捷豹新跑車直逼保時捷霸主地位(2)
Not sitting in one right now? Poor thing. Here are some factoids to tide you over: Our test car was the F-Type with a 5.0-liter supercharged V8 (495 hp and 460 pound-feet of torque) mounted front-midships in the all-aluminum monocoque chassis and buttoned to an absolutely stellar eight-speed automatic gearbox with paddle shifters, a transmission that could vary in demeanor from syrupy smooth to taut as a strained leash, again depending on throttle delta and where the switches are set. The same is true of F-Type's torque-vectoring/limited-slip rear differential, which will allow you to dial up the tire smoke at will. You can also turn traction control off, but I didn't, and you shouldn't. You could smoke-screen a bank robbery with this car.
沒開過？太可惜了。先拿些宣傳資料將就一下：我們測試的F-Type型號擁有5.0升增壓式V8發動機（495馬力、625牛•米扭矩），以前方中置的方式安裝在全鋁單體結構底盤上，連接着帶半自動換擋撥片的一流八速自動變速箱。這臺變速箱既可像糖漿般順滑，又可牢固得像牽狗繩一樣緊緻，具體怎樣還是得看油門和擋位。F-Type的扭矩矢量分配/防滑後差速器也是一樣，將使你能夠隨心所欲地騰起煙霧。你也可以關閉牽引力控制系統，但我沒那麼做，你也不應該關閉。開這款車你可以爲別人搶銀行放煙幕彈打掩護。The F-Type is a new product for Jaguar, and in some respects, a new business. Jag has lately made some very fast big cars─XJ, XK, XF─but a proper compact sports coupe/convertible, a la 911? Not since the days of polio. Let's stop the clock at the Jaguar XK150, circa 1961. Interestingly, the F-Type is 176 inches long, within an inch of the XK150, but more than a foot wider.
F-Type是捷豹的新品，從某些方面來說，也是它的一項新業務。近期捷豹造出了一些非常快的大車，如XJ、XK、XF，但有沒有像保時捷911一樣中規中矩的緊湊型四門/敞篷跑車呢？從美國流行小兒麻痹症的日子以來就沒有過。差不多也就到捷豹XK150吧，也就是1961年左右。有意思的是，F-Type長度爲176英寸（4.47米），比XK150差了一英寸（2.54釐米），但要寬1英尺（0.30米）以上。
The F-Type is a beaut, all right. The design of the front third of the car was heavily constrained by factors such as the size of the V-8 engine; hood height driven by pedestrian safety requirements; ventilation and cooling requirements; and accommodating Jaguar's grille design, the down-the-road graphic. Straight on, the F-Type looks like pure appetite, or the world's angriest Pokémon.
F-Type是一個尤物。車身前三分之一的設計嚴重受制於一些因素：比如V8發動機尺寸、行人安全要求造成的發動機頂蓋高度、通風與製冷要求、捷豹格柵設計風格（即單一大弧度線條的視覺形象“down-the-road graphic”）等。坦白地說，F-Type純粹爲慾望而設計，或像是世界上最憤怒的口袋妖怪(Pokemon)。It's the flanks that make this car. Note the sucked-in contour at the lower door ahead of the rear wheel arch; note also the eye-fooling black rocker panels (the panels under the doors) that helps control spray and manage underbody aero without compromising that athletic waist. Note the edged-blade fineness of the rear fenders and decklid. The glowering taillamps, the chrome quad tailpipes. Hello, Bishop.
該車最大的特色是其側翼。請注意後輪拱罩前面車門下部的吸入式輪廓，也請注意給人錯覺的黑色踏腳板（門下的踏板）。踏腳板控制濺水，控制車底氣流，同時又不犧牲腰部的美感。請注意後擋泥板和行李箱蓋的嚴絲合縫。以及怒目而視的尾燈，鍍鉻的四根排氣管。主教，您好！The cabin is a parade of right choices: The interior is sober and coolly modern, with LED-illuminated instrumentation and grace notes of materiality, such as the nubbed-rubber-and-aluminum toggles for the climate control or the bronze-like 'Ignis' metal on the start button, the shifter paddles and the dynamics switch. The leather sports seats, the same as in the XKR-S, are terrific. The F-Type's signature bit of drama is its powered climate vent that rises from the smooth slope of the upper dash. Too cool for school.
