Jaguar E-Pace Review: Awesome To Drive But Not Without Familiar Foibles

For the third year in a row, we’re talking about Jaguar’s most important car yet. We said it when we drove the XE in 2015, we said it when we drove the F-Type a year later, and we’re saying it now that we’ve driven the newest member of the Jaguar family, the E-Pace. Because on each occasion, that was indeed the case: the XE quickly became Jaguar’s biggest seller, until it was usurped by the F-Pace - which incidentally sold more units in 2016 on its own than Jaguar did in total in 2011 - and now it’s about to be knocked off its perch by the E-Pace. In other words, we really should take a look at the little upstart.

Peel away the bodywork - designed to echo the F-Type’s styling - and you’ll find the gizzards of the Range Rover Evoque. Well, sort of - the ‘LR-MS’ platform is there, but the way the E-Pace is set up is vastly different. We have Intergral Link rear suspension, different springs/dampers and a trick ‘Active Driveline’ system on some models which under certain conditions can send up to 100 per cent of torque to any driven wheel. Yep, even though under most conditions the rear axle remains decoupled, if you drive it hard enough, it should bias the rear.

Does it feel like it’s doing thusly, IRL? Well, the route of the the car’s UK-based launch didn’t exactly give us many opportunities to try, but once or twice it did feel like more poke was going to the back than the front. On the whole though it feels fairly neutral, and that’s just fine - particularly when the steering’s as sweet as it is. It’s never anything less than utterly predictable, is just right in terms of speed, and has a natural-feeling weight to it.

The suspension errs on the firmer side, but it’s never jarring. Plus, the payoff is an almost weird lack of body roll, despite the relatively tall ride height. Crucially though, it feels nothing like an Evoque to drive.

We tried two engines, a 177bhp, 317lb ft diesel, and a ‘P300’ 297bhp, 295lb ft petrol. The diesel doesn’t exactly sound spectacular on paper, doing the 0-62mph thing in 8.7 seconds, but it has enough mid-range clout to feel just about sufficient enough.

The petrol is the same one you’ll find under the bonnet of the new, base F-Type. But don’t go thinking it turns the E-Pace into a VW Golf R-bothering rocket ship: despite numerous body panels being made from aluminium, the lightest in the range somehow weighs 1700kg. The heavier, four-wheel drive cars like the ‘P300’ are firmly in fatty territory at around 1900kg, meaning the 0-62mph dash takes a more modest-than-expected 6.4 seconds.

Still, the punchy, fairly linear 2.0-litre inline-four doesn’t leave you wanting for poke, quite likes to rev, and - bizarrely - sounds better in the E-Pace that it does in the F-Type. It’s just a shame about the gearbox it’s hooked up to.

The nine-speed automatic shifts quickly and smoothly when you’re in manual mode, but leave it to its own devices, and it takes an unacceptably long time to decide what it wants to do about the amount of pressure you’re putting on the throttle pedal.

I’d like to stop grumbling there, but this is yet another Jaguar where the interior isn’t quite up to scratch. It’s probably the firm’s best yet - there are some lovely details like a Jaguar print pattern on the upper section of the dash, plus the satisfying pistol-grip gear selector and massive grab handle (both inspired by the F-Type), but they’re let down by other parts of the cabin. Most obviously, the vast amount of cheap-looking plastic behind the steering wheel and smothered around the infotainment system. And on that subject, while the presence of JLR’s ‘TouchPro’ system across the range as standard is a very good thing indeed, it’s still not quite as intuitive or slick as something like BMW I-Drive.

But as an overall package, the E-Pace is not that far off the likes of the Audi Q3 and BMW X1, but has far more emotional appeal than either. It’s also a much more successful effort than the ropey Mercedes GLA.

The E-Pace is also spacious inside despite its apparent diminutive size, the boot’s massive, and it’s loaded up with the kind of tech that makes younger new car buyers go all giddy. Up to five USB ports and four 12-volt sockets can be specced so you can charge all the things, the whole car’s one big, 4G WiFi hotspot to which up to eight devices can be linked, and there are even two designated places to put your smart phone, however hilariously oversized it is.

A starting price of £28,500 sounds tempting enough, but just bear in mind that things get expensive very quickly: the top-spec ‘HSE 300 R Dynamic’ is £50,710.

Strong money, then, but I’m not sure it’ll matter. Get ready to be seeing a lot more of the E-Pace on the road: Jaguar’s going to sell a metric crap tonne.