Long Term Review: 2018 Jaguar E-Pace Introduction

We just spent a month driving around Volvo’s V90 Cross Country in diesel trim, a fun, frugal wagon that impressed all of us. But we know that diesel sedans and wagons alike are a pretty slim part of the market, so we decided to check out the other side of Jaguar’s coin. For the next two weeks, we’ll be driving a 2018 Jaguar E-Pace. In today’s SUV and crossover obsessed world, the E-Pace is already the brand’s best seller, and if history and the Porsche Cayenne is any indication, it’ll hopefully help finance the sort of lust-worthy but low-volume cars we all love so much. In the meantime, we’ll be finding out what all those new Jag owners are getting themselves into.

What we got

Our particular E-Pace is very close to fully loaded. Outside, it’s coated in deep, vibrant Caesium Blue, a hue that was originally intended only for the E-Pace First Edition but popular demand made it more widely available. It’s accented with the “Black Package,” option which swaps out shiny chrome trim on the grille, window surround and fender vents for gloss black pieces.

Our E-Pace’s sporty appearance is complemented by an athletic engine. The F-Pace R Dynamic (starting price R892 400) comes with the most powerful engine currently available, a 2.0-liter supercharged good for 221kW and 400Nm of torque. Like all E-Pace models, all-wheel drive and an 9-speed automatic transmission are standard. Also, because this is the R-Dynamic model, our E-Pace has the ability to store a custom configuration for the steering and suspension.

Most of the options on our E-Pace are convenience items such as the “Comfort and Convenience Package” that adds heated and cooled front seats, heated and power-reclining rear seats, remote levers for folding those seats, and a powered, hands-free-opening hatch. The “Luxury Interior Package” adds configurable ambient lighting, four-zone climate control, a lockable glovebox, a pair of 12V power sockets in the rear, illuminated door sill plates, a suedecloth headliner and fancier floor mats. The “Driver Assistance Package” and “Technology Package” and provided us with Jaguar’s top-of-the-line Touch Pro infotainment system, Wi-Fi, a Meridian sound system, navigation, parking sensors, 360-degree cameras, and adaptive cruise control. Finally, we also chose the panoramic sunroof and head up display. Altogether, our options brought the price tag to R1 006 600.

What we skipped

As we mentioned, this E-Pace has nearly every option. The only ones we left out were the tow hitch, wheel locks, some cargo management trinkets. We’re not planning on towing anything during the F-Pace’s stay, we hope no one’s going to jack our wheels (knock on wood), and we don’t expect to have much issue keeping our cargo in place.

Why we got it

There are few reasons for this. First of course is that it’s Jaguar’s best-selling vehicle (we predict) and it’s important to see how it will perform over an extended period of time. Plus, since it’s based on the same platform as the XE, we’re curious to see how it compares to the little Jaguar sedan. That XE diesel is also the impetus behind choosing the E-Pace.

Questions

We’ve got the car for a while, so we’ll have plenty of time to answer any questions you have. Feel free to ask in the comments.

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Papi Mabele

Papi Mabele has a marketing background, he is a digital marketing expert with extensive experience in launching and building global brands in the emerging markets. Papi is also an avid tech writer, enthusiast and all round tech junkie. As a freelance writer and analyst he has been numerously published in Popular Mechanics (SA), GQ South Africa, Premier Magazine, Driven Magazine, Bloem News, Courant, The Weekly, Enthooze Magazine and PiE magazine amongst others.