Philip Archbold from The Doctors Club spends 5 days in the new Jaguar I-PACE
Before we start and in the interests of full disclosure…
- I am a petrol head, generally the more fuel a car burns the more I like it, as a result I am deeply suspicious of electric vehicles.
- I come from a Jaguar family; I’ve been around Coventry cats all my life.
The Jaguar I-PACE EV400 SE, which Stratstone of Mayfair kindly lent us, is going to have to convince me on an electric future and satisfy me that it’s still a Jaguar. It has its work cut out.
First Impressions:
It’s modern, stylish and has enough Jaguar cues to be identifiably part of the Jag family. I don’t like the fake grill (why do manufactures insist on adding these?) and the rear end can look a bit clunky from some angles. The optional Portifino Blue Paint (£735) of the test car worked well with the Chrome Exterior Pack (£450) and the 20in alloys (£840) filled the arches nicely. It’s a very rakish SUV and overall it’s a great looking car with some nice road presence.
The interior is a nice place to be, with high quality materials throughout and very comfortable. Space is good for rear passenger even with the high floor (under which the batteries live). The panoramic roof (£995) certainly improved things as it made the interior very airy and would be my first tick on the options box.
The interior is a nice place to be, with high quality materials throughout and very comfortable. Space is good for rear passenger even with the high floor (under which the batteries live). The panoramic roof (£995) certainly improved things as it made the interior very airy and would be my first tick on the options box.
The ClearSight rear view mirror (£500) is actually a camera. Once I got used to the unusual sensation of not being able to see the inside of your car in the “reflection” it worked brilliantly, particularly when carrying 3 people in the back and negating a blocked view. It worked pretty well in wet conditions too as view was not obscured by spray any more than a traditional mirror.
Praise be! Some actual buttons for key functions you need on the move. The I-Pace still has a touch screen with access to a plethora of options to customise your experience but unlike so many modern cars (not just EVs) too much is done by touch screen which means taking your eyes off the road. Bravo Jaguar!
The electricity:
Jaguar claim a 286 mile range on the EV400 but it will depend on the type of driving you do. Charge time on a fast charger for 80% charge is approx. 80mins, on a home fast charger approx. 12 hours and on a basic 3 pin plug (which I had) it’s 40 hours. Time to test range anxiety!
We did around 500 miles in 5 days over a mixture of roads. The most we did in a single return journey was 120 miles, we could only charge from a 3-pin plug (a home fast charger is 3x faster) but whenever the car wasn’t used it was plugged in. We never once got below 50% charge.
Out on the road:
First impressions driving from Stratstone of Mayfair’s showroom is what a nice place to be and the silence of electric propulsion is soothing. Visibility is great (helped in no small part by the optional rear view mirror camera) so even for a big car (4.7m x 2m) it’s fine in town if not a city car per se.
It’s not just a big car but a heavy car at 2.2 tons! In town that did help smooth out the road imperfection, all very Jaguar!
Out of town and on the M40, the first time to see what 500lbft of instant electric torque does. Quite a lot is the answer. It’s ability to add 10-20-30 mph to your speed almost instantly and without any drama is mighty impressive.
Once off the motorway and out of town it was time to experience the party trick of all EVs. The instantaneous delivery of all its oomph from standstill. 0-60mph in 4.5 secs is ridiculous for a 2.2-ton car. Watch your range though, moving this much weight that quickly uses up lots of energy!
Once on the A and B roads of the Chilterns the weight of the car became more obvious, it’s not a car that likes to be hustled although the optional air suspension (£1,120) does an admirable job of controlling the weight. It’s in a straight line where this car shines. It’s a car with lots of performance but it’s not a performance car.
Regen mode:
Not the latest cosmetic treatment but a way to harvest spent energy.
There are two settings; High & Low. In low regenerative mode setting it drives much like a “normal” car would. In the high setting when you lift off the throttle the motors become generators, which in turn has the effect of braking the car, quite considerably! In fact, it makes the brake pedal redundant apart from when heavy braking or coming to a complete stop is required.
The one pedal technique does require a bit of finesse and a recalibration of what your right foot does. After a decent 50-mile drive I’d smoothed out my inputs and for cruising it was a joy. There was the odd moment of surprise deceleration but that was due to my muscle memory not the car. With more familiarity it would become second nature and makes a considerable difference to the range too.
Costs:
The test car that Stratstone of Mayfair have is an I-PACE EV400 SE which is the middle trim level and has a basic on the road retail price of £69,845, added to that was £5,550 of options which brings the OTR price to £75,345.
A traditional engine Jaguar F-PACE SUV with a similar specification as the test I-PACE would cost approx. £55k, is the I-PACE worth £20k more?
If you look at lifetime ownership costs things look better. Savings on fuel, tax & congestion charges could save £20k over a 5-year period. Jaguar are current offering a 0% interest PCP deal for private buyers. If you are able to run the car through a business the low benefit in kind tax and good business lease deals make it financially attractive.
Summary:
We used the car for 4 days as we would our family SUV and it did the job and did it well. We had no range anxiety, it proved to be a quick and effective A-B machine, it felt like a quality product and was a nice place to be. Spec is pretty generous in SE level trim although I’d probably add Head-Up Display (£920) and the Stereo upgrade (£680). The reaction to the car from friends and family was universally positive.
Negatives are very few. The boot is smallish for such a large car (the extra one in the nose is tiny and only good for your charging cables) I don’t like the fake grill, the steering is a bit vague and it doesn’t like to be flung about but that’s not really its purpose.
If an EV SUV fits in to your lifestyle the Jaguar I-PACE makes a very convincing case for itself as one of the premium EV products on the market.
It is definitely a “Jag” but it’s a thoroughly modern interpretation that is looking to the future not the past. The I-PACE is still true to the Jaguar concept of Grace, Pace and Space.
Interested in trying it? Stratstone of Mayfair are offering members an extended test drive so you can experience ‘Jaguar Electrified’ for yourself’.
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