- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
Perm Magnet, LI
- Engine Power
294kW, 696Nm
- Fuel
48h 0m chg, 446km range
- Manufacturer
4WD
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
5 Yr, 200000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
5/5 star (2018)
2019 Jaguar I-Pace SE long-term review: Farewell
With just over 11,000km on the clock, it's time to bid farewell to our electric long-termer, the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace SE.
We've been full circle with the I-Pace. We went from never living with an electric vehicle through to owning one for a little over seven months, installing EV infrastructure at home and performing a full suite of tests with the car.
And, unsurprisingly, it's just like owning any other car. We did run into some issues with hardware and reliability of the charging connection, but these issues were promptly solved by Jaguar.
In terms of things we didn't like:
- The infotainment system was our main gripe. On cold starts it would take an eternity to boot and be ready for system inputs, which was frustrating if you were in a hurry.
- The application to remotely access the car was great, but we'd love to see the ability to drive the car without the key. This would have come in handy when I accidentally left the key on the roof and drove off!
- Over-the-air updates were limited to the infotainment system during our ownership. We understand that Jaguar has now implemented a proper over-the-air update system.
- The location of the charger was a little awkward. If you drove forwards into a charging bay, it wasn't always easy to stretch the cable around the car.
Things we loved:
- The car itself is amazing to drive – feeling sporting and on its toes constantly. But equally, it's comfortable, turns heads and, of course, emits nothing.
- The asking price brings with it five years of warranty, servicing and free charging, which makes this an exceptional deal if you are in the market for a premium electric vehicle that doesn't really compromise on anything.
- There's stacks of room inside. The second row is comfortable and spacious, both for adults and children.
- When our photographer had a minor accident in the car, parts to fix the damage were available quickly – this is the opposite experience most Tesla owners have in terms of local parts supply.
- While it didn't have remote drive capability, the application was an awesome way to interact with the car and start the climate control – very handy in the height of summer and the depths of winter.
How efficient is the Jaguar I-Pace?
Our summer driving range peaked at around 470km (in line with WLTP) and the winter driving range peaked at around 360km, which was around where we thought it would be as temperatures dropped.
Our average energy consumption over the last 6000km (the meter was inadvertently reset during a software update when the car went in for fixes) was 24.1kWh/100km.
The experience actually showed us that you should take what some journalists say about owning an EV with a grain of salt.
Not once did we ever measure or wonder how long the car would take to charge – this is almost always the first question or complaint you hear. We literally would arrive home, plug the car in and walk away.
Second to that, longer drives took only minutes of planning to figure out whether we needed a charge along the way, or whether we needed to charge at our destination.
There's no doubt that at the moment, an electric vehicle won't be for everybody.
They are comparatively more expensive than their internal combustion peers, and the available range won't work for those that drive above-average long distances daily outside of a fast-charge network.
But, for most Australians they meet the quota for range, and as battery prices continue to fall they will become more affordable.
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Would I buy an I-Pace? Absolutely.
It's incredibly quick, very fun to drive, and in my opinion it looks damn good. We've enjoyed our time with the Jaguar I-Pace SE, and look forward to seeing more EVs on the road.
MORE: Long-term report one: Introduction
MORE: Long-term report two: Living with an EV in an apartment
MORE: Long-term report three: Infotainment and connectivity
MORE: Long-term report four: Range anxiety... What's that?
MORE: Long-term report five: Off the beaten track
MORE: I-Pace news, reviews, comparisons and videos
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