Jaguar E-Pace Review
Picking up the pace in the sporty crossover from Jag!
By Shahzad Sheikh
Click below now to watch my Jaguar E-Pace review on video.
This is the all-new Jaguar E-Pace. It’s an all-new compact SUV or crossover from the famed British premium car brand, which first moved into the SUV segment with the F-Pace (see the review here). But whilst the F-Pace was a Jag platform that Land Rover has now borrowed for the brilliant Velar (review here), the E-Pace is actually based on the Range Rover Evoque platform from Land Rover.
Jaguar are trying to appeal to a younger, trendier more excitable audience with the E-Pace, taking a leaf out of Jeep’s book and adding little surprise and delight details, like a mother and baby Jaguar graphic on the bottom of the windscreen – the E-Pace being the cub obviously. Jag hope that 80% of buyers will be new to the marque.
Initially in our region we get a 2.0-litre 4-cylinder Ingenium engine putting out 250bhp giving it a 0-100kph time of 7.0 seconds and a top speed of 230kph. Later a 300bhp version will also be introduced. The engine is mated to a 9-speed ZF transmission with AWD and Active Drivline – which basically can vary the torque between the front and rear axles and between all four wheels.
Prices range from AED161,000 ($44k) to AED245,000 ($67k). There will be standard, R-Dynamic and First Edition trims available with wheels sizes up to 21-inches and a 15-speaker 825 Watt sound system!
The compact dimensions really work will with the E-Pace styling. It actually does look like an eager little pup ready to pounce. I think it’s more effective than the F-Pace.
And yet it’s surprisingly practical inside – more than you would imagine given its slight size, but obviously tighter in the back and for luggage, than its bigger brother the F. Best for small families or couples, the rear will accommodate adults though, even tall ones like me.
Where it really scores though is the drive, and don’t be put off by ‘only’ 250bhp – thinking you’ll wait for the 300bhp unit. There’s very little in it, and this thing feels genuinely rapid very much in a hot-hatch manner.
In fact this is probably the perfect step-up from someone having to trade in their Golf GTI or Focus RS for something a little more SUV-like. The clever torque distribution system works astonishingly well in keeping the car not only planted to the road, but capable of changing directions with a keenness you weren’t expecting.
Can’t wait to get it on our roads and subject it to a full drive review, but based on this first go at the international launch in Corsica, this is a stylish and impressive new offering that I would definitely pick over the Evoque and several other cool compact SUVs.
