Jag hybrid delivers comfort with class
The first time I drove a Jaguar E-Pace I was extremely unimpressed. It was fast and had a bone-shaking ride. Jaguar might well have a long history of making high-performance cars but it also has a reputation for making them fast and comfortable.
The E-Type had a smooth ride, so did the XJ6 and so has virtually every car it has made since. In fact, that E-Pace was one of the first Jaguars I’d driven that wasn’t comfortable.
That was several years ago and now we’re back in a facelifted E-Pace. The one we’re driving is also the new
PHEV version of the company’s smallest SUV. Its official name is E-Pace P300e and our test car is in R-Dynamic S trim. Which makes it one of the more expensive versions in a range that starts at £38,000.
Under the bonnet is a three-cylinder engine. That’s a sentence I never dreamed I’d write testing a Jaguar. The 1,498cc petrol engine is part of the Ingenium family of engines at JLR and is essentially half of the 3.0-litre straight-six.
The motor’s power output of 200PS is backed up by an electric motor that’s mounted on the rear axle and
which produces 108PS for a total system output of 300PS. Hence the car’s name badge.
Stashed under the floor in the middle of the car is a 15kWh Li-ion battery that gives a maximum range of 34 miles. It won’t, of course, but on a warm day and driving carefully I did a 25 mile test route almost exclusively in silent electric mode.
In reality you’d drive yourself potty on country lanes with only a 108PS electric motor doing the work. You would run the car in hybrid mode and let it decide when to use electric power, then simply enjoy smooth progress with the characterful three-cylinder engine and super-smooth eight-speed automatic gearbox.
The best news of all is this E-Pace is comfortable. The one I drove all those years ago was in a more sporty trim option and that included stiffer springs and damping. Ironically, the facelifted E-Pace features a stiffer chassis for more precise handling.
The exterior of the car is little changed – just new bumpers front and back, a new design of LED headlamps and what Jaguar describes as a more assertive grille.
Not that I would know what an introverted grille would look like.
More fundamental (to an owner) changes have taken place. The E-Pace now gets a 11.4in touchscreen and JLR’s recently introduced Pivi Pro infotainment system that’s used on the Defender and is being introduced across all Land Rovers and Range Rovers. It’s so much easier to use than the previous generation system and has some of the clearest and aesthetically pleasing graphics of any current infotainment system.
The materials used in the cabin have also been taken up a notch in quality and made me warm to the car more than I expected to.
The E-Pace has competition, though, especially from Volvo’s XC40 which has, from eyes, a more appealing exterior design and is nicer inside, too. It also happens to be cheaper, even in PHEV form. It’s only drawback is a slightly shorter EV range.
There are also rivals from inside the home team and I suspect the reason the E-Pace hasn’t been more of a sales success is that the Range Rover Evoque is more appealing.