駕駛室就是各種正確選擇的組合：內飾沉穩、充滿現代氣息， LED照明的儀表盤，優雅有質感的用料，比如氣候控制面板上用突點橡膠與鋁材製成的蒙皮、以及啓動鍵、換擋撥片和動態換擋器上貌似青銅的“Ignis”金屬等。皮革運動座椅跟XKR-S的一致，都非常棒。F-Type標誌性的誇張之處在它的電動通風口，直接從儀表板上部的圓潤斜坡升出，不拘一格。Some official numbers for the F-Type V8 S Roadster: 3,671 pounds (about 300 pounds more than the comparable Porsche 911 S Cabriolet); 0-60 mph in 4.2 seconds; 186 mph top speed. Those last three metrics are practically identical to those of the Porsche. Length, width, height are within fractions of the Porsche's.
F-Type V8 S跑車的一些官方數據：3,671磅（1,665千克，比同檔次的保時捷911 S Cabriolet重約136千克）；0到60英里（約100公里）時速4.2秒；最高時速186英里（約300公里）。三個指標與保時捷幾乎一致。長、寬、高與保時捷相比也相差不大。Stuttgart, knock knock. Candygram.
斯圖加特(Stuttgart)，開開門，有人給你送糖果。At this point I'd ask the general reader to stand aside and let the nerds have the floor while I answer the question, How's it handle? Well, again, depending on where the dynamics switches are set. There's the one big go-fast switch in the gearshift console, or you can use the 5-inch touch-screen interface to dial in steering, suspension and powertrain parameters individually, though why?
到這個時候，我想請普通讀者站到一邊，讓技術派來聽我講它的操控感。感覺是怎樣的呢？嗯，和之前說的一樣，這還得看動態擋位設在哪兒。變速桿控制檯裏面有一個巨大的加速擋，你也可以在5英寸（約合13釐米）觸摸屏界面上一項項地輸入方向控制、懸掛和傳動參數，不過幹嗎要這麼幹呢？Theoretically, being a front-engine car, the F-Type should be slower to rotate in a corner than the rear-engine 911, due to F-Type's distribution of mass and lower polar moment. Translation: The rear-engined car should be more nimble, more lively.
從理論上講，作爲一款發動機前置的汽車，由於質量的分佈和更低的極慣性矩，F-Type在拐彎時應該比發動機後置的保時捷911慢。也就是說，發動機後置的車應該更敏捷、更活潑。I suppose if we were to look at the telemetry for both cars around a racetrack, that might prove true, but the effect would be minimal. Modern suspension kinematics and tire design almost entirely neutralize the penalties of either front- or rear-engine layout.
如果看一下兩款車在賽道上的遙測數據，我想這話或許是對的，但其影響極其細微。現代懸掛動力學與輪胎設計，幾乎已將發動機前置或後置佈局所造成的劣勢給完全中和了。In any event, the F-Type feels like it can match the 911 step for step. The front-end bites hard, the suspension composes itself instantly after initial turn-in, and the car puts a shoulder down. Midcorner, with the throttle held steady and the steering cranked, on the 20-inch Cyclone wheels and sport tires, the F-Type just rips and spits incandescently.
不管怎樣，F-Type感覺可以跟保時捷911並駕齊驅。前端凌厲，懸架在最初的彎折之後立即恢復穩定，整車呈蓄勢待發狀。在中速拐彎時，在油門保持穩定並啓動轉向裝置的情況下，依靠20英寸（約50釐米）的Cyclone車輪和運動型車胎，F-Type只管劈波斬浪，蔚爲壯觀。So Jag has built a car that satisfies our most refined aesthetic senses while manipulating the lowest regions of the lizard-y male mind. I feel so used.
總之，捷豹打造了一款跑車，既滿足了我們最純粹的審美、同時又操縱着男性原始思維裏最深層的部分。我覺得自己被利用了。And yet, I'm somehow OK with that.
不過我倒覺得無所謂。
