2018 Jaguar F-Pace vs 2019

What's the difference?

Stylish, practical and a hoot to drive fast, the F-Pace S 35t fills so many briefs it could be an underwear model. It could be louder and more comfortable, though, and the options list can be terrifying.

I've driven a few F-Paces over the years and really like the rear-wheel drive. The diesel V6 all-wheel drive is certainly fast but not as light as the smaller petrol. The diesel four-cylinders are good but can't match the petrol's smoothness. The fuel economy of the petrol is impressive, too. Hilariously, the F-Pace is lighter than the smaller E-Pace, and you can really feel it.

For under eighty grand (options notwithstanding), this is a lot of car with a badge that folks seem to love. Tell them it's a Jaguar and watch their eyes light up. Take them for a ride and watch their jaws drop when you tell them it's a four-cylinder. It's a heady mix of prestige (sorry) and the fact it's a cracking good car.

No doubt about it, the F-Pace was the best-looking SUV on sale (in fact, our very own Richard Berry declared it as such). But that was until the arrival of its Range Rover sibling, the drop-dead gorgeous Velar.

But even now, it would have to be battling it out for second position. Viewed front on, its wide and 3D-effect grille is framed by J-shaped DRLs and this domed bonnet that hints at the F-Pace’s performance potential.

Side-on, massive 20-inch alloys are wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero rubber, while the view from the back captures the dual exhaust tips, roof-mounted spoiler and a sharply raked rear window.

In the cabin, the materials aren't quite up to the standards of newer JLR product (we’re looking at you, Velar), but it’s a very clean, very modern feeling space. The single screen in the centre of the cabin is big, bright and easy to use. Soft touch materials (though they feel a touch old-fashioned ) cover the dash, and the steering wheel is wrapped in lovely leather.

There’s some nice design flourishes, too, like the polished silver elements in the door panels, but it’s not as tech-laden as some of its competitors.

The F-Pace's design is a product of one of two clear streams of design at Jaguar. While the smaller E-Pace picks up on the F-Type sports cars aesthetic, the F-Pace - somehow - gets away with the slim headlights familiar from the XF and XE sedans.

It's an impressive piece of work and with the black pack with black paint looks reasonably menacing. Or it would if the wheels were bigger, they look a bit underdone even though they're 19-inches. Easy fixed with a ticked box at your Jag dealer.

The interior is also very much from the sedan sketchbook. The rotary dial, the (deliberately) slightly off-dead-centre steering wheel and the speedboat line that sweeps from door to door in an elegant line across the car.

It could be an XF if you didn't sit so high and you didn't have so much glass around you. That seems important to me because it feels like Jaguar, which is what you want when you spend the money.

Something this good looking shouldn't be this practical. It'd be like flipping Brad Pitt's head open to reveal two cupholders, or discovering Angelina Jolie comes with 745 litres of luggage space. The F-Pace might not be the most practical offering in the segment, but it can carry more stuff and people in more comfort than anything this pretty probably has any right to.

Up front, the cabin is airy and spacious. There are two cupholders hidden beneath a sliding cover, plus another secondary (though quite small) storage bin that separates the front seats, home to the F-Pace’s USB and HDMI inputs, as well as a 12-volt power source. There’s room in each of the front doors for bottles, and quite a large glove box, too.

Climb into the back seat, and there is plenty of room to stretch your legs. Sitting behind my own (178cm) driving position, there’s about 15cm of clear air between my knees and the seat in front. Likewise, there’s plenty of headroom, despite the (optional) sunroof eating into the space a bit.

There's plenty of room across the back of the car for three passengers, but legroom is going to be an issue for the middle rider, with a double whammy of a raised floor section combining with jutting out climate controls, both of which will impact legroom.

Backseat riders can make use of their own climate controls, as well as two 12-volt power sources. A pull-down divider separates the back seat, and is also home to two cupholders. There are two ISOFIX attachment points, one in each window seat in the back.

The auto-opening boot reveals a 508-litre storage space (down from 650 litres in other markets, thanks to inclusion of a space saver spare here), but dropping the 40/20/40 split-fold back seat from the easy-reach controls in the boot will approximately triple that volume.

