At $16,800, Does This 2017 Jaguar F-Type Make The Grade? (2024)

The price tag on today’s Nice Price or No Dice Jaguar is as suspicious as the extremely brief description in the ad. Let’s see if we can make whiskers or tails of this confounding cat.

According to Reddit, the bastion of barely informed hot takes, the least-deserving winner of the long-running CBS series Survivor was the purposefully clueless Jud “Fabio” Birza from 2010’s Survivor: Nicaragua. Per most of you, yesterday’s 2004 Chrysler 300M “survivor” could give Fabio a run for his money. In fact, it was money that proved the 300M’s downfall. Well, that and many of you complaining that it is generally a terrible car. At $8,995, terrible doesn’t really get much traction, and in the end, the survivor Chrysler couldn’t persevere in our poll, falling in a 74 percent No Dice loss.

While it’s not Friday yet, there does seem to be something a bit fishy about today’s 2017 Jaguar F-Type convertible. I mean, I’m not one to cast aspersions willy-nilly, but its price seems suspiciously low, and its description is alarmingly brief. Let’s dig in and see what there is to glean about this domesticated cat.

The F-Type is seemingly Jag’s last hurrah for internal combustion engine sports cars. Introduced a decade ago, the two-seater has been available since then in either closed coupe or open-top roadster bodystyles and, over the years, with three different engine sizes—offering a choice of four, six, or eight cylinders.

This one is the Goldilocks middle child V6, which in itself is a very oddball engine as it’s little more than the larger V8 with two cylinders lopped off. It shares the V8’s 90° bank angle but but with the bores downsized to cap out at 3.0-liters displacement. Despite its odd design, the supercharged engine is good for a solid 335 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque. While a manual transmission and AWD have been made available on the car, this one rocks the ZF Eight-speed automatic and is solely rear-wheel-drive.

Per the ad’s extremely brief description, this is a

Very nice car in good condition, changed oil, filters , spark plugs , tires like new, drives perfectly.

It doesn’t look bad either. The Jag’s lithe lines suit the Caldera Red top coat well. The factory alloys help, too, and appear unscathed of any curb encounters. The tight-fitting cabin has leather and Alcantara seating surfaces and a cartoon bear air freshener that probably doesn’t offer much when the top is lowered. Everything here looks to be in decent condition, with no apparent rips, gouges, or tears. And yes, there are center air vents. They pop out of the top of the dash.

When we get under the hood, things start to get a little funky. The plastic beauty cover atop the engine has two odd areas of discoloration on either side. That could be just be the result of exhaust heat—the engine bay is even tighter than the cabin—or it could be a sign of some sort of leak. To be fair, there’s nothing other than that evidencing any prior mischief, and the seller does claim the car does drive “perfectly.”

Another issue of concern is the missing sassy cat badge in the grille. Was that removed due to an owner’s whim, or was it misplaced in an accident repair? Unfortunately, the car is offered on Facebook Marketplace, which doesn’t require including the VIN, so we can’t run a quick check to look up the car’s history. Most concerning, the ad also omits the car’s title status. Could this car be tainted by a salvage title?

That would go a long way in explaining the strangely low $16,800 asking price. Of course,that could also be explained by this car being a scam intended to lure eager deal-seekers in, only to have them wake up later in an ice water bath in a motel near the highway and missing a kidney. I’m not saying either scenario is true; I’m just asking the questions.

It’s now time for you to ask similar questions and, more importantly, vote on what you think the deal is with this Jaguar sports car and that $16,800 price tag. What’s your hot take on this enigma machine? Does that price seem like a reasonable roll of the dice to learn more about the car—at the very least? Or does that have you thinking that this Jag is a cat that could bite?

You decide!

Facebook Marketplace out of Maple Valley, Washington, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Bill Lyons for the hookup!

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