- Doors and Seats
5 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
2.0DT, 4 cyl.
- Engine Power
132kW, 430Nm
- Fuel
Diesel 5.3L/100KM
- Manufacturer
4WD
- Transmission
Auto
- Warranty
3 Yr, 100000 KMs
- Ancap Safety
5/5 star (2017)
Jaguar F-Pace review: 20,000km of ownership
You know what my wife and I love about our Italian Racing Red Jaguar F-Pace? The fact that we’ve never seen another one like ours on the road.
No doubt, Jaguar is less enthusiastic of that particular fact than we are, but after more than 18 months of ownership and more than 20,000km on the clock, our F-Pace is still very much loved.
Actually, that’s not entirely true. My wife complains consistently that ‘it’s not an SVR’ – for 18 months I have been able to tell her that they don’t make the F-Pace with that glorious 5.0-litre supercharged V8, but now that would be a lie. But that’s a different story.
Yes, our 132kW 2.0-litre turbo-diesel is in a different league of existence compared to a force-fed petrol V8, but with 430Nm of torque and a decent ZF8 transmission, it has always proven itself to be far more than we need both on the highway and around town. Seriously, you don’t need any more power or torque, but you certainly want a better noise than the diesel tractor sound we get from ours.
I have to be 100 per cent honest, I was expecting the Jaguar to have many more problems by now, and I am almost disappointed that it has been bulletproof (knock on wood). I feel like I have missed out on the stereotypical Jaguar ownership experience of being back at the dealer weekly because, well, nothing has gone wrong.
Well, okay, so a small piece of plastic came loose, and the infotainment system needed an update… Oh, and it ran out of AdBlue… But that’s seriously it. What the hell? Who made this? The Japanese?
Something worth noting is that despite having a 24-month service interval, I actually serviced my F-Pace at around 12 months, much to the confusion of the dealer. I don't know about you, but QLD summers and almost 15,000km on the odo’ made me nervous to wait another whole year, and for a few hundred dollars for the oil change, it made that mechanical OCD side of me feel much better at night.
So what has happened to it since new? Well, let’s recap for a second. I had the rear bumper painted gloss black to match the rest of the ‘black pack’. I still do not understand why Jaguar leaves the bumper unpainted, as it looks utterly stupid when the rest of the car’s highlights are gloss black.
I assume it’s to make it cheaper for an insurance repair if someone rear-ends it, but since it cost me just a few hundred dollars to have it painted – and how it looks about a thousand times better – it’s money well spent.
The other things I had done were the brake callipers. You may notice in night photos in this article (which were taken recently) the callipers are now colour-matched red. Which, with the black wheels, really helps the wheels and car pop (I think so anyway – my wife thinks I am an idiot, but what’s new about that?).
What’s more interesting is that having our two young boys in the car (aged three and six) in the back seat has not left a single mark on the leather seats. Seriously, they have vomited on them and smeared everything you can imagine on the back seats and they look brand-new.
As per the previous post over a year ago, my one and only regret with the F-Pace remains not going for the larger 22-inch wheels and not optioning up the adaptive suspension.
The F-Pace rides pretty poorly on the 20s with standard suspension. However – and acknowledging that it’s a big family SUV – on the random occasion when I get to drive it without the 'handbrake' in the car, I push it pretty hard and am always impressed by just how great it handles. It really is only behind the Macan in terms of dynamic ability in this segment.
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READ & WATCH: Jaguar F-Pace v Porsche Macan
About six months ago, the folks at Always Dry came and did a ceramic coating on the F-Pace’s exterior paint. Since then, it has been glowing shiny with glee. We haven’t washed it as often as we need to, and when it is clean it really sparkles to life. There'll be a full review of that at a later date, but so far so good.
Overall, we’ve been tremendously happy with our Jaguar F-Pace. We bought it on style alone, and even to this day whenever I see it, it makes me smile. It’s a beautiful car from all angles.
It’s also pretty damn reliable (I am really testing fate here), which has been a big surprise for us, but that’s perhaps just poor prejudices that have no place in today’s world.
We are likely going to keep it for another year at the very least. However, my wife and I are seriously eyeing off the Jaguar F-Pace SVR, because it comes with everything we already love, plus the crackles and the roller-coaster ride that the big V8 offers.
Besides, for its roughly $160K on-road price, the F-Pace SVR feels like a bit of bargain. Kind of...
Options:
- Italian Racing Red/Jet Red seats – $1383
- Interior mood lighting – $152
- Gesture tailgate – $200
- 20-inch black wheels – $1615
- Air quality sensor – $155
- Keyless entry – $1395
- Panoramic roof – $2615
- Climate front and heated rear seats – $1769
- Premium carpet mats – $230
- Gloss figured ebony veneer – $320