THE CAT WITH THE CREAM

Inside and out, Jaguar’s E-Pace has the compact SUV segment licked

Nothing can stop the E-Pace becoming the most popular Jaguar in Australia from the moment it goes on sale in early March. It could be an awful vehicle in every way but the fact it’s a not-too-expensive compact SUV from a premium brand guarantees it will pull in customers like a Dyson vacuums up fluffballs.

The E-Pace, it turns out, is far from terrible. It has a very good looking interior that’s also spacious and practical. The exterior is sportySUV done well in unmistakeable Jaguar style. It’s fun to drive and well equipped with safety and infotainment tech.

Prices for the very extensive range open at $47,750. This is more than $10,000 less than the base-grade XE sedan that’s currently the most affordable thing in the Jaguar catalogue.

Jaguar didn’t bring the least costly E-Pace variant to the vehicle’s international presentation on Corsica last week. Instead it shipped the most exciting versions to the French island in the Mediterranean.

The $70,226 R-Dynamic S with P300 engine we sampled is the fastest, most powerful and sportiest-looking E-Pace of all. But it’s far from being the most expensive …

With its new compact SUV, Jaguar is adopting the naming regimen of sister company Land Rover. Above basic E-Pace, the S, SE and HSE grades spell steps up in luxury.

But customers first must choose which engine they want.

There are five – two turbos producing 183kW and 221kW and three turbo diesels delivering 110kW, 132kW and 177kW – all from the Jaguar Land Rover-designed and Brit-built family of 2.0-litre fours.

For Australia, the E-Pace is coming only with a nine-speed automatic and all-wheel drive.

The next choice to be made is between the regular and R-Dynamic exterior styles. The latter adds a sportier front bumper and grille, twin exhaust tailpipes, paddle-shifters on the steering wheel, and more. R-Dynamic also adds from just under $5000 to a little over $6000, depending on model, to the price of an E-Pace.

With five engines, two exterior styles and four equipment grades, the result is a sprawling and potentially confusing range. And the topofthe-range version is costly. The R-Dynamic in HSE trim with the powerful 221kW engine is $83,733 before options.

No need to spend that much. The R-Dynamic in S grade with the same engine, sampled on Corsica, was very likeable, despite wearing a price-tag better than $13,000 lower.

The E-Pace makes a very positive first impression, even if the nose seems bulky. Its interior design draws on themes seen in Jaguar’s F-Type sports car, and the simple curves of the instrument panel work really well.

It’s the least costly Jaguar of all yet the cabin of the E-Pace looks and feels higher quality than the bigger and more expensive XE and XF sedans and F-Pace SUV.

The wide and crisp centre screen is the shop window for the latest generation of Jaguar Land Rover’s infotainment technology. It’s easy to navigate and backed by good computing power.

There’s no Apple Car Play compatibility at launch. This shortcoming will be fixed later in 2018. The interior is fitted with a usefully large centre console box and there are charging points, both 12V and USB, all over the place. The driving position is high and the front seats are comfortably supportive.

The three-place rear seat has enough knee and headroom for tall adults. Behind the folding backrest is a 577L cargo compartment, bigger than that found in most other premiumpriced compact SUVs.

Jaguar deliberately chose to give the E-Pace a sporty driving flavour. The stiff suspension needed to make it go around corners confidently means that it lacks the smooth and supple ride comfort that was once the brand’s trademark.

The top-spec petrol engine is really strong for a compact SUV. The E-Pace is too high and heavy to have the agile handling of a hot hatch but it sometimes sounds like one with this engine under the bonnet – rev it past 4500rpm and there’s a nice rasp from the twin exhausts.

With Jaguar curves on the outside and one of the brand’s better interiors, the new E-Pace poses a real challenge to established players in the premium compact SUV segment. These include the ageing Audi Q3, the younger BMW X1, the coming Volvo XC40 and even Land Rover’s own Range Rover Evoque.

Among this crowd, the E-Pace stands out for the right reasons. Count on it boosting the number of Jaguars on Australian roads.