Jaguar rallies to create E-Pace baby-SUV
When it came to jumping on the SUV bandwagon, it was inevitable that Jaguar would make the leap (sorry about that).
After all, a powerful SUV perfectly suits its ‘‘space, pace and grace’’ mantra. So it proved with the debut of the F-Pace, a vehicle that has become the fastest-selling model in the company’s history – more than the rest of its cars combined.
While there may be lingering complaints of a brittle ride (particularly on New Zealand’s coarse chip road surfaces), the F-Pace is undoubtedly a proper Jaaaaag, worthy of those extra vowels that denote a properly good motor.
Of course that success meant that there would be more Jaguar SUVs. So now we have the barelyan-SUV all-electric I-Pace due later this year.
And we recently slogged our way to the other side of the planet, via a half-submerged Paris, to get to the gorgeous paradise of Corsica to try the all-new E-Pace smallSUV on the island’s wonderfully tortuous roads.
Quite a few of those roads make up the iconic Tour de Corse, one of the halo events of the World Rally Championship (except for those few years it wasn’t).
Why launch a small SUV on legendary rally roads? Well, why not? Especially as Jaguar is pushing the E-Pace as one of those most frustratingly indecipherable of things, a sporty SUV.
To this end, as opposed to sporting design cues from the F-Pace or forthcoming I-Pace, the E-Pace attempts to blend F-Type sports car looks into a small SUV body shape.
We have to say that the result isn’t actually all that successful. While the E-Pace is a handsome enough thing – with some truly lovely details – from a distance it simply melts into a generic blob
Can Jaguar’s urban-SUV handle Corsican rally roads? Damien O’Carroll finds out.
that lacks the graceful presence of a proper Jaaaaag. Still, on the inside, it is every bit a modern Jaguar, with a beautifully made interior that also echoes the F-Type sports car with its low grab handle on the centre console and wrap-around cockpit that encircles the driver.
The E-Pace is based on the same platform as the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport, meaning it is a transverseengined front-driver at its heart.
As such, a variety of drivetrains and power outputs are available across a choice of petrol and diesel turbo four-cylinder Ingenium engines, from a manual FWD diesel right through to a highpowered petrol AWD with a seriously clever ‘‘active’’ drivetrain.
The New Zealand range will be exclusively AWD, with a mix of diesel and petrol: the former will come in both D150 S and D180 R-Dynamic S models at $69,990 and $79,990 respectively, while the petrols span four different models in two outputs, from a P250 S at $74,900 to the range-topping R300 R-Dynamic SE at $89,990.
Due to an administrative blunder, we weren’t given access to a diesel-powered model on the launch, so we stuck with the P300 R-Dynamic.
The P300 is powered by the most powerful version of JLR’s new petrol four-cylinder Ingenium engine that pumps out an impressive 221kW of power and 400Nm of torque, hooked up to a nine-speed automatic transmission driving all four wheels.
The 2.0-litre twin-scroll turbo engine is a smooth and powerful thing, feeling more like a smaller six than a turbo four, even managing a pleasingly gruff six-ish growl under heavy acceleration.
The perilously narrow and tightly winding mountain roads of Corsica highlight not only the engine’s strong power delivery and the nine-speed auto’s slick responses, but also the nicely nimble chassis and surprisingly pleasant steering feel (it’s an SUV after all, so we weren’t necessarily expecting nice steering).
The AWD system in the P300 is JLR’s extremely clever and effective ‘‘active’’ setup that uses two independent electrically controlled wet-plate clutches on the rear axle, as opposed to a differential.
This means that 100 per cent of the torque can be transmitted to either rear wheel in 0.1 of a second, giving the E-Pace a remarkably RWD-like feel, particularly on the loose-surface demonstration where things got delightfully sideways.
But the tight roads also highlighted a potential weakness in the E-Pace’s armour when it hits New Zealand, namely a noticeable brittleness to the firm ride.
It has a strong tendency to jostle its occupants on less than perfect surfaces. There are rather a lot of those in New Zealand.
This is the same weakness that keeps us from totally loving the F-Pace on New Zealand roads and while it’s impossible to tell for sure in another country, it may haunt the E-Pace as well – particularly on larger wheels.
While the chassis is beautifully nimble and responsive to steering inputs, the E-Pace exhibited a tad more body roll than we would have expected from the firm ride, while it also suffered from slightly abrupt weight transfer when pushing along.
None of these things were terrible. Just slightly disappointing given Jaguar’s positioning of the E-Pace as ‘‘sporty’’.
Taken as a whole the E-Pace P300 is a beautifully put-together package with a fantastic powertrain, and high levels of technology and comfort. Its ultimate weaknesses lie in its sporting pretensions (looks included – that attempted F-Type look doesn’t work) and it would have been far better if Jaguar had stuck closer to the F-Pace pattern.
The E-Pace does most things rather well indeed. It’s a real Jag. We’re just not sure it earns those extra vowels to make it a Jaaaaag.