Jaguar welcomes four-legged friends
But the sporty SUV also caters for humans in its customary stylish manner, finds Julie Marshall
It’s not very often a manufacturer allows, never mind encourages, road testers to take dogs out for a ride in their shiny new cars.
But when Jaguar heard I had a couple of lively springer spaniels they sent along an EPace with a full complement of dog-friendly accessories and asked us to try them out for size.
Designed to keep dogs comfortable and the vehicle protected from muddy paws and hairy coats they are an inspired, if expensive, addition to the kit list.
The range starts from £248 for rear-seat protection. Our E-Pace came with a quilted luggage compartment (prices from £678), spill-resistant bowl with a rubber base (£54) and a portable rinse system which is ideal for using after a muddy walk or for bikes and wetsuits. It gives a two-minute continuous flow but at £268 it’s a bit pricey. It works surprisingly well but takes up a fair chunk of room in the back.
What was missing in our EPace was a dog guard, so access into the rear seat was blocked, by the rear headrests - with limited success.
What of the car? Well once the dogs were comfortably installed we took them for a ride.
The all-wheel drive E-Pace is Jaguar’s smaller SUV - down from the F-Pace which debuted in 2016 and was received with great success. Winning World Car of the Year in 2017 with the all-electric I-Pace taking the crown in 2019.
It stands tall but has a certain grace with some styling cues borrowed from the F-Type sports car.
In fact, Jaguar bill it as :’The compact performance SUV with sports car looks’
Although smaller than the F-Pace it is no lightweight and comes in at 85kg heavier.
Lucky then that our test car came equipped with the most powerful of the two petrol engines (and three diesels) on offer - the 298bhp Ingenium two-litre turbo. With a standstill to 60mph time of 6.7mph, it is swift and responsive.
Inside is as smart as a Jaguar should be. Again there are nods to the F-Type with a grab handle and the more userfriendly joystick gear selector in the automatic instead of the rotary dial used in many other Jaguars and Land Rovers - FPace included.
Controls are simple enough despite the high levels of connectivity which sets it up as one of the best in class. Up to eight devices can stream content using the on-board 4G WiFi hotspot and every passenger gets a USB port
It’s roomy enough for five but the middle rear seat passenger will struggle a bit with head height although shoulder room is adequate. The driver sits high and has a commanding view of the road and there are enough ways to adjust the seat position to make it comfortable for all shapes and sizes. The view through the back is not brilliant but as there’s a reversing camera fitted to all models this is less of a problem.
The top-spec R-Dynamic HSE we tested has a bewildering list of equipment even before you add on the options fitted which bumped up the £48,900 starting price by several thousand.
These included an integrated tablet mount and charging unit (£200), digital TV (£870) and a heated steering wheel (£190) to add to the heated windscreen and door mirrors.