Jaguar F-Pace review, test drive

We get behind the wheel of Jaguar's first SUV – the F-Pace.

Published on Apr 11, 2016 03:20:00 PM

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The electric steering offers just the right amount of assist, keeping you feeling very connected to the road at all times and even small deflections of the wheel draw quick reactions.

The eight-speed automatic gearbox is familiar and dare I say, one of the best even. In Normal mode, it swaps cogs efficiently, but punch the paddles on a more spirited drive and the shifts are instantaneous. You can adjust the driving modes to change the steering, performance, suspension and gearbox characteristics. Although the F-Pace will keep you happy in Normal mode, put it into Dynamic and it definitely engages to a point where this sportiest of modes becomes the default setting during my time with the F-Pace.

The beautiful thing about the F-Pace is that even with all the dynamic capability, the engineers have kept practicality in mind and even in Dynamic mode, the ride is impressive. We go over quite a bit of rough stuff without even realising it. It smothers all manners of undulations and never gets unsettled. At the end of the first day behind the wheel of the new Jaguar SUV, I’m thoroughly impressed.

On day two, luck is on our side and the sun comes out in Montenegro to kick off a beautiful day. It's time to take the 2.0-litre diesel out but as I set off, I can't but help think that I may view the smallest diesel in the F-Pace range with a bit of prejudice after sampling the 3.0-litre first. It’s a feeling that gets obvious with the difference in power between both these motors, which is yawningly wide. It's not to say the 2.0-litre feels underpowered, it’s just that in comparison, it feels laboured, especially when you press on and you can hear how hard it's working at full chat. This motor is best used a notch down and as long as you drive it in a leisurely manner, it will do the job just fine. The 2.0-litre diesel is a good highway cruiser and holds speed pretty well. It’s just that it doesn’t like to be rushed.