(Tata) Car Of The Year (COTY)

The Jaguar F-type V8 S is quite possibly the most beautiful (useless) car that money can buy.
Also, the $92K base price is not really chump change, but we expect that it will not unduly worry BPites.

You are riding a Tata car, and it is better than roadsters from Mercedes and BMW (see review below). Aamchi Mumbai which hosts Bombay House – the famous bridge of the Tata ship- will be proud.

Background on Bombay House [ref. Wiki]: Bombay House (Tata Sons HQ: 24, Homi Mody Street Mumbai 400 001) is a historic privately owned building in Mumbai that serves as the head office of the Tata Group. The building is a four storey colonial structure built with Malad stone, and was designed by Scottish architect George Wittet, who later became the head of Tata Engineering and
Locomotive Company (TELCO), now Tata Motors. 

The Tata Group is perhaps the only Indian corporate to name its
headquarters after a city where it started its journey. Bombay House,
the global corporate HQ of the $ $106.34 -billion group. At that time,
the group ran four businesses-textiles, hotels, steel and power-under
the leadership of Sir Dorabji Tata, the elder son of group founder
Jamsetji Tata. It was from this Edwardian building that Dorabji Tata
diversified the portfolio into insurance, soaps, detergents and cooking
oil. And it is in this building where the first Indian airline was
conceptualised (1932) and where the largest global acquisition (Corus,
for $13 billion in 2007) by an Indian group was made.

Since its beginnings in the pre-Independence era, the group has come a
long way. It now has over 100 operating companies in seven business
sectors and sells everything from salt to software and tea to telecom.
It has businesses in more than 100 countries across six continents, and
its companies export products and services to 150 countries. Yet, all
key management decisions continue to be made at Bombay House, the bridge
of the ship. The heritage building houses the office of chairman Cyrus
Mistry and all top directors of Tata Sons, the holding company. Core
companies of the group- Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Chemicals, Tata
Power, Tata Industries and Trent-operate out of Bombay House.

Back to the car: It had been a long time since Jaguar built a sports car—some four
decades, in fact. This hiatus came after the company had produced the
SS100 in the 1930s, the XKs in the ’50s, and the E-Types in the ’60s and
into the ’70s. Does the F-Type—specifically the V8 S variant, a noisy
little rascal with a supercharged 495 hp V-8—represent Jaguar’s
triumphant return to the sports-car realm?

“It’s a ton of fun for the money,” said judge Scott
Kimple, “but I own an E-Type, and the design and styling [of the F-Type]
is not quite up to that.” Assessments of the F-Type vis-à-vis the
venerable E-Type are perhaps inevitable but unfair. Better to compare
the new Jaguar to its contemporaries. The F-Type will flatten the little
roadsters from Mercedes-Benz and BMW, the SLK and the Z4. But it cannot
lay a glove on the Porsche 911, except in a price war. The Jaguar’s
suspension feels like marbles on a washboard, yet the 8-speed ZF gearbox
is as smooth and as quick as a Ferrari’s.

SPECIFICATIONS

Configuration: Rear-wheel-drive convertible

Engine: 5-liter supercharged V-8

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Power: 495 hp at 6,500 rpm

Torque: 460 ft lbs at 2,500 rpm

Curb weight: 3,671 pounds

Zero to 60 mph: 4.2 seconds

Top speed: 186 mph

Base price: $92,000
…..

regards