Overview

Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 2-door cabriolet body style within the same 'Sports car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (4 x 4 for the Jaguar and rear in the case of the Ford). The first one has a Jaguar-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 8-cylinder, 32-valves 495hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 8-cylinder, 32-valves 421hp engine designed by Ford.

Safety

The fact that the Ford got tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), while the other contender didn't, doesn't actually do much for it, as it's still a lousy 2-star coffin on wheels. Moving further on, let's take a closer look at some additional safety-related facts. Both vehicles belong to the sports car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? On the other hand, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, the American car offers a marginal difference of 2% more metal.

Reliability

Manufacturers have been building their reliability reputation for decades now and, generally speaking, it appears that Ford as a brand displays somewhat better results, when all the models are taken into account. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of Jaguar with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the Ford badge with 4.4 out of 5. Independent research findings rank F-Type as average reliability-wise, and Mustang is more or less at the same level.We should definitely mention that owners of cars with the same powertrain as the British car rank it on average as 3.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 5.0 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Jaguar is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.7 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 300 kilometers per hour, 50km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy an obvious choice would be the British car, averaging around 11.3 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (25 mpg), in combined cycle. That's 20% difference compared to the American car!

Verdict

Ford is apparently more reliable, not too much, but just enough. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the American car offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. From there things take a different direction, with Jaguar outracing its opponent in any situation possible, making it better choice for boy racers. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but Jaguar. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. I suggest you spend two more minutes in order to find out which car, based on your needs and budget, would be picked by the virtual adviser™, among thousands of similar, yet so different vehicles.