SEE ALSO: Jaguar F-PACE Crossover Announced Both rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive should be available. Powertrain options are also likely to carry over from the XE, which means the F-PACE will have a turbocharged four-cylinder and an optional supercharged six-cylinder. The crossover will use the aluminum unibody and modular chassis developed for Jaguar’s new XE entry-level sedan. Seen here in our spy photos, the F-PACE takes its design cues from the CX-17 concept and will be “the ultimate practical sports car,” according to the brand.

For those just dipping a toe into the luxury SUV segment, it's one of the best places to start.Jaguar’s F-PACE performance crossover is getting ready to hit the market. The upshot here is that the E-Pace combines great looks with dandy performance, Jaguar panache, and solid compact crossover utility. I kept things in Dynamic mode, for the most part, dropping back to Normal for highway cruising.

The weather during our test week wasn't lousy enough to stress it. Obviously, this is an SUV, so all-wheel-drive is in the picture. But that's a Thoroughbred coupé - the comparison is sort of silly, and as long as the E-Pace drives sort of like a Jag, then it's mission accomplished. Is it a crossover-cum-sports-car? Nah, the overall dynamics, while bracing, aren't anything like what you might find in a Jaguar F-Type. Our $54,000 tester was basically a second faster than the $40,000 base trim of the crossover. That almost 300-horsepower turbocharged mill send the E-Pace on a brisk dash to 60 mph in just over six seconds, on its way to a top speed of 135 mph. Very quick, and an absolute blast to throw into corners. Yes, it's crammed with all the airbags and driver-assist features modern luxury buyers demands, a bird's-eye park-assist camera view to lane-keep assist to emergency braking, blind-spot detection, and adaptive cruise control.īut what genuinely makes the E-Pace a Jaguar worthy of the brand's long lineage and celebrated DNA is what happens when you drive it in a spirited way. Yes, it can carry two adults and three smaller folks (but ideally just two) in Jaggy style.

Luxury crossovers are doubly important because while SUVs are more profitable than cars, luxury SUVs are way more profitable.Įvery box has been crossed off the list when it comes to the E-Pace. Jag has long been a sports-car-and-sedan marque, and while those rides aren't going away, the market - especially in the US - is demanding crossovers. The E-Pace is now the entry-level Jaguar SUV, and it's a pretty solid first taste of this growing family of vehicles. The F-Pace that we sampled in 2017 was $72,000. The bottom line is that F-Pace is bigger, more beautiful, and better overall - but also much more expensive. Because let's face it, these are basically just large hatchbacks, or lifted station wagons. The question is whether it can consistently translate Jag's storied DNA - Enzo Ferrari named the classic E-Type as the most beautiful car he'd ever seen - to the more awkward genre of the crossover. The big issue for Jaguar isn't that the company can't do SUVs. Now Jaguar has the crossovers it needs to compete head-to-head, segment-by-segment, with BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Lexus. Thus, the smaller E-Pace arrived for 2018. But the insatiable market for luxury crossovers wouldn't be sated by a single SUV with a Jaguar badge on the grille. That's meant stunningly high-performance cars like the F-Type, but also Jag's first-ever SUV, the F-Pace, which arrive for the 2017 model year.ĭesigned by Ian Callum, that vehicle was a stunner.

Since then, Tata has done a marvelous job of keeping Jaguar relevant. It often indicates a user profile.įor most of its dazzling history, dating back to 1935, Jaguar was known for gorgeous cars that were captivating to look at and thrilling to drive.ĭuring the financial crisis, Jaguar and stablemate Land Rover were sold by then-owned Ford to India's Tata Motors. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.

Jaguar f pace crossover