And now we have the answer to the question: What would my British luxury convertible sound like if it were entered in the B-main at Eldora?
现在我们可以回答这样一个问题了:如果让我的英国豪华敞篷车去参加埃尔多拉的B-Main比赛,那么它听起来会是什么样的声音?
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.
没开过?太可惜了。先拿些宣传资料将就一下:我们测试的F-Type型号拥有5.0升增压式V8发动机(495马力、625牛•米扭矩),以前方中置的方式安装在全铝单体结构底盘上,连接着带半自动换挡拨片的一流八速自动变速箱。这台变速箱既可像糖浆般顺滑,又可牢固得像牵狗绳一样紧致,具体怎样还是得看油门和挡位。F-Type的扭矩矢量分配/防滑后差速器也是一样,将使你能够随心所欲地腾起烟雾。你也可以关闭牵引力控制系统,但我没那么做,你也不应该关闭。开这款车你可以为别人抢银行放烟幕弹打掩护。
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,从某些方面来说,也是它的一项新业务。近期捷豹造出了一些非常快的大车,如XJ、XK、XF,但有没有像保时捷911一样中规中矩的紧凑型四门/敞篷跑车呢?从美国流行小儿麻痹症的日子以来就没有过。差不多也就到捷豹XK150吧,也就是1961年左右。有意思的是,F-Type长度为176英寸(4.47米),比XK150差了一英寸(2.54厘米),但要宽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是一个尤物。车身前三分之一的设计严重受制于一些因素:比如V8发动机尺寸、行人安全要求造成的发动机顶盖高度、通风与制冷要求、捷豹格栅设计风格(即单一大弧度线条的视觉形象“down-the-road graphic”)等。坦白地说,F-Type纯粹为欲望而设计,或像是世界上最愤怒的口袋妖怪(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.
该车最大的特色是其侧翼。请注意后轮拱罩前面车门下部的吸入式轮廓,也请注意给人错觉的黑色踏脚板(门下的踏板)。踏脚板控制溅水,控制车底气流,同时又不牺牲腰部的美感。请注意后挡泥板和行李箱盖的严丝合缝。以及怒目而视的尾灯,镀铬的四根排气管。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.
驾驶室就是各种正确选择的组合:内饰沉稳、充满现代气息, LED照明的仪表盘,优雅有质感的用料,比如气候控制面板上用突点橡胶与铝材制成的蒙皮、以及启动键、换挡拨片和动态换挡器上貌似青铜的“Ignis”金属等。皮革运动座椅跟XKR-S的一致,都非常棒。F-Type标志性的夸张之处在它的电动通风口,直接从仪表板上部的圆润斜坡升出,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跑车的一些官方数据:3,671磅(1,665千克,比同档次的保时捷911 S Cabriolet重约136千克);0到60英里(约100公里)时速4.2秒;最高时速186英里(约300公里)。三个指标与保时捷几乎一致。长、宽、高与保时捷相比也相差不大。
Stuttgart, knock knock. Candygram.
斯图加特(Stuttgart),开开门,有人给你送糖果。
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?
到这个时候,我想请普通读者站到一边,让技术派来听我讲它的操控感。感觉是怎样的呢?嗯,和之前说的一样,这还得看动态挡位设在哪儿。变速杆控制台里面有一个巨大的加速挡,你也可以在5英寸(约合13厘米)触摸屏界面上一项项地输入方向控制、悬挂和传动参数,不过干吗要这么干呢?
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.
从理论上讲,作为一款发动机前置的汽车,由于质量的分布和更低的极惯性矩,F-Type在拐弯时应该比发动机后置的保时捷911慢。也就是说,发动机后置的车应该更敏捷、更活泼。
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.
如果看一下两款车在赛道上的遥测数据,我想这话或许是对的,但其影响极其细微。现代悬挂动力学与轮胎设计,几乎已将发动机前置或后置布局所造成的劣势给完全中和了。
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.
不管怎样,F-Type感觉可以跟保时捷911并驾齐驱。前端凌厉,悬架在最初的弯折之后立即恢复稳定,整车呈蓄势待发状。在中速拐弯时,在油门保持稳定并启动转向装置的情况下,依靠20英寸(约50厘米)的Cyclone车轮和运动型车胎,F-Type只管劈波斩浪,蔚为壮观。
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.
总之,捷豹打造了一款跑车,既满足了我们最纯粹的审美、同时又操纵着男性原始思维里最深层的部分。我觉得自己被利用了。
And yet, I'm somehow OK with that.
不过我倒觉得无所谓。