In many cultures across the world, the strong cry of a newborn is the sign a healthy, strong baby. A loudness bordering on the intolerable is seen as the mark of a bolder destiny. When the Jaguar E-Pace entered this world, it must have cried thus too. On the way to setting a world record with a 50-foot long mid-air barrel roll, twisting and turning like a corkscrew, anyone would. And thus was born a performance SUV.
Read about the world-record leap of the Jaguar E-pace here.
THE DIMENSIONS: LxWxH 4411 x 1900 x 1649 mm, Boot Space 577 L, Ground Clearance 20 cm
THE SPECS: 2.0L Turbo, 9-speed gearbox, 247 hp and 365 Nm torque, 20” wheels
THE PERFORMANCE on Test: 0 – 100 in 7.0 seconds, Fuel economy 7.9 kmpl
THE HIGHLIGHTS: Sport mode and paddle shifts, Power tailgate, 360 parking assistance with auto-parking, Blind Spot Monitor, Lane Departure Warning, Head up Display, 10” Touch Pro Screen, Wifi Hotspot, SMS reading, Meridian Surround Sound 17 speaker, 14 way driver and passenger seat adjust, Matrix LED, On board TV
THE PRICE: Test car: AED 292,215, Starting from AED 161,700
UPSIDE: Handling, Long drive comfort
FLIPSIDE: Navigation needs update, View in the rear seat
The Design
Jaguar calls both its F-Pace and E-Pace models ‘performance SUVs’. They look like birds of the same feather. The overall compactness, the brief front overhang and the crouching shape of the E-Pace make it look burly. There is a hint of Jaguarian muscle in the rear haunches, too!
The lip spoiler just above the narrow rear glass makes it look like the E-Pace is wearing a golf cap, the other way! The Jaguar logo embedded in blood-red on the honeycombed grille, the darkened 20” alloy wheels, the glimpse of the wide red brake callipers through them… the car looks aggressive enough to deserve the bold R-dynamic badge on the grille. The rear air vents conceal the two circular exhausts on either side while the badge above reads P250 AWD. ‘250’ counts the horsepower, while this Jaguar leaps surefooted on all fours, towards performance records!
The Drive
The 2.0 litre turbocharged Ingenium engine in its alloy avatar doesn’t keep doubts burning in the fiery heart of the Jaguar. 250 PS never felt this abundant, especially for a car that looks muscular and hefty.
If you overlook the occasional sway and swagger, this compact SUV is rather steady and handles pretty much like a sports sedan (for once, the cliché gains meaning!). Corners and tight turns vouch for it and the E-Pace has an exceptional turning radius, too. A sharp steering and the feeling of being in control mark the drive quality of the Jaguar E-Pace. The compact turbo pot is mated to one of the few 9-speed gearboxes in the industry, and believe me, it isn’t another lame line up of never-ending notches. Besides it afforded me almost 8 km per litre on my test.
Driving the E-Pace, you get done with its Turbo-whining early. On take off, the vehicle acts almost as though the hold button is on. Likewise, in very slow moving traffic or during a jam, the car does shuffle a little. But once it moves on, it is surefooted and gathers momentum pretty fast. The midrange acceleration is impressive and even the 8th and 9th gears are not as lethargic as you might expect. Dropping a gear while cruising on top is often good enough to keep climbing smooth.
The gear lever feels good to hold on to, and knocking it to the left and nudging it up or down presents one of the better ways of driving this car – on S mode. I preferred it to the paddle shifts. The E-Pace wisely manages the gearshifts in case you run up the rpm too fast and too furiously, yet not before letting you date the fun at 6000-6500rpm.
Something irritable about the gear lever in the E-Pace was that it was occasionally hard to shift to Drive from Neutral with a casual stroke. However, it was no more a problem than attracting irritated honks at signals and lasted only till I gathered the ‘knack’. Another tip: soft management of initial power is the way to go with the Jaguar E-Pace rather than trying to kick its butt at the start. Thanks to the 20” tires on the top trim, the braking at time was slightly choppy but effective nevertheless. A very useful feature, which I first came across on my UK drives a few years ago, is the safety camera alert. It forewarns you of the permanent radars on the road.
The driving modes are Comfort, Eco and Dynamic, the last of which shows its readiness for a sporty sprint with red lights. There is a Rain/Ice/Snow mode too working for better grip with the all-wheel drive system. The Adaptive suspensions make the drive both comfortable and poised. The ‘performance SUV’ gives the option of switching off traction control and switching on a timer to keep a sporty record. My car, the top trim, was equipped with the start-stop function.
The Cabin and Controls
The first thing you notice on the console is (the absence of) the Jaguar turn dial. A gear stalk is in place but it still doesn’t look that conventional with the leather, the glassy finish and the funky placement of P on top!
The Jaguar E-Pace cabin has a 10-inch touchscreen on which you have navigation, radio, telephone and climate. The screen is less flamboyant than the Range Rover Velar but does the job. The telephone connectivity is smooth and there is a facility to read out your SMS. As with most cars, Voice instructions don’t seem to really work outside of the telephone commands. As for Navigation, some of the commonplace destinations like Dubai Mall were hard to find and even with what was stored, I had to turn to Google Maps a couple of times. Another minor irritant was the positioning of the fire extinguisher cylinder placed right where the front passenger’s heels would be.
Family Drive
The E-Pace qualifies as compact if you consider leg space, headroom, storage room and boot space – all just enough. The dashboard actually has an odd raking angle downwards before tucking the glove compartment further in, which serves two purposes. It affords the front passenger a better view outwards and a little extra knee-room. There is a nice usable net in the front seatback.
While a six-footer can sit in reasonable comfort in the rear along with a medium-sized person in front, he or she could feel sort of shut-off from the world because the seats and the headrest in front block that person’s view ahead. Likewise, the narrow rear glass, the shelf and raised rear headrests can meddle with vision rearwards. The way out is to offer children the middle seat – the tucked in armrest and the seating bump would anyway leave elders restless. Unlike many cars, the rear AC vent is not jutting rearwards – so it’s not that bad back there after all!
The interiors and the leather look pretty comfortable and most material inside are Jaguar class. The seats are nicely contoured and good for long drives too, during which the JLR standard Meridian sound system will keep great company. The 4-cylinder turbo engine makes noise only when asked to be aggressive, and once it settles down in the top gears, the E-Pace is rather calm and silent. Even the wind noise is kept in check. Some might not appreciate the hard plastics, but the Jaguar E-Pace starts at as low as AED 161,000 and the R dynamic actually starts at AED 174,000. You even get a slice of the sky at that price!
The essential Jaguar E-Pace
The E-Pace is not only aggressive but boldly stylish, too. So many women might find a fashion statement and men, an aggressive companion especially in the R dynamic model. While one might contest Jaguar’s claim of calling this a performance SUV, the fact is, at the end of the test drive, its robust handling is what stands out in this otherwise balanced compact SUV.
