F-pace has grace with four-pot engine
Ingenium twin-turbo engine helps Jaguar SUV get the balance just right, writes David Linklater.
Now that the excitement and novelty of a Jaguar SUV is starting to subside, and with it that early-adopter fascination for big engines and big wheels, the F-pace is on a personal development programme.
Previously, the sole fourcylinder turbo-diesel option was the 20d, powered by Jaguar Land Rover’s new 2.0-litre Ingenium engine – a new range of powerplants developed in-house that has finally freed JLR from its reliance on Ford power (the Blue Oval owned Jaguar from 1990-2008).
There’s an Ingenium petrol too, based around the same block. Clever.
Anyway, the F-pace 20d is entertaining enough but very much an entry-level thing: the R-sport version is $8000 less than the turbo-petrol 25t, over two litres per 100km more economical but also two seconds slower to 100kmh.
Until now, the 20d and 25t were your only four-pot F-pace options. Now there’s the 25d, which takes the same Ingenium turbo-diesel engine and adds another blower. The twin-turbo version makes 177kw/500nm, 45kw/70nm up on the 20d and 1.5sec quicker to 100kmh, while sipping only half a litre more fuel for every 100km.
In short, the 25d offers a thoroughly capable dieselpowered alternative to the 25t, which is just as well because they’re the same price. The twinturbo diesel delivers its peak torque 250rpm lower in the rev range than the 20d and the total is actually 50Nm greater than that offered by the hard-charging supercharged V6 petrol. Even if the soundtrack isn’t quite the same.
Sounds like the F-pace might have hit a bit of a sweet spot with the 25d. Jaguar New Zealand is certainly taking all available steps to make sure potential buyers don’t overlook it.
The retail price for the 25d R-sport is $108,000, but there’s an official offer (distributor-backed rather than a dealer thing) at the moment of $99,990, which makes it cheaper than the equivalent 20d.
That sub-$100k price also includes previously optional items such as a package of collision alert, blind-spot and rear-traffic warning technology ($1300), privacy glass ($800) and alloy interior trim inserts ($500). Zero points for the safety stuff Jaguar, as a car of this price and market position should have that equipment as standard anyway.
But you can think of it as a $10k discount or perhaps another turbo for free.
It’s a slick engine and very well matched to the eight-speed transmission. It also banishes the turbo-lag of the 20d powerplant, while maintaining the enthusiastic response between 3000-4000rpm. It gets even more perky-feeling if you fiddle with the Jaguardrive button and activate Dynamic mode.
Jaguar is forever banging on about much F-type there is in this big SUV, which seems a bit tryhard. But there is plenty of sporting character, which is as it should be, because if you wanted a more squishy JLR SUV you could shop over at Land Rover.
The F-pace does have very direct electrically assisted steering, near-perfect front-to-rear weight distribution, a firm bias towards RWD on the tarmac and torque vectoring. The aluminiumintensive structure makes it very rigid, which also helps the handling cause.
You can go further with the $2950 Adaptive Dynamics package, which adds Configurable Dynamics and Adaptive Surface Response to the existing drive modes. But the 25d is highly entertaining as it is.
Indeed, the only model in the segment that stands comparison for driver appeal is the Porsche Macan (Jaguar readily admits it was the main benchmark for its SUV), which costs $125,700 in S diesel form. Although it’s a sixpot, more powerful and quite a bit quicker (0-100kmh 6.3sec).
One area the Macan has traditionally had the F-pace licked is ride, especially when the reference point is one of those high-end F-pace models on monster rims: Jaguar will let you go all the way up to 22in if you want to, which has the potential to overwhelm the adaptive damping that’s standard on the really posh versions.
The 19in wheels on the 25d do look a little undernourished under the F-pace’s high waistline and sleek glasshouse, but also they take it back into contention for a decent handling/ride balance.
Despite the aggressive look, the F-pace is still a pretty practical SUV. The rear seat is split 40/20/40 and the boot is a decent 500-plus litres. The cabin design isn’t nearly as idiosyncratic as the exterior, but there’s still a quietly quality-conscious feel to it.
Comfort and ergonomics are first-rate, but as always with JLR it’s easy to gripe about the specification.
It’s outwardly quite plush, but then you realise equipment that’s standard on vastly less expensive machines is still extra: stuff like adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assistance, 360-degree camera and self-parking.
If you’re a glass-half-full type of person you could argue the special pricing and kit on the 25d takes some of the edge off that argument and gives you extra wiggle room for those options. Add all of the above and you bring the price back up to $108,690. And the F-pace 25d into a very tempting space.