Jaguar F-Pace SVR
REPORT 3
£79,090 OTR/£83,060 as tested/£942pcm
WHY IT’S HERE
Does a V8 super-SUV still have a legitimate role to play?
DRIVER
Ollie Marriage
THE F-PACE DID SOMETHING NEW AND SURPRISING THE OTHER evening I turned into a slightly banked uphill left hander and it scooted around like a thwacked tennis ball on a string Held the arc of the curve beautifully steering firm and accurate in my hands It was alert and engaging and felt as capable as any super saloon It felt in other words like a Porsche Cayenne They’re also very good at scooting around corners faster than they have any right to
To see if this behaviour was repeatable I took it to North Wales as the chase car on last month’s BAC Mono R shoot where I discovered that it picks up an inside front wheel through corners Old Porsche s do this so by association that makes the SVR as awesome as them Kind of
The trouble is that for per cent of my driving I’m not exercising the FPace enough for it to get interested Not only is the ride too stiff the throttle and brakes are also sensitive to small inputs so pulling away can be abrupt braking a little jerky I’m getting used to it but I still think that more work with the throttle and brake maps more capacity in the damping would have created a car better able to switch between family and solo use But then very few cars do get that right If you have to start modifying your driving to make up for deficiencies when you have the family onboard something’s not right And in the FPace I have to think and tread carefully
But among other fast SUVs the only one I think gets that blend near spot on is the Bentley Bentayga it understands how to be genteel and also romps along with far more speed and composure than it has any right to
The FPace is half the price and I think that as a package it has a lot to recommend it It’s the right size and I like the restrained approach that it doesn’t shout about the power and fury too much And that when you tip it into a corner a bit faster than you intended it comes alive