The all-new Jaguar F-PACE is a performance crossover designed and engineered to offer the agility, responsiveness and refinement that all Jaguars are renowned for, together with interesting dynamics and everyday versatility.
MenStyleFashion had the change to experience the new F-PACE for two days to see what it was capable of on various terrains and different driving styles. This is our technical but most experiential thoughts of the car.
Developed using Jaguar’s Lightweight Aluminium Architecture, the all-new F-PACE combines purity of line, surface and proportion with F-TYPE-inspired features such as the powerful rear haunches, fender vents and distinctive tail light graphics. All of which combine to give the car a feeling of speed even when stationary.
The engine is a 380PS supercharged V6 which had great promise and hype in the time before driving it. Elements such as slender full-LED headlights, forged 22-inch wheels and short front overhang actually made it through from the original drawing of the car all the way through to the final product. This is something that rarely happens in car production.
The F-PACE seats five occupants in absolute comfort. The interior is a perfect blend of premium materials and finishes, detailing, luxuries such as heated, electrically-reclining rear seats, and cutting-edge technologies including the InControl Touch Pro infotainment system and 12.3-inch HD virtual instrument cluster.
The Press Trip in The Cotswolds
On the first evening, we were invited to have dinner with the Jaguar team and get to understand the car more thoroughly by talking with some of Jaguar’s big players. Just like last time at the BMW 760Li launch in Munich, we sat next to arguably the most important person in the production of this car, Ian Callum.
We talked for a good hour before he retired for the night and I distinctly remember what he said about the F-PACE:
“By remaining absolutely true to our design principles the all-new F-PACE is immediately recognisable as a Jaguar. It offers all of the interior space you would expect – and more – but because of our disciplined approach to surfaces, proportions, and purity of line, we have designed what I consider to be the most balanced, most attractive vehicle in its class”
Before I get into what it feels like to drive, I will mention one thing, however strange it may be. The boot/trunk on this car is huge. Seriously huge. Easily the biggest boot I’ve seen on a car of any size. If you’re a golfer, you could fit 10 golf bags in there. If you’re a football coach, you could fit 6 full bags of footballs in there. If you’re a mathematician, the volume is 650 Litres! All of this without compromising comfort and leg-room inside. Truly amazing. Anyway, back to what it’s like to drive.
When you get into the car you feel powerful. You almost feel like it’s going to growl at you as soon as you press the start engine button. The quiet roar of the V6 engine begins and you put the car into drive (we were driving the automatic). Side note: how cool is this gear selector?
The location for the drive was deep in the Cotswolds and I was given around 2 hours of solid driving time on differing terrains and speeds. As I cruised along the motorway section, I really found the car to be extremely smooth and well-balanced. However, as I entered village settings with sharp turns and lots of braking, the car felt overly heavy and sluggish which you can almost expect from an SUV. I was told that the car was actually the lightest in its class compared to the Porsche Macan and other competitors. Bearing this in mind, there had to be another reason why the car felt this way during these manoeuvres. The answer was in weight transfer.
The power of the F-PACE is all found in the back of the car. When the time comes to break to to turn, the power/weight transfers accordingly. So when going straight and then braking, the weight move fairly quickly to the front of the car making it feel really heavy. On turns, this feels like a lot of body roll. It was just something I had to get used to at first.
It’s fairly easy to figure out that the performance of the car is impressive and will certainly be at the focus and praise of most reviews out there. So it should be! But I found another aspect of the car to be far more impressive and actually far more likely to convince me to purchase this car. Technology.
Technology
The tech displayed and featured in this car is nothing short of amazing. The car has the capability to connect with your GPS apps and determine your location before you even get into the car. For example, if you enter your destination into your phone on the way to the car, the car will update its own GPS to match the destination and will be ready to go as soon as you get in.
With four cameras located at each corner of the car, the system can piece together the 4 images and create of full 360 degree birds eye view of the car in real-time. This way, you know exactly how far from the curb you are and you know exactly how much space you have between you and that rock you usually can’t see. It’s an incredibly helpful piece of tech that looks bloomin’ amazing on the display.
I’ll now move onto the heads up display. This Touch Pro System has been developed in-house and is visually customisable just like your own smartphone. The single most impressive feature of the in-car technology is your ability to take the map from the centre screen and move it to your cluster display located right where your odometer and fuel gauge are. As well as looking amazing, it’s extremely practical and effective. It also allows your centre display to be open to control music or any other integrated apps.
A Notable Tech Mention
Something I hadn’t seen in a car until this day was sign recognition. Using the car’s cameras, the computer was able to recognise speed limit signs on the road. This made me very aware of the speed limit on each road. The steering wheel also provides you the option to set a limiter on the car to only drive as fast as the limit for the road. Although this option isn’t the most fun, it’s super helpful on a no-rush Sunday drive.
Coming in at around £40,000, the F-PACE is a car that you’ll truly enjoy if you like tech-filled transport and ease of travel whilst looking like a boss! It’s undoubtedly a beautiful car inside and out and will have no problem capturing the SUV market. It’s no surprise that sales projections see this SUV being Jaguars best-selling vehicle ever.
Want to see what it was like to be a passenger in the car? Check out our Instagram
