I drove my 2018 base V6 to the dealer today to test drive a 2022 P450R. I very happily drove home in my base 2018.
The growl is gone! The exhaust is so much quieter and seat of the pants dyno the V8 isn’t significantly faster. The new one was also missing to many of the things I already have. The Windsor leather. Cooling of the seats, and the sounds are gone. I’ll keep mine and not spend the extra $$ to lose what I love the most. Very very disappointed in the new one.

 

The sound can apparently be fixed with a fuse pull (not something I've tried yet but cgo has done so on their brand new R to great effect), you can spec the P450 with Windsor leather, and heated/cooled seats are an option just as they have been before. In terms of outright performance, I'm not sure the P450 will feel significantly quicker, given that it is heavier (especially if it was an AWD model you drove) and the power delivery is obviously different, it being a V8, but my take is that Jaguar deliberately detuned to this sort of performance to create a nice split between the base 4-pot and the full-fat R, to replace the now discontinued 6-cylinder models.

There is, however, one thing in the P450's favour and that's what you can do with it with a VAP tune, something that should provide a bit more seat of the pants oomph!

I am ever so slightly biased though, being the owner of an MY21 P450 for 18 months, over here in the UK

 

My whole point of today’s test drive was I thought I might like a V8. But at the end of the day I don’t have to fix mine by pulling a fuse. It came with a growl. Mine already has the Windsor leather and heated/cooled seats. No disrespect for the P450 owners out there, but after the test drive I kept mine because it’s 50k less than what it would cost to have the new one and I like mine better. The missing growl really bothers me too. Plus very soon after the warranty is up it will have the same hp in a lighter package.

 

Nothing wrong with preferring what you already have, I was just curious as to why you mentioned the Windsor leather and heated/cooled seats, as those were options* before the V6 was discontinued so although your car has them, they probably weren't standard fitment - I specced up a P380, prior to ordering my P450, and specced it with the extended leather but left out the heated/cooled option on the seats. I suspect I'd probably also baulk at spending 50k on what is, on the face of it, a fairly minor upgrade if I was in your shoes.

As for the exhaust, well, you're right to stick with what you have if the noise the car makes is a critical factor. Even if you get one of the new cars and pull the requisite fuse (fuse #15 I gather), there is still an extra filter in the exhaust system to control some emissions, so it will never have quite as much bark as the older generation models. I would make a sarcastic comment about 'progress', but I can see both sides of the noise debate (I'm all for noise as an owner, and dead against it as an innocent bystander).

The P450 I have is my first Jag, so I have no prior frame of reference for noise, specs etc, but I know the facelift and the muting of the exhaust have been highly contentious. There is nothing wrong with not liking aspects of the new range.


* factory specs might well vary in the USA compared to the UK where I'm based.

 

I'm a current 16 R owner, love it to bits. And while I am infatuated with the exhaust, I could easily go with a new 450 if I were in the market. Why? Because the rest of the car is an upgrade (horsepower aside, but then again, I can't use all mine much anyway) and I actually like the redesign. And the telematics bring it forward a good bit. Regarding the exhaust, find a fine aftermarket solution and make it as characterful as you'd like. I swapped out the exhaust on my pre-Jag 2012 M3 and the thing wailed like a banshee...would go the same route with a 450.

 

Huh... And I just watched a YouTube video last night that listed the best sounding exhaust notes for each cylinder engine. To our surprise, he used the new F-type for the 8 cylinder section.
Some have said the exhaust gets louder once it "breaks in." But I'm also confused about the Windsor leather and ventilated seats comments. Can't really ask "what Jaguar had done" when those are available as options.

 

I love my V8, however! It is absolutely right no matter what else I have been driving or have been driving lately! It all feels faster, a lot faster than my V8! But the truth is, my R AWD (VAP Stage2 and TCU Update) is significantly faster than what I was driving. If you don't look at the speedometer, you won't notice it! But if GPS is measured or if you keep an eye on the speedometer, or if you make a direct comparison, mine is faster. Feels slower though. It's a strange feeling somehow. But the V8 has such solid power delivery. You can be very mistaken about that.

 

I disagree, My P450 (now VAP stage 1, 613hp), is a beast, and the sound restriction, is simply to resolve by just pulling the f15 fuse.
I had the V6. This P450 is better in all, and without the fuse the sound obviously way better!

 

The car I drove was one the dealer had in stock. My “what have they done “ comment was mainly aimed at the exhaust noise. I felt my sounds better. That was disappointing. Add to that the lack of the nicer seats, heating and cooling and I just couldn’t justify the cost for a car I didn’t think was significantly better than what I already have.
If I was ordering one all that I have and more is certainly available but I still think Jaguar did the F a disservice by stifling the exhaust sound. The kitty has to purr and snarl. Compared to the older ones the new ones aren’t the same.

 

Your perspective is legit and can certainly stand on it's own two proverbial feet.

Mine is a little different. I've noticed the exhaust on my 2022 P450 RD is pretty loud and aggressive...Likely a little less than the 2020 P380 RD I drove in December during my search. Not sure...

But it's pretty vicious. Now that I'm reading there's a fuse (15) I can pull that'll make it even more offensive, Imma do just that.

No one sleeps.....no anymore.

 

613hp going to the rear wheels - epic!

 

Nah, 613 hp at the crank so maybe around 550 hp at the rear wheels.
And with the P450 you can choose between RWD or AWD while the R is AWD only.

 

Cheers, just saw it is an AWD (in the sig). No shame in that, though personally I'd rather the tail happy RWD given that the only ice that is driven on here at the Gold Coast is the kind that is smoked.

 

I preferred the AWD just to stay as similar as possible to the R version. The downside is only the more weight, for the rest you are much safer, the awd is calibrated abundantly on the sport mode. In dynamic mode you do everything or almost like a rwd but with much more confidence. You can always push full throttle without fear. For the rest I think The R is identical, same gearbox also, only the tires are larger in the R and I think this make the gears a bit longer In the R (about 1 %)