Jaguar has finally drawn the curtains on the all new E-PACE, the third SUV in the Jaguar family following the award-winning F-PACE and all-electric I-Pace. On the surface, the E-PACE looks to have inherited the performance and stature of a Jaguar sports car but the added space and practicality of an SUV.
The E-PACE takes plenty of its design cues from the brand’s F-Type sports car, evidently through its gaping front grille and LED headlamps. Like the F-PACE, the E-PACE come with short overhangs, muscular proportions and a sleek rear end. The E-PACE is the first vehicle in its class to offer the 21-inch wheel size, all the way down to 17-inches.
For those who fancy a little more aggression on their SUV, the R-Dynamic package intensifies the bold exterior; adding more angulars to the front and rear bumper, front fog lamps, Gloss Black trims and Satin Chrome details on the front grill for a more aggressive look.
Inside, Jaguar promises a high-quality and modern cabin with a sporty impression. The geometry of the cabin gives great forward visibility and sporty ergonomics, similar to the F-Type. It’s loaded with tech too, featuring items such as the 10-inch Touch Pro infotainment system with InControl connectivity, 12.3-inch Interactive Driver Display LCD instrument cluster and full colour heads-up display.
Not forgetting that this is a family SUV, the E-PACE comes with plenty of storage compartments to store loose items alongside a grand total of nine charging points (five USB, four 12V sockets) for your devices. Seen as a vital aspect to a SUV, the E-PACE offers a generous 577 litres of boot space made possible by the vehicle’s clever Integral Link rear suspension architecture.
The E-PACE is available in five different powertrains with three diesels and two petrol engines. The 2.0-litre four-cylinder Ingenium diesel engine with three different states of tune: 148 hp/380 Nm, 178 hp/430 Nm and 237 hp/500 Nm while the 2.0-litre four-cylinder Ingenium turbo petrol outputs 246 hp/365 Nm and 247 hp/400 Nm.
All engines are mated to either an intelligent nine-speed ZF automatic or a quick-shifting six-speed manual transmission. The E-PACE models are available in front-wheel drive (the first Jaguar with FWD since the X-Type) or all-wheel drive (AWD) layouts. Its Active Driveline all-wheel drive system, a technological break-through within Jaguar, together with the system’s torque-biasing capability ensures optimal stability and dynamics with a hint of Jaguar’s unmistakable rear-wheel drive characteristic.
The E-PACE’s Configurable Dynamics would provide the driver with better controls of the vehicle with individual settings for the throttle, transmission and steering. Its Adaptive Dynamics suspension system, where fitted, goes one up by detecting the driver’s input, body and wheel movements and preemptively adjusts itself for improved agility and reduced body roll.
The new E-PACE will come with an array of driver assist technologies. They include the Forward Traffic Monitor system as part of the E-PACE’s 360-degree Surround Camera, Adaptive Driving Beam and Park Assist, a system that utilises ultrasonic sensors to measure and ensure the suitability of the parking spot before steering itself into it.
In the event of a collision, the E-PACE’s safety cell is bolstered with a total of six airbags allocated for the driver and passenger, thorax and side curtain airbags. This is also complemented with an innovative pedestrian airbag, making the E-PACE the only vehicle in its class to provide such a feature. On impact with a pedestrian at speeds between 25-50km/h, its Active Bonnet lifts and the pedestrian airbag deploys to cover the base of the windscreen within 50-60 milliseconds from beneath its trailing edge.
The airbag system, patented by Jaguar Land Rover, is supported by various other safety features including, Corner Brake Control (CBC), Roll Stability Control, Trailer Stability Assist (TSA) together Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), Electronic Traction Control (ETC) and Emergency brake Assist (EBA) to name a few.
The E-PACE is a key vehicle integral to the expansion of Jaguar Land Rover’s global manufacturing footprint and together with engineering and manufacturing specialist Magna Steyr in Austria, production would be commencing in 2018.
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