There’s a 12-volt power source in the boot, as well as luggage hooks. The speed-limited space-saver spare is hidden under a flat load shelf in the boot.

It's a big car and it's big inside. The F-Pace feels like it should be able to take seven seats, but the floorpan won't allow for it, so it's a fiver.

That seems to disappoint a lot of people, and I can understand why. I imagine it has been a disappointment for Jaguar too - they probably know hardly anyone ever uses third row seats, but something in people's heads convinces them they need the extra two.

Despite the racy angle on the rear glass, you start with 508 litres of boot space, rising to 1740 litres when you fold the 40/20/40 split rear seats.

Front seat passengers have a ton of headroom even if there's a sunroof and you've got a pair of cupholders that you can hide away under a folding lid. Under the centre stack is a spot for your phone and the central armrest covers a good-sized bin.

Out back you've got a central armrest with a pair of cupholders (taking the total to four) and like the front doors, there are bottle holders on each side, again for a total of four. Two will be happy back there and a third won't be massively unhappy, so it's a true five-seater.

Rear seat passengers score 12-volt power outlets and air-conditioning vents.

The Prestige is available with diesel and petrol power as well as rear-wheel or all-wheel drive. My cat for the week was a the Prestige 25t which is the 184kW version of the petrol engine and came in rear-wheel drive. So certainly not the entry level, but the Prestige is the first of four grades.

The 25t comes standard with 19-inch alloys, 11-speaker Meridian system with a 10.0-inch touchscreen, auto xenon headlights and auto wipers, heated and folding rear vision mirrors, leather seats, electric driver's seat, dual-zone climate control, sat nav, power tailgate, cruise control and a space-saver spare.

The 'InControl' software and hardware continues to improve, with its new-ish tiled interface proving very easy to use on the huge screen. The sat nav is still a bit dense, but is a marked improvement on earlier cars and you can skip it altogether because you get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Added to the standard spec on this car was keyless entry ($1890!), a 'Drive Pack' which includes adaptive cruise, blind spot monitoring and high-speed AEB for $1740, heated front seats ($840) black wheels for $840, black pack for $760, larger 350mm front brakes for $560, and a few bits and bobs taking the total to $84,831.

To my dying day I will never work out how some really useful safety features cost less than a thing that unlocks the car when you touch the handle.

The headline act here is the thumping supercharged V6 that helps give this performance-focused F-Pace its smile-inducing personality.

The 3.0-litre engine produces 280kW at 6500rpm and 450Nm at 4500rpm, sending its power to all four wheels via a slick eight-speed auto transmission. Those numbers translate to a 0-100km/h sprint of 5.5secs (not bad for a 1.8-tonne SUV), and will push the F-Pace on to a 250km/h top speed.

That engine pairs with a torque vectoring system borrowed from the F-Type, which can apply gentle braking to the inside wheel when cornering, helping the F-Pace stay glued to the driving line. A 'Configurable Dynamics' system (which isn't the sexiest name) also allows you to cycle through driving modes, adding weight to the steering, sharpening throttle response and tuning the gearing to its sportiest setting.

The Prestige and Portfolio F-Paces are available with four engine specs. The 25t translates to the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol with 184kW/365Nm. That's a lot, even with a substantial - if light for the segment - 1710kg to push along.

You can choose AWD but this RWD Prestige shares the same ZF eight-speed automatic with the rest of the range.

The 0-100km/h sprint is covered in a swift 7.0 seconds flat and you can tow up to 2400kg with a braked trailer.

Well, there's always a flip-side to prodigious power, and that is inevitable pain at the bowser. That said, Jaguar claims this go-fast F-Pace will sip 8.9L/100km on the combined cycle, which isn't too bad (though if you drive it the way you will definitely drive it, you can expect that number to climb considerably).

Emissions are a claimed 209g/km of C02, and the F-Pace is home to a 63-litre tank.

Jaguar's official claim suggest you can consume Premium unleaded at the rate of 7.4L/100km on a combined (urban, extra-urban) cycle. And, as it turns out, it's not too far off.

In the week I spent punting around the burbs with a bit of freeway running, I got 9.2L/100km, which is commendable for such a big unit.

