MOTORING – I - PACE JAGUAR
I arrived at Thyme at Southrop Manor to be greeted by a stunning line-up of Jaguar’s all-electric car the I-PACE, which stopped me in my tracks – the car in reality is far sexier than its pictures. It’s one of the many cars that have to be seen in the flesh to really appreciate the curves, defined edges and other design cues that make it really quite special to look at.
Late for the dinner, thanks to my workload, I saw the other influencers and lifestyle journos sipping something special, so quickly ran and changed before making it to the intimate, yet fun dinner. Around the table were male models turned influencers, a woman who runs a man’s website – get that – and other interesting characters who all agreed that the car was extremely striking.
I’ll hold my hands up; I wasn’t ready to fall in love with ‘electric’. For one, where I live in the sticks my broadband and landline present me with issues – BT!!! Was I ready to add charging a car to the line-up when topping it up in five minutes at one of the many fuel stations is so easy? Electric really wasn’t on my speed dating list! However, sitting in the 400PS Electric S, which was space age in its interior design, but in an extremely classy way, this lady was certainly for turning…
I switched the car on…then checked and tried to switch it on again…Tom, my gorgeous Jaguar friend, kindly informed me, “It’s on Katie, it’s just quiet – unlike you at dinner!” This car was on? Crickey! He then explained that it emits a sound at low speed that guide dogs can sense so that they are aware of the vehicle in order to keep their owners safe. Much needed I think!
The ‘creep mode’ was on (you can turn it off in the settings) giving the feel of a conventional automatic, but a word of caution, electric motors deliver maximum torque from 0rpm and the I-PACE develops up to 696Nm, almost the same as the F-TYPE SVR’s supercharged V8 – so launch performance is strong to say the least! The regenerative braking system took just a few minutes to get used to; when you lift your foot off the accelerator you recharge the battery to maximise range and this leads to an almost single pedal style of driving that means you brake, or rather slow down, as you take your foot off the accelerator. There is still a brake which you can use for urgent stops etc. When you are used to it you’ll wish you had it on your regular car, trust me! I drove away in awe of the silence!
If you think electric means compromising on performance, you are as wrong as I was. This Jaguar takes off when you hit the accelerator, trust me, there’s no compromise here and the AWD (all wheel drive) means that it can handle anything the road throws at it backed up by Low Traction Launch, Hill Launch Assist and All Surface Progress Control. It’s responsive, supremely comfortable thanks to 8-way front seats and the infotainment offering is superb with clear, touchscreen offering with all the latest tech you would want on a great 12.3” Interactive Driver Display!
The car keeps you up to speed with your charge or power, and after 2hrs and 40 minutes of driving to Daylesford for lunch and a cookery school followed by an hour and 20 minutes back, I still had enough in the tank – make that generator - to get back to Warwickshire and some!
I went from ‘not my type’ to lusting after this vehicle that I can honestly say would be a dream to own. It’s responsible motoring, it’s considered driving, there’s no compromise on performance or design, in fact this is one hell of a stylish car to own. It makes being responsible very, very sexy and rewarding, now who would have thought that?
Review by Katie McPhilimey To book your own personal test drive contact:
LISTERS JAGUAR SOLIHULL 639 STRATFORD ROAD, SHIREY, SOLIHULL B90 4BA 0121 745 0777
https://listers.co.uk/jaguar/solihull
LISTERS JAGUAR DROITWICH KIDDERMINSTER ROAD, DROITWICH, WORCESTERSHIRE, WR9 9AY 01905 797777
https://listers.co.uk/jaguar/droitwich
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