Jaguar iPace roadshow

[Col Lamb]

Went over to my nearby Jaguar dealership to have a look at the iPace.

Looks good, the external fit and finish of the one car they had certainly was impressive, close panels and a paintwork finish that seemed pretty good.

Inside the multi way sports seats were reasonably comfortable, but not sure if they would have the precise range of adjustments as our 14/18 ways.

Seating position good with far better all round vision than a Macan.

Tech was certainly impressive.

Now the downsides.

Quality of leather and plastics the same as the F Pace hence right up there with Merc, BMW, Volvo etc but way behind Porsche.

Price, basic on the road cost of a 400bhp equivalent version £69k, with the extras this car was £82k so exactly the same as a the low powered version of the Tesla Model X.
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[Wing Commander]

Shiny black plastic on the steering wheel likely to be a fingerprint magnet...

[johnd]

My second I-Pace roadshow last Wednesday and nothing tempting me to withdraw my deposit. I-Pace still seems to be in a class of its own as the only premium, medium-sized SUV/EV out there. Everything else Tesla-wise or among the pending EV launches seems to be (relatively) huge, which I really don't like, and often high-end expensive too.

So I'm pretty sold on everything about the I-Pace but want to test-drive before finally confirming the order. If I was nit-picking:

• Central displays seem a bit garish, but that may just have been the show mode that was constantly cycling through all available views;
• Not 100% sure about the (fixed) pano roof with no blind. Looks pretty costly to replace if it ever got cracked and could it ever be replaced to give the same structural integrity as when new? I know the answer's probably yes (what else are they going to say?), but still a slightly nagging concern.
• Spare wheel only available as loose in the boot, or something like that. I think it has a cover and I can't believe it's not secured somehow, but there's no well for it apparently - that's where the rear motor is.
• Driver's door panel seemed a bit close to right elbow and the central console still intrudes significantly on the footwell. (I think what's happening is that the cab has been pushed forward in the bodyshell and some of the electronics control gear now resides above the front motor. So there's still something substantial below the central part of the dash). It's not really an issue at all, but just slightly surprised that there wasn't more footwell space.

I'm know I'm in a class of one, but I don't personally find the Macan 14-way seats specially comfortable. In part you seem to sit close to the steering wheel even with the seat fully back and then have to have the seats pretty low to have enough space between wheel (fully up) and seat. As a result, I don't personally find the hip or back angle totally comfortable. Can't tell of course without a good test-drive, but suspect I'll find the I-Pace an improvement.

Leather etc quality: TBH it's not something that bothers me hugely - I don't pretend to be a connoisseur of such things. I don't have the leather dash in the Macan so I-Pace will be a step up. The Macan buttons all seem to be really nicely engineered so I'll definitely miss that strangely satisfying click action, but the ergonomics of the multitude of buttons is something else altogether.

[Cjm360]

I wouldn’t take much notice of fit or finish on these show cars, JLR employ an outside consultancy firm to over see prep of these cars, an SVR RR Sport had 2500 man hours of body shop work to pass inspection and that was on a finished car, before it was released for showing.
The production line cars won’t be any where near these, and JLR’s customer service and after care is cr*p.

[MikeM]

Thanks for the photos and impression Col. I am going to take a look but not sure if I will be swayed, somewhat uncomfortable with JLR product and the aftercare quality when compared to that which I enjoy. Rather unimpressed by their solution for handling a spare wheel requirement, the fixed pano roof is also on a number of LR Vehicles and guessing a replacement need would mean you've rolled it Which would actually put the full weight of the battery above you or even So no worries then. For the moment still going to stay with changing for to my Macan 2

[Col Lamb]

Being an Engineer by profession, innovation and development is nothing new to me and hence it is why I am and probably always be very cautious about buying a Mark 1 product.

The iPace drive system will be totally new to the whole of JLR, so a potential future problem may lie therein, however it may be that these will be bought in products as no doubt the likes of ZF will be frantically developing drive systems for EVs since there is unlikely to be any significant long term car gearbox manufacture as we know it.

This is where Tesla have the current advantage, they have had enough paying Beta testers of their cars to undertake the incremental delelopment of their products. As such the current range will be pretty well tried and tested.

It will take time for Jaguar and the other manufacturers to catch up, but they will, Tesla will have to outsource its production to China to meet the demand just a Jag are having the iPace built at Magna Steyr in Gratz where Mercs, & the Mini Countryman are currently built.

[Deleted User 1874]

Okay, I really like EVs, so that's a very big plus for me. I could live with the exterior styling, but it's not exactly amazing. But the interior isn't doing anything for me. Obviously hard to tell from photos, but dare I say it looks a bit cheap and plasticky. Integration of digital displays looks like an afterthought and the centre console looks like it belongs to a different car altogether. Not exactly interior of the future is it? But hey, if it gets Jaguar fans into EVs then I'm all for it!

As a side, what's the point of a start/stop button in an EV? There's no engine to start or stop.

[Col Lamb]

Okay, I really like EVs, so that's a very big plus for me. I could live with the exterior styling, but it's not exactly amazing. But the interior isn't doing anything for me. Obviously hard to tell from photos, but dare I say it looks a bit cheap and plasticky. Integration of digital displays looks like an afterthought and the centre console looks like it belongs to a different car altogether. Not exactly interior of the future is it? But hey, if it gets Jaguar fans into EVs then I'm all for it!

As a side, what's the point of a start/stop button in an EV? There's no engine to start or stop.

You are 100% right about the interior, if you look at a C class Merc then you get a good idea of the quality or rather lack of in the materials.

The layout of the whole dash does remind me of the designs by committee that British Leyland used to do.

As for the start/stop button a 200amp double pole MCB would be more appropriate for an EV.

[MikeM]

This should do the trick

[SAC1]