Jaguar Suvstill onpace
Jaguar has given the F-pace a mid-life refresh, updating and refining its best seller. finds out if the upper-midrange P400 is the pick of the bunch.
The Jaguar F-pace is the bestselling vehicle in the British brand’s lineup, shifting more than a quarter of amillion units across the world since it launched in 2016. That puts it in line for an update and Jaguar has delivered, showering the medium SUV with a fresh interior, updated exterior and a handful of new powertrains.
That looks like the old F-pace?
OK, the exterior hasn’t been hugely updated compared to the rest of the SUV. The styling has been subtly tweaked tomake the car look more imposing and less top-heavy, there are quad LED headlights with Jag’s ‘‘double-j’’ motif and a longer bonnet that stretches down to the grille to eliminate the horizontal shutline of the older model.
Around the back is a new lower bumper and wavy I-pace-style rear lights. More chrome accents dotted around the car round out the major changes. But, to be honest, the F-pace never really needed an external makeover.
The interior’s definitely new though, right?
Definitely. The budget for the F-pace’s facelift looks to be largely divided between the interior and the powertrains.
Headline changes here are the new 11.4-inch curved touchscreen, air-conditioning controls similar to those found in the Range Rover stablemates, a new gear selector and many more luxurious materials.
In fact, the whole cabin feels a lot more ‘‘Range Rover-y’’ this time around, which is to say, superb. It’s hard to get away from the whole ‘‘oh that will break in a few years’’ mindset, though it’s not quite as bad as with the old car and its rising rotary gear selector.
However, given it’s impossible to truly predict such things, best just enjoy the tactility of the new hardware and the PIVI Pro infotainment system, which is far more responsive and easy to use than previous iterations.
Standard kit for the P400 HSE we’ve got here includes ameridian sound system, which is among the loudest on the market. Perfect if your morning commute includes blowing out your eardrums on Van Halen.
Other standard kit includes heated and cooled ‘‘Performance’’ front seats, suede headlining, a digital driver’s display, Windsor leather seats in the back and Jaguar’s full Driver Assist pack, which adds adaptive cruise, rear collision monitor and blind spot assist. No lane-keep assistance though.
A few extra options like red brake calipers, a head-up display, panoramic roof, privacy glass, 22-inch wheels, a gesture tailgate and wireless device charging pushes the price up to $144,450.
You mentioned new powertrains?
If I’m reading the lay of the land right, this is probably the last time Jaguar (or any major automaker, to be honest) will update or launch a model with this many combustion engines.
No fewer than six different engine options are available with the F-pace, starting with the $99,900 entry P250 S and the upspecced $109,900 P250 SE models, which use a 184kw/365nm four-cylinder turbopetrol.
Then there’s the 150kw/430nm four-cylinder turbo-diesel D200 SE ($109,900), the 221kw/650nm sixcylinder diesel D300 comes next in SE ($123,900) and HSE ($133,900) guises while the 294kw/550nm turbo petrol inline six mild-hybrid P400 and the 297kw/640nm turbo petrol four-cylinder PHEV P400e only come in top-spec HSE form, at $135,900 and $149,900 respectively.
Finally, the range-topping F-pace SVR is the only V8-powered option, using Jaguar’s familiar 5.0-litre super-charged V8. It’ll be here later this year, along with the PHEV.
A straight six in a Jaguar again?
Oh, yeah. Boy, this is a gem of an engine. It isn’t necessarily a high revver, making peak power at 5500rpm and peak torque at 2000rpm, but that means the powerband is nice and broad. You’re welcome to stretch the engine out to its redline just north of 6000rpm though it’s more rewarding to shift earlier, to stick in the meat of the torque, of which there is plenty.
But why a return to the inline configuration? There are a few reasons. One is that a straight six is naturally more refined than a V6, another is that they offer more room for forced induction gubbins and beefier electricals, a third is that they can be more easily made modular (carmakers can design one overarching engine, then add and subtract cylinders as necessary) which makes them cheaper.
Bonus: they sound incredible.
All of that applies here, as Jaguar Land Rover has built a twin-charged 3.0-litre straight six (twin-charged meaning turbo-charged AND supercharged) that also incorporates a mild hybrid system.
All F-paces are now all-wheeldrive and they aren’t small vehicles, which means kerb weight isn’t far off the two-tonne mark. And yet the P400 hustles surprisingly well, aided by a predominantly aluminium architecture.
Is it as good as a Porsche Macan? Probably not, but considering you can get the P400 for about seven grand less than amacan GTS...
Any other cars to consider?
Aside from the Macan, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is an option ($144,990), as is THEBMWX3 M40i ($132,300) and the MercedesAMGGLC 43 ($134,899). An interesting alternative would be the Mercedes-benz EQC ($145,700) as well as Jaguar’s own I-pace, though you’re probably looking at the base S version, which starts at $144,900.