[Ace F355]

Thank you Vidyut for sharing this excellent piece of first drive!

I think F Pace has a lot of things going for it

• Perception of being more premium than big three Germans
• Good Engine Choices
• Lovely Interiors

It will get a good market reception in India I believe, largely due to the brand image and market tilt towards SUVs in general. Regular Jags, although trickled with some niggles now and then, have been an object of desire for general public and this one will not be any different.

Hope JLR works on improving the 'cheaper' feel of some of the elements in their upcoming projects since it has been a point of complaint even with F-Types and others!

BTW, Great Pics! Thanks again for sharing.

[extreme_torque]

Excellent review as always. I absolutely adore the F Type and consider this as an even more important launch than the XE which quite frankly is way too subtle. What I don't really like is the InControl touch and that is not to say anything about the capability of the system, which is almost tablet like but the primary interaction interface which is touch only and this is a huge problem when driving the car. Not only do you not have the tactile feedback of a button, you also have to look at the screen to change or control anything.

A good multimedia system should give you tactile switches and swivel controllers to browse through menu options when driving and touch control when you are standing still. I think this is an opportunity lost for Jaguar. That said, it still would not stop me to buy this car when I can. That 3.0 V6 diesel is just plain awesome - afterall you cannot argue with 296 bhp and 700nm! How far have the diesels come!

[kartavya]

Considering they imported the 177 bhp engine, I guess we will be getting the lower trims as well. Hopefully that would bode well for the price in India. Isn't it internationally priced just a bit above the Q5? If they repeat the same thing here, Q5,GLC,XC60 and X3 will take a huge hit. The car looks insane and would be on anyone's list who is looking for a premium SUV.

[shortbread]

I saw a couple of them on the road here in the UK and they look absolutely gorgeous. Despite being a reasonably large SUV there is a sense of beauty and litheness to the whole design.

I thought with the Evoque JLR designed a brillint looking SUV and it cannot outdo itself. The F Pace just confirms I am wrong.

One of JLR's biggest strengths is they have arguably two of the worlds best designers working for them, Ian Callum (Jaguar) & Gerry McGovern (Land Rover). There is a sense of rivalry between both teams and this bodes well for JLR.

Next year's all new Range Rover Coupe is expected to be a stunner as well.

[ajmat]

What a report!

You sound like as if you fell deeply in love with it. Alas, the price will be too high. Your head must be messed up after coming back to reality over here!

[centaur]

Excellent review and great pics

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Jaguar logo on the hatch has a neat trick. Read on to know what it is:

I am sorry but did I miss this part somewhere?

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by centaur

Excellent review and great pics



I am sorry but did I miss this part somewhere?

Do read post #6 about the activity key

[timuseravan]

A fantastic review of a brilliant car. I was a bit skeptical of a Jaguar SUV like almost everyone else but F-Pace seems a great package. The recent Top Gear review was also very favorable.
I am waiting for the day all the high tech features seep down in cars which us mortals can afford.

BTW why is the review in "Test-Drives & Initial Ownership Reports" and not "Official Reviews" section?

[Vasuki]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

The F-Pace has a virtual instrument cluster with a massive 12.3" display.

You can select between 4 modes of display and customize the colours:


The best part is that the entire navigation map can be displayed on the huge display. This couples up with the laser head-up display to give you an almost 3D experience:

Congratulations for this fantastic report. Man you are lucky. 360 degree view is offered in all higher end vehicles, I presume, had experienced the same in a Merc GL.

As government have relaxed some norms, may be india may also get all the feature laden vehicle.

What would be the price range,especially 3.0L V6 petrol, just curious? Above 1 cr?

[Jeroen]

Thanks for a very nice write up.
I'm still not a 100% sure whether I like a Jaugar SUV or not. But your report certainly got me thinking again. I havent seen the F-pace in real life yet, let alone drive it. Definitely will have to pay our local Jaguar dealer a visit soon.


Jeroen

[Hayek]

What a fantastic review!!! Team-BHP produces some of the best reviews out there, but this throws down the gauntlet to your fellow mods. :-)

As for the car itself, it seems amazing, even if the 2 l diesel is probably a trifle underpowered. How does this compare with the GLC? If launched at around the same price, folks will look at it closely. The only other question is whether the snooty JLR dealers in Bombay will let one test it fully, and compare it with the Disco Sport and the Evoque. Waiting for the launch.

[Asish_VK]

What a looker ! Handsome and Wicked , Great review too .

OT: It's very bad that we have restriction on the window tints, else the F-Pace with dark tinted windows would've been a delicious sight in our streets

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by centaur

I am sorry but did I miss this part somewhere?

Here's what it does:

The band now works as the key. To lock the car, you need to walk up to the boot and touch the band against the letter "J" from "Jaguar" on the tailgate. This band can then be used when you go surfing or skiing as it is waterproof unlike the regular key. When you return back to the car you can again unlock the car by touching the band against the "J". The system is not that straightforward and had a few quirks as you need to arm the band. I couldn't always to get it to lock. Luckily the unlock function worked, so the system is foolproof.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Excellent report Sirjee!

[Michael_Fanai]

The review is amazing! Thank you Vidyut and Team-Bhp.

I unsubscribed all the auto magazines since I started following this forum years ago

[Vikram Arya]

Congratulation Vid 6639! Very well put together review! A beautiful car (oops a cross over) coupled with fabulous locales.

F Pace better work for Jaguar as their sedans are not doing the trick. It can give a good fight to Audi Q5/S, BMW X3/M, MB-GLC, Porsche Macan & may even cannibalize some volume from its cousin RR Evoque. No matter what positioning strategies manufacturers employ, potential customers pay little heed to that.

If F Pace indeed becomes successful (which I have little doubt that it will at least in the medium term) it would further strengthen other manufacturer’s belief to take the SUV/cross over route when they find it difficult to manage/sell their stagnating performance sedan platforms. If F Pace indeed becomes a run-away success I can foresee a larger chunk of JLR’s resources being deployed to develop a platform below F Pace and one above it to corner that “elusive” section of the market. Nothing wrong with that except in the long run these may cannibalize their RR’s cousin which is fine as well as it will improve RR’s overall market share in this highly lucrative segment.

What stands out in case of F Pace is its dynamic performance/suspension /handling, striking looks (thank you Ian Callum), its aluminum space frame & that RFID wrist band (a neat touch indeed). Potential customers of F Pace wouldn’t care too much about it’s off road prowess; most of which has been achieved by electronic gimmickry anyway and a large majority of these wouldn’t leave the pavement. I also like the fact that its AWD is rear wheel biased & not front wheel unlike some of its German contemporaries. Looking at the numbers I can see top spec F Pace winning over the BMW X3M & Audi Q5S customers with relative ease. Porsche Macan Turbo can pose a formidable challenge though; folks who don’t like Macan’s looks I’m sure will find F Pace much more palatable.

What it will provide its prospective customers is freshness that at the moment is lacking somewhat among mid-size performance luxury cross overs segment & that will keep the cash register ringing at JLR for a long time.

When it comes to products from JLR’s stable, the long term reliability & sustainability of its brand strength in the long run may be a question mark. I have a colleague who owns a Range Rover Sport SVR with a 5 ltr. supercharged V8 engine & he’s already observing some niggles beginning to surface with less than 10,000 clicks on the clock.

JLR has been able to get away with these issues so far because if you want to drive around not looking “nouveau rich” but rather “old money” there is still no alternative to a Range Rover.

Maybe Jaguar F Pace will change all of that and prove us wrong; I wish them luck.