The mark of a genuinely sporty SUV is that you can forget you’re driving an SUV at all, and even the lightest touch of the F-Pace’s super-sensitive accelerator teleports you into a low-slung sports car.

The power on offer from that thumping V6 is so ample that, in day-to-day driving, you’re only feathering the throttle, with the the tiniest of inputs enough to get you up and moving, while a millimetre more unlocks enough punch to overtake with ease.

But flatten the pedal and the F-Pace lunges forward with startling pace, accompanied by this strange soundtrack (less a guttural grumble, more an orchestral hum) from under the bonnet, both of which serve to whisk you away from the boring world of practical SUVs, at least while you keep the pedal pinned.

The suspension isn’t perfect. In its harshest setting, you can really feel the bad bits of road enter the cabin, and even in its softest settings it can be caught out by badly broken surfaces. It is not as comfortable or as cosseting as some luxury SUVs can be, and the sporty, figure hugging seats are less comfortable on longer drives. But that’s a price I’m willing to pay.

The flip-side, though, is that the F-Pace feels always dynamic. There’s very little roll in the body, the steering is sharp and direct, and it feels far more low-slug than it actually is.

Sportiness is only part of the story, and at city speeds the F-Pace is an easy drive. The vision out of every window is fabulous, there’s ample room in the back seat, and it's really more fun - and more dynamic - than something this practical deserves to be.

One downside, though, is that it’s easy to catch the attention of the traction control. If you’re turning while going over a speed bump, for example, or accelerating too hard from a standing-start corner, the nanny will step in, sucking power away from your right foot for a couple of noticeable seconds before letting you get back on your way.

A big, luxury SUV without all the toys has no business being as much fun as the F-Pace.

This mid-spec four-cylinder engine (there's a supercharged V6 and supercharged V8 as well) produces plenty of grunt to push the big cat around.

At the same time, it's an unbelievably smooth unit, with an unusual mix of sounds producing a unique engine note.

The torque curve is basically flat and the eight-speed transmission is well-tuned to handle it. It moves around town very smartly and the only criticism I have is that it would be nicer if the traction control could be a little looser. Even in Dynamic mode, it can be a bit of a killjoy. 

I really prefer this rear-wheel drive version of the F-Pace. It's a bit lighter and the steering is a little more clear-eyed (not that the AWD isn't).

It feels a more pointy even on these relatively balloony 255/55 tyres. On the flipside, the ride is pretty good to go with the handling.

While it isn't pillowy-smooth it's never upsetting and I genuinely find it difficult to justify the air suspension on the lower-end cars.

I couldn't really pick the bigger brakes but I'm sure they're welcome if you're carrying a lot of weight or towing, so they're probably worth the extra few bucks.

The keyless entry isn't and I'd definitely go with the 'Drive Pack' and its extra safety equipment.

The cabin itself is super quiet and the Meridian-branded sound system pretty good once you learn to navigate the big screen. The hardware for the InControl is almost there, too, with residual jitters persisting when you swipe to another screen and achingly slow sat nav response to inputs.

Unlike some of its Range Rover brethren, you get Android Auto/Apple CarPlay into the bargain.

The F-Pace packs six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, reversing camera, lane keep assist, front and rear parking sensors and low-speed AEB.

Extra safety features are available in the 'Driver Pack' my car had, but it would be nice if a couple of these - especially blind spot monitoring - were standard at this level.

If you're taking the kiddies with you, there are three top-tether anchors and two ISOFIX points.

The F-Pace scored a maximum five ANCAP stars in December 2017.

The F-Pace S is covered by a three-year/100,000km warranty, and will require a trip to the service centre every 12 months or 26,000km. Jaguar also allows you to prepay your service costs for up to five years or 130,000km, with a service plan currently priced at $1800.

Jaguar might be offering the same sort of warranty as the rest of the premium makers, but the mainstream makers are making everyone look a bit stingy.

What used to be par for the course, Jag offers a three-year/100,000km warranty with roadside assist to match.

Jaguar offers up-front servicing plans for up to five years/130,000km which helps you control the cost at around $350/year, which isn't bad at all. Service intervals are an impressive 12 months/26,000km.