JAGUAR I-PACE
Right here, right now
“We gave it a cab-forward look because there’s very little in the front to speak of. We wanted to capture some of the drama of mid-engined sports cars. We also wanted to capture a little bit of that car we didn’t make – the C-X75.”
To be honest, I didn’t think Ian Callum, Jaguar’s design director, would be citing his stillborn, mid-engined, turbine-powered hypercar concept as inspiration for this sensible 5dr family SUV. But then again, the I-Pace isn’t another cut/paste crossover, it’s Jaguar’s frst pure electric car, a total reinvention for a brand often accused of resting on its heritage rather than forging a new path.
This is it, by the way, the real thing. You can order one right now from £58,995 (or £76,900 for the fully optioned First Edition featured here) once the government has chipped in £4.5k. Incredible really, considering Audi, BMW and Merc are all working on Teslachasing electric SUVs of their own, but Jaguar has beaten them to it. More incredible still is that despite being a little taller and narrower, the concept’s proportions have made it to production unscathed.
“What I immediately saw as a designer was opportunity. We’ve done the long-bonnet, big-engine thing, quite a few times actually, and we’ve done all these sports cars. I’ve got that out my system now,” Callum explained. “The shape of this has been in my head for a long time. How could you do a mid-engined family car? Well, you can’t because you’ve got to put the kids in the back, so this was my opportunity. It just unshackles you from so many things.”
The result of this unshackling is a front end that’s as stubby as crash regulations will permit, allowing the front wheels and front passengers to push forward. The rear wheels and seats efectively stay where they are creating a long wheelbase and more space for people in the back. So, despite the I-Pace and Porsche Macan’s lengths being within a millimetre of each other, the Jag has a 180mm more wheelbase and 30mm more knee room in the rear.
Wheelbase is the key here. That’s where the fat ‘skateboard’ battery frame sits. More wheelbase, more battery – a 90kWh lithium-ion battery that’s structurally integrated, along with its cooling/heating system, into the new all-aluminium EV architecture. That makes the I-Pace Jaguar’s stifest car and draws the centre of gravity down 130mm lower than an F-Pace. The suspension is double-wishbone at the front and multi-link at the rear, with optional, self-levelling air suspension and adaptive dampers. At 2.1 tonnes, it’s not a light car, but still, positive signs.
More numbers. The range is a claimed 298 miles on the new, harsher, WLTP cycle. Find a 100kW rapid charger you can top up from 0–80 per cent in 45 minutes. Use a 7kW home box charger and it’ll take 10 hours – otherwise known as a good kip. “Batteries are like humans, they like to operate between 20º and 25ºC,” Ian Hoban, vehicle line director, tells us, so making the efort to set a battery-preconditioning timer when the weather’s below freezing can extend the car’s range by up to 80 miles.
Power is delivered to all four wheels by a pair of concentric (the drive shafts run through the middle of them) permanent magnet synchronous motors, one on each axle. Designed in-house and producing 197bhp each, that’s a total of 394bhp and 512lb ft – the same torque as an F-Type SVR, but available the moment you twitch your right foot. Performance is… lively; 0–60mph in 4.5 seconds puts it level with the Range Rover Sport SVR.
Inside, the dash features JLR’s latest Touch Pro Duo twinscreen infotainment set-up, with digital dials behind the wheel and a foating centre console for extra pizzazz. It all feels suitably high-tech, but unlike Tesla, Jaguar hasn’t done away with buttons altogether – keeping chunky metal squares for the single-speed gearbox controls and knurled edges on the climate control dials. It’s a blend of the future and fashes of traditional craftsmanship, complete with six USB ports, fve proper seats and a big boot. It features over-the-air software updates, that could improve your range and performance while you’re sleeping. It feels new and exciting, but comfortingly familiar.
Yes, Tesla has been selling the Model S and X for years, but it’s a Silicon Valley start-up, and a company designed from its very foundations to build electric cars. By contrast, Jaguar is a maker laden with heritage that’s had to free itself from the past to really address the future. Time will tell whether the world is ready for a £60k plug-in Jag; either way, it feels like the start of something big.
“The new all-aluminium EV architecture makes the I-Pace Jaguar’s stiffest car”