Jaguar has succeeded not only in creating the best electric car on sale but also in building one of the most exciting cars you can currently buy. From the way it looks to the way it drives, the Jaguar I-Pace is a giant leap for Jaguar and electric cars overall. For that reason it was crowned Auto Express Car of the Year for 2018. Still thinking of ordering that Tesla?
In the metal and away from the bright lights of a motor show stand the I-Pace looks fantastic - the proportions are superb. Its squat, muscular stance and short overhangs mean there’s little else like it on the road. That may cause a problem for Jaguar, however, as it will age everything else the brand has in its showrooms by 10 years.
Climb inside and things look more familiar. In top-spec First Edition models the cabin is a sea of leather, polished wood finishes and aluminium. Despite the mountain of battery cells beneath the floor the driving position is excellent; lots of adjustment in the seat and steering wheel mean you can make it feel more like an F-Type behind the wheel, with the steering wheel up high and close to your chest.
The stubby bonnet is joined by a vast expanse of dashboard inside to give the I-Pace the feel of a long-nosed classic Jag. The cabin is also wonderfully airy; a huge panoramic glass roof, thin A-pillars and large windows create a real sense of space inside.
You won’t be left wanting for extra kit on First Edition models either – it’s a limited run top spec version that is on sale for 12 months only. It includes a panoramic roof, air suspension, heated steering wheel and windscreen, four-zone climate control, 20-inch alloy wheels and a full leather interior. The rest of the I-Pace range is made up with S, SE and HSE specification.
Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment
Every I-Pace comes with Jag’s new Touch Pro Duo infotainment system comprising a 10-inch touchscreen on the dash and small five-inch display on the centre console. It looks incredibly slick and for the most part, simple to use, although you can get lost in the layers of menus and sub menus when trying to adjust some of the car’s settings.
The lack of haptic feedback can make the screen tricky to operate on the move, especially when trying to select some of the shortcut buttons along the bottom of the display as they are quite small. And at long last Jaguar will Apple CarPlay on one of its cars, the I-Pace getting the phone pairing tech at some point in the future so owners can bypass Jag’s infotainment system entirely if they wish.
The starter button located to the left of the centre console brings the I-Pace to life - hit D on the drive select and you’re off. Like every electric car it whirrs off without raising a whisper and is quickly up to 30mph in near silence. There’s an evident firmness to the ride at low speed, but I-Pace not what you’d call uncomfortable.
Weighing 2.2 tonnes and riding on 20-inch alloys (22-inch wheels are available) does mean a mighty thud if you hit a pothole or particularly rutted stretch of road, however. The ride settles at speed with the air suspension on higher spec cars (regular steel springs are fitted on the rest of the range) doing a reasonable job of smoothing out the jiggles but you are always aware of the car’s mass.
But what marks the I-Pace out against the rest of the EV pack is its steering and rock solid body control. This may be a 2.2-tonne SUV, but in truth it feels more like a sports car with the way it twists and slaloms down tight and technical roads.
Initially the steering is a little vague just off centre but it weighs up beautifully and instils the I-Pace with a sense of precision you don’t get in a Tesla Model X. Turn into a corner at speed and the car remains remarkably flat while it works out which axle can make best use of all the available torque.
Mid corner you can feel the motors shuffling power between the wheels to help slingshot you round as fast and as smoothly as possible – the result is seemingly unbreakable traction. The I-Pace changes direction with real athleticism and a nimbleness, which is partly down to a suspension setup shared with the F-Type. The bulk of the car’s mass is also located as low down as possible to help reduce the car’s centre of gravity.
Of course the I-Pace doesn’t entirely defy physics; if you barrel into a corner a whiff of understeer scrubs off some speed before the traction control is able to nibble away at the front axle. If there is a weak spot it’s the brakes - but that’s not uncommon for an electric car. The pedal feel is soft and mushy for the first half of its travel before eventually firming up, albeit artificially.
