.

Stunning Jaguar collection with O.G. E-Type is a museum exhibit all on its own

At what point does a personal automotive collection become a museum exhibit that's just not in a museum? Dr. Christian Jenny blurs the line between the two with his unreal lot of classic Jaguars that includes not only the first E-Type ever seen in public, but also the "Lost C-Type" and what is considered to be Jaguar's first sports car, the 1935 S.S. 90 Prototype. Switzerland-based collector Jenny is selling 12 cars individually through classic car broker Pendine Historic Cars Limited. The collection includes some of the most important Jaguars ever built, nearly all of which have open-air tops. It's so special, in fact, that Pendine has created an entirely separate tab on its website dedicated to the set. The 12-pack includes the 1935 S.S. 90 Prototype, a 1952 C-Type, the E-Type Series I fixed-head coupe (aka "The Geneva Launch Car"), a 1935 S.S. 90 "Captain Black," a 1937 S.S. 100 2.5 liter, a 1938 S.S. 100 3.5 liter, a 1949 alloy XK120 Roadster, a 1950 XK120 Roadster, a 1955 XK140 SE Roadster, a 1960 XK150 3.8 S Roadster, an E-Type Series I Roadster, and a 1972 E-Type Series III V12 Roadster. All of the cars have been beautifully photographed and recorded by Michel Zumbrunn, author of British Auto Legends: Classics of Style and Design. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Though every one of these cars holds heavy significance, the 90 Prototype, the C-Type, and the Geneva E-Type stand to be some of the most noteworthy in British history. The S.S. 90 Prototype is considered Jaguar's first sports car before the company was even called Jaguar. It has a sidevalve 2.6-liter straight-six engine that makes an estimated 90 bhp and has won numerous Pebble Beach Concours awards. For years, this C-Type was floating in the ether and earned the nickname "The Lost C-Type" when it was the only car of the 53 C-Types that was not located. It was raced for numerous years and has since been restored. Any E-Type is highly valuable, as it's largely considered one of the most beautiful cars ever built, but this specific car has extra history. The coupe shape was reportedly hand-built from an open-top model and became the first E-Type ever seen in public. The experimental prototype, chassis No. 885005, was on display at the 1961 Geneva show. Read more detailed accounts for each car and ogle the gorgeous photography, of which each car has plenty, at Pendine. As of now, only the 90 Prototype has an offer.

Child cobalt miners: Automakers pledge ethical minerals sourcing for EVs

BERLIN - Leading carmakers including Volkswagen and Toyota pledged on Wednesday to uphold ethical and socially responsible standards in their purchases of minerals for an expected boom in electric vehicle production. Demand for minerals such as cobalt, graphite and lithium is forecast to soar in the coming years as governments crack down on vehicle pollution and carmakers step up their investments in electric models. To cover its plans for more than 80 new models by 2025, Volkswagen alone is looking for partners in China, Europe and North America to provide battery cells and related technology worth more than 50 billion euros ($59 billion). Talks with major cobalt producers, including Glencore, at VW's Wolfsburg headquarters last week ended without a deal. More than half of the world's cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country racked by political instability and legal opacity, and where child labor is used in mines. On Wednesday, a group of 10 leading passenger-car and truck manufacturers announced an initiative to jointly identify and address ethical, environmental, human and labor rights issues in raw materials sourcing. The partnership dubbed "Drive Sustainability" consists of VW, Toyota Motor Europe, Ford, Daimler, BMW, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo Cars and truckmakers Scania and Volvo. The alliance "will assess the risks posed by the top raw materials (such as mica, cobalt, rubber and leather) in the automotive sector," said Stefan Crets of the CSR Europe business network. "This will allow Drive Sustainability to identify the most impactful activities to pursue" to address issues within the supply chain.Reporting by Andreas Cremer.Related Video: Image Credit: Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images Green BMW Ford Honda Jaguar Land Rover Mercedes-Benz Automakers Toyota Volkswagen Volvo Green Automakers Green Culture Electric Scania ethics mining