Motoring
ACES CAR OF THE YEAR
Jaguar F-Pace By Motoring Editor, Maarten Hoffmann
I
t’s been a long time coming. We have longawaited the DNA swap between Jaguar and Land Rover although it’s been going the other way for quite a while. JLR have long offered a four wheel drive with the luxury of a Jaguar with the Range Rover but we have never seen it go the other way. That is, a Jaguar with a dose of the Land Rover and, finally, here it is in all its party frock and fancy knickers. The traditional German manufacturers outsell the likes of Jaguar by a million a year against Jags 100,000 but the F-Pace is designed to change all that. The company’s concern is that this car will simply steal sales from its own stable. If you want a Discovery, you might be tempted by the F-Pace and therein lies the problem of nicking sales from yourself. But at least the profit remains within the company, l guess.
56
ACES
ussex
Firstly, this is a very handsome car. Beautifully designed and styled from every angle and the nose is one that l could look at, in the right colour combo, all day long. The
“The petrol version does have a drinking problem but then, don’t we all?”
interior is an equal delight with a great 10.2 InControl Touch pro screen with a 10GB hard drive for music storage and a sound system that goes from the standard 80W system up to the mighty 825W Meridian surround system. As usual on recent Jags, some of the interior buttons and surfaces are a tad low-rent but that can forgiven as the general feel is superb -
and did l mention that sexy nose? The seats hug you, and, if you go up the spec sheet, you get 10-way adjustable heated seats that work so well that you really do feel like your’ve lost control of your bladder. There’s a general Range Rovery feel to the whole thing and that aint no bad thing. The only really annoying item here is the location of the window controls. Just as you get comfy with elbows where they should be, you have to rearrange yourself to operate the windows as they are high up on the door and in a very silly position. I am sure you get the point - if that is all l can think to complain about, things are going well. But, what about the all-important drive. I really wanted to stretch the cats legs - so l drove to Holland. Well, you would, wouldn’t you? Having mentioned this to Jaguar, they