Engines
Being electric the Jaguar I-Pace doesn’t have an engine as such; a 90kWh lithium-ion battery, which drives two electric motors, powers it. Currently it is the only size battery available in SUV.
Of course with 396bhp and 696Nm of torque available from a standstill the I-Pace feels is exceedingly quick - quicker than the 4.8 seconds Jaguar says it takes to get from 0-62mph. To replace the absence of engine noise Jag has fitted a synthetic soundtrack, which you can adjust from ‘calm’ to ‘dynamic’ – it’s a neat feature and adds to the sense of speed, but it's a bit of a gimmick and we quickly left it alone.
The Jaguar I-Pace is completely new territory for the British firm so it’s difficult to judge how reliable the model will be. Jaguar does have a pretty good reputation as a brand overall finishing 10th out of 28 manufacturers in the 2018 Driver Power satisfaction survey. However, it didn’t fare so well when it came to reliability with the brand dropping down to 20th position.
Euro NCAP is yet to crash test the I-Pace but it’s expected the SUV will achieve the full five-star rating when the test comes around. The model has been kitted out with a raft of safety tech such as adaptive cruise control, emergency brake assist, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring and traffic sign recognition technology.
Warranty
The I-Pace itself is covered by Jaguar’s standard three-year/unlimited mileage warranty. However, the battery is covered by a more comprehensive eight-year/100,000-mile warranty. Over the course of the car’s lifetime the battery power and density will deplete with age.
Servicing
It’s advised that electric cars should be serviced at the same intervals as a car with a conventional petrol or diesel engine, so at least once a year. However, as EVs have so many fewer mechanical and moving parts the services will often be cheaper.
The flat floor and lack of engine means the Jaguar I-Pace is surprisingly practical and crammed with handy storage solutions. The central armrest hides a 10-litre cubby, the centre console has been hollowed out and features two USB charging ports for mobile phones, while pull out trays beneath the rear seats can swallow a laptop or iPad each.
Size
The I-Pace is quite a large car and shares a very similar footprint to an Audi Q5 in terms of size. It measures in at 4,682mm long, 1,895mm wide and 1,565mm tall, which makes it slightly smaller than its nearest rival the Tesla Model X. However, the I-Pace does have a slightly longer wheelbase of 2,990mm, which means more space for passengers inside.
Legroom, headroom
There’s also a decent amount of space in the back. Your feet slide neatly under the seat in front and because there’s no transmission tunnel and plenty of headroom you could seat three adults in the rear – shoulder room may be a little tight though.
Boot
The boot is flat and can swallow 656 litres of luggage, while dropping the rear bench frees up 1,453 litres in total – only marginally smaller than an Audi Q5. There’s also a 27-litre ‘froot’ under the bonnet.
Draining the Jaguar I-Pace battery is a lot of fun, but topping it up takes longer than Jaguar will have you believe. A 40-minute blast from a 100kw charger will give you almost 240 miles of range – trouble is there isn’t a single 100kw charger in the UK right now. A 50kw charger – of which there are 3,178 – takes 85 minutes to achieve the same amount of range. But the majority of buyers will top up at home or the office from a smaller 7kw charger or wallbox, which takes over 12 hours for a 100 per cent recharge.
Another neat trick the I-Pace features to help keep the battery topped up is regenerative braking. As soon as you lift off the throttle the I-Pace begins slow until it comes to a complete and natural stop. It’s a wonderful feature and immediately makes you more aware of when and where to apply the throttle, nudging you in to a more efficient and relaxed driving style.
Insurance groups
Because of the cost, size and power of the I-Pace, the electric SUV attracts rather high insurance groups. Entry Level S models come in at group 49 while the rest of I-Pace line up is group 50. It’s closest rival, the Tesla Model X, attracts identical insurance groups.
Depreciation
As Jaguar has never built a car like the I-Pace before it’s difficult to know, at this early stage, how much value it will retain over its lifetime. However, it’s likely that the I-Pace should hold onto around 55 to 60 per cent of its value over a three-year period.
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