Jaguar I-Pace concept review, test drive

Just before Jaguar packed its stunning electric crossover SUV concept off to the Geneva show, our sister-magazine Autocar UK took it for a spin.

Published on Mar 17, 2017 07:00:00 AM

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Jaguar I-Pace concept review, test drive

So where do you start designing a car like this – or even just when taking it in? It’s hard to know what to make of the I-Pace away from the pedestal motor show glare and in such a singularly untheatrical setting. Those short overhangs, aerodynamic-looking silhouette and cabin-forwards profile owe more to supercar design type than SUV design convention – so the I-Pace actually looks more like the C-X75 than it does an F-Pace. The F-Type sportscar was an influence, too. “The car’s short front haunches and elongated rear ones are like an F-Type in mirror-image,” says Beaven. Sounds like classic car-designer double-speak – but if you stand far enough back and take in the whole of the car’s shape, you can see what he means. Ultimately, while you can’t quite decide if it’s a hatchback or a sports car or some new sort of SUV you’re looking at, you can’t help but wonder if knowing really matters. The I-Pace is something new, and nothing more or less than the very best EV that Jaguar can imagine right now.

We’re shoeless and ready to slide on board at last. Heavy door, fiddly handle, “whatever you do, don’t slam it”. Yup, this is a concept car alright – but the driving position and the cabin layout will be reliable guides of what to expect from the production version. You sit low by SUV standards, at a similar height as you might in an F-Pace, but in a cockpit that’s more sparse, airy and spacious-feeling. A high centre console makes you feel snug on the one hand, but the controls and instruments are at a lower level than you expect to find them in front of you. Maybe this is an SUV after all.

A low scuttle grants excellent forward visibility. Overall you’re seated very comfortably with very little expanse of bonnet or dashboard in front you, close to the car’s front wheels. And, while I’m not permitted access to the pristine back seats to verify as much, I’m told that the cabin-forwards layout also makes for excellent second-row occupant space on a par with that of a luxury saloon, and 530-litres of boot space.

Designed in homage to the F-Type’s asymmetric driver-focussed fascia, the I-Pace’s dashboard curves around to encircle you in the driver’s seat. There’s an LCD instrument screen immediate ahead, and a larger infotainment screen at the top of the car’s cantilevered, architectural-looking centre stack which contains a smaller second touchscreen at a lower level. This being a concept car, none of the screens are working – one of them displaying blinking lines of programming code that bring to mind Neo’s bad dream from The Matrix. Still, I can believe they’ll do the trick when they are on song, between them consolidating enough control functions to keep the rest of the fascia fairly uncluttered.