When is a good electric car not a good car? Meet the I-Pace

Transcript of a hands-free phone call while testing a vehicle:

Me: Paul? You free?

A: I have a minute before a conference call. M: I want to check what you think of the Jaguar I-Pace. I’m driving one, and I hate it so much I want to crash it into a wall.

A: What? I loved that vehicle. I’ll call you back in half an hour.

Paul is Paul Eisenstein, auto writer and a peer whose opinions I respect, but don’t always share. The kind of person to call when you’re thinking about aiming an $86,000 electric luxury vehicle at a bridge abutment rather than spend another minute trying to adjust the air conditioning fan speed.

Conversations like this are the bane of automakers, as they try to reinvent themselves with electric vehicles, self-driving robot cars, vehicles on demand and other new challenges. Some of them behave as if it’s unfair to expect them to create new types of vehicles and simultaneously deliver features we take for granted in today’s cars and SUVs.

The 2018 Jaguar I-Pace, the brand’s first electric vehicle—if you don’t count one-offs built for royal weddings and the like—is a perfect, and occasionally maddening, example. It’s an accomplished electric vehicle that’s barely average among luxury SUVs due to faults that have nothing to do with the innovative zero-emissions drivetrain at its heart.

Eisenstein never called back, by the way. That’s Paul, but he had given me what I needed: A reminder that an early-adopting tech fan might love a vehicle that reduced me to sputtering obscenities when I tried to make a simple phone call.

Maybe you’re that tech fan. Clearly, I’m not. Here’s the lowdown on the new electric Jag.

Behind the Wheel

2018 Jaguar I-Pace All-wheel-drive, five-passenger luxury SUV Price as tested: $85,900 (excluding destination charge)

Rating: Two out of four stars

Reasons to buy: Electric power, looks, acceleration.

Shortcomings: Frustrating climate controls, poor smartphone integration, poor voice recognition.

How much?

The I-Pace uses a brand new architecture Jaguar Land Rover developed for its upcoming electric vehicles. Sales just began around the world. The first deliveries to U.S. customers are expected in November.

All I-Paces have two electric motors for allwheel drive, one on each axle. They produce 396 horsepower and 512 pound-feet of torque. The five-passenger I-Pace is a compact SUV.

U.S. prices will start at $69,500. I tested a top-of-the-line I-Pace First Edition. It had a 360-degree camera, adaptive cruise control, 20-inch wheels, 825-watt Meridian audio, leather interior, suede headliner, heated steering wheel, blind-spot assist, lane-keeping assist, navigation, power tailgate and more.

It stickered at $85,900. All prices exclude destination charges.

At 184.3 inches long, it’s 2 inches shorter than Jag’s conventionally powered F-Pace SUV.

If you’re determined to buy an electric luxury SUV, there’s not much competition for the I-Pace. The Tesla X is more than a foot longer and costs significantly more when comparably equipped. The Audi E-tron SUV won’t be on sale til the second quarter of 2019 and is 8.7 inches longer. The other announced luxury electric SUV, the Mercedes EQC, isn’t due til 2020.

If you want a conventionally powered but otherwise technically advanced and luxury-sport SUV, you have an embarrassment of choices.

Competitive base prices

(Excluding destination charges) (Automatic transmission, all-wheel drive models.)

Jaguar I-Pace First Edition: $85,900 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio: $79,995 BMW X3 M40i: $54,650

Porsche Macan turbo: $77,200

Tesla X 100D: $96,000

Source: Autotrader

Power and range

The I-Pace’s electric drivetrain delivers impressive performance. Acceleration is head-snapping with a claimed 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds, despite the I-Pace’s 4,857-pound curb weight. That’s several hundred pounds more than non-electric SUVs, but 600 pounds lighter than the bigger Tesla X.

The I-Pace’s weight is distributed 50/50 over the front and rear axles. There’s a marked tendency to squat back on its haunches in hard acceleration, despite an air suspension.

Regenerative braking captures power as soon as you release the accelerator, rendering normal braking unnecessary in many cases. The brakes feel more conventional in dynamic mode.

The official U.S. government fuel economy site doesn’t list range or charging time for the I-Pace at this writing.

Until they’re available, Jag predicts a 234mile range on a charge and 12.9 hours for a full charge at 230 volts. And 10.1 hours should get you an 80 percent charge of the 90 kWh lithi-