Hi everyone,

After what seems like an eternity having first placed down a deposit at the Goodwood Festival of Speed when Mike Cross took the camouflaged convertible up the hill I finally have my manual F-Type. I'd always said I'd hold out for the six speed and after *almost* breaking down and buying a used V8S 8AT I held out and have one of the first manuals on the West Coast.

I am delighted with the car and wanted to say hi. I note there are other San Franciscans on the board, so if there are any local drives going on let me know and I'll bring my one out to play.

 

Beautiful! Love the white with the black wheels. Congrats!

 

Looks like my 6MT won't be the first in the Bay Area after all. I can't remember if anyone has one yet in the South Bay. BMC must've had an order slot come up sooner than Cole European. Oh well. I'll settle for first local 6MT Coupe. As best as I can figure mine traversed the Panama Canal into the Pacific two days ago.

 

Cool and congrats!

Just check back here and you'll see when we plan the next ride,a group is planning to come to Monterey next month for Car Week:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...-lunch-145846/

And you look like you could use a front license plate bracket,lol:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...racket-144955/

 

Congrats! Hope to see you around.

 

Thanks everyone! I'm told mine was in the first ten 6MTs delivered in the country and it arrived about three weeks earlier than I was first told. I think I can make the Monterey Drive on the Friday, will have to check and get the day off work but that should be no problem.

Thanks for the licence plate bracket link, I have the factory one in my trunk but was hoping to find a solution that meant I didn't have to drill into my lovely car.

I think i've seen the white R Coupe kicking around the city, if it isn't you then the car is almost identical.

Looking forward to meeting up with some local bay area F type owners. I'm also an infrequent participant in the Road Adventures Drive club, I haven't taken my F out with them yet but have done other drives in my BMW. Highly recommended and very well organised drives in and around Norcal.

 

Thanks for that link Tony,looks like a fun group.

Yes,the beauty of the sto n sho bracket is no drilling and the hole is already there,it takes more time to read the instructions than it does to install it!

 

Congratulations! Only 4 days before I return to the US and pick mine up in Dallas. Impressions of yours, the drive, the clutch and all that when you can, please!

Orkney

 

Looks great and congratulations! I really like the white/red combo!

 

Welcome aboard, and I'm glad to see another convertible in the SF club. Looks like we have similar tastes in colors too.

Not aware of any F-Type specific drives coming up, but there are a number of Jag events through the JCNA. Plus a casual Monterey car week drive coming up (which was apparently already mentioned) that I'd like to join in on, but its during the week.

 

I would agree! Great taste there. Do you have the black pack fitted? Did you have to get that as a dealer fit option? I wasn't able to get it from the factory as it interfered with the red leather pack.

I just joined JCNA but if you ever fancy just going for a drive given we're actually neighbours give me a shout!

 

The gearbox is pretty much as I had expected after reading the reviews. It is not the most precise and the throw is a little longer than I'd like but after a few days of driving it I have got used to it and it is starting to loosen up a bit. The brake pedal is a little higher than that in my BMW and heel and toe changes are taking a bit of getting used to.

The clutch is very light and I was adding far too much gas in the first couple of days and had some very jerky changes. Now I've made peace with biting point and I don't kangaroo down the road like a 17 year old in a BSM Mini Metro.

The car itself is epic. The handling is incredible, turn in is crisp and when you really throw the car into a corner you get a little skip out of the rear end in dynamic mode and even more so in TracDSC. Neither mode feels too lairy and a little blip of the throttle and a dab of oppo and you are back on the line with sheet metal and ego intact.

I am very glad I held out for the 6MT as they've done a fine job of making it feel special and giving the car a sporty edge. If I'm honest I do miss the power of the V8 as my housemate has a 5.0 Supercharged XF that has been breathed on and I got used to that power very quickly but I think I made the right trade off to get the manual.

 

LOL. You must be British...

 

Like you, my car didn't come with the black pack either, but I couldn't stand the body colored vents, side skirts, and mirrors. I considered ordering the parts to do the black pack, but I thought carbon fiber looked better so I took care of it myself. My front splitter, hood vents, side skirts, roll bars, and rear diffuser are all carbon fiber wrapped. The mirror caps and wheels are real carbon fiber.

My eventual plan is to replace all the wrap with real CF parts over time (assuming I find them for a price I'm happy with), but honestly the wrap looks great, and many people cannot even tell its not real CF. Either way it achieves my goal of improving the look and aggressiveness of the car.

I suspect that could be arranged at some point. Plus we have several other locals here in the SF area who I'm sure wouldn't mind joining a small F-Type gathering to do some driving and grab brunch/lunch one of these weekends or something. Of course, there are also a number of local car shows and other events that could be interesting destinations for a more social meetup.

For drives, weekends early in the day are usually best for me, depending on what the wife has planned. I live in the Rockaway Beach area of Pacifica, so I generally enjoy my drives down US 1 and 35/Skyline for the ocean views and the twisties. Skyline is probably my favorite driving road in the area when it isn't foggy, but I suspect there are also nice alternatives around the peninsula area that I'm not aware of. If we were to do another group event, I might like to hit up Alice's Restaurant again too.

 

Same

My dealer said I was the first 6 speed coupe on the west coast since my dealer is one of a hand full of dealers closest to Port Humeme, CA which is the first port after the Panama Canal. I think they were more excited to see it than I was!

 

What are the last 4 digits of your VIN? I'm wondering if mine is close to that first 10.

 

Figured that would give me away. I am from London although have lived here for over a decade now.

 

Correction - K27874 is the last six of my VIN.

 

I'm up for an early morning drive for sure. I took it out this morning down Skyline at about 5.30 with the roof down, heater on full blast and exhaust in full obnoxious mode! What a machine.

 

Enjoy that heel toe action. Hopefully see you around town although I run in stealth mode!