After much teasing, including giving us the price nearly a month before showing us the car, Jaguar has finally rolled out the E-Pace subcompact SUV. That's barrel-rolled, as Jaguar revealed the new model by having stunt driver Terry Grant putt it through a James Bond-style barrel roll jump.
The all-new E-Pace SUV looks, unsurprisingly, like it's big brother the F-Pace. But if you're going to emulate an SUV for style, that's a great place to crib from. It clearly shares a design language with the rest of the brand, wearing the Jaguar grille and taillights prominently.
Jaguar calls the look muscular and curvaceous. We say it looks exactly as a Jaguar CUV should.
Jaguar Design Director Ian Callum calls the design "more like an F-TYPE than an F-PACE." Callum said that the new vehicle was code-named the Cub in development, and as a tribute to that look for a jaguar and her cub in the windshield surround. Look closely though, and that cub looks more like a certain famous lion than it does a baby jaguar.
Inside, Jaguar has gotten more playful. The interior has touches like a jaguar print on the trunk mat, the cub on the windshield, and what they call a "chicane line" on the dash to represent the brand's racing history. The heating control dials are designed to look and feel like you're adjusting a high-quality camera lens. It has heavily bolstered seats, with fabric and multiple leather choices available. Contrast stitching is on the option sheet as well.
The E-Pace comes to Canada with all-wheel drive standard. From launch, there are three models and two engine choices. E-Pace and the first-year only E-Pace First Edition come with a 2.0L turbo four that makes 247 hp. Jaguar claims 0-100 km/h in 7.0 seconds. R-Dynamic comes with a version of the same engine boosted to 296 hp and able to propel the E-Pace to 100 in 6.4 seconds.
The E-Pace has adaptive damping to improve the driving experience. The rear suspension is shared with the sedans but made more compact to allow more space both inside for passengers and outside to allow more wheel travel. An Active Driveline system is available that routes more power to the rear. Or as Jaguar said, "power-on oversteer and controlled drifts."
The E-Pace has emergency braking, lane keeping assist, and front and rear parking aids standard, with more driver assists like radar cruise control optional. E-Pace models can be had as base, S, and SE trims. Base has fabric seats with S and SE adding leather. S adds LED headlights and SE has an 11-speaker audio system. R-Dynamic is available in S, SE, and HSE. HSE adds perforated leather seating surfaces and passive keyless entry.
A 12.3-inch colour display is available that replaces the conventional gauges with a customizable display. A full-colour head-up display is also available. The infotainment system is controlled from a 10.0-inch touchscreen that uses Jaguar's latest Touch Pro system that offers gestures support much like a phone's.
In the boot, this subcompact is far from small. It can hold a whopping 577L of cargo with the rear seats in place. With them folded it holds a nice sounding but small for the class 1,234L. It actually holds significantly more than the Audi Q3's 420 with the seats up, but 91L less with the seats down.
The 2018 Jaguar E-Pace is on sale now, starting from $42,700.
