Jaguar I-Pace 2018 review

Electric cars are free of the cumbersome, non-negotiable elements of an internal-combustion drivetrain, and so they can pretty much look however a designer wants them to. Sure enough, the Jaguar I-Pace - which began life as a blank piece of paper in a designer's sketchpad - was originally going to showcase all the weird and wonderful things an EV design could be. 

But then Jaguar had a change of heart, and the design team instead opted for a much more conventional look. Sure, parts of the bodywork have been dictated by aerodynamics, but mostly it's a car that looks like a car should, and one that isn't all that radically removed from the rest of the Jaguar stable.

For mine, that was absolutely the right decision. Talking people into electric cars is a hard enough sell without designing something that looks like it fell off the set of The Jetsons. The car world wasn't exactly swooning when pics of this I-Pace were first released, but for mine, it looks much better in the metal. And viewed from the front or rear, it looks pretty great. It does stretch the definition of the term "SUV", though, looking more like a sedan-hatch mix.

Mostly it's a car that looks like a car should, and one that isn't all that radically removed from the rest of the Jaguar stable.

"EVs are not a quirky idea anymore," Jaguar's chief exterior designer, Matthew Beaven, told CarsGuide. "It's going to be the future, so the design shouldn't have to try so hard."

Viewed front-on, the I-Pace looks very conventional indeed. The engine bay is still there (though now it's home to soft-bag storage), and there's even the traditional silver-ringed mesh grille - albeit tucked in at the top to feed cold air onto the car's battery-cooling systems. 

Inside, the cabin debuts Jag's new "flight deck" dash design; a two-tier digital system that integrates a sizeable touchscreen with the digital aircon controls. It's an insanely complicated system (really, it takes A LOT of getting used to) but it looks mighty fine.

The materials in our test cars were all sumptuous and lovely, too, with a fine mix of soft leathers lining the dash and doors, and that sense of premium extends to the rear seats, where backseat riders are also ensconced in luxurious-feeling surrounds. 

The materials in our test cars were all sumptuous and lovely, too, with a fine mix of soft leathers lining the dash and doors.

Jaguar makes a point of referring to its I-Pace as a "performance SUV" - at least partly to tackle the ludicrous antics of the Tesla Model X - and it is seriously quick and seriously accomplished when you drive it in anger. 

One of the very coolest things about electrification is the new and utterly bizarre style of performance it unlocks, and the I-Pace makes full use of it. Plant your foot and there's no pausing to gather its wits. Instead the I-Pace lunges forward, attacking the road ahead with a ferocity that, while you're still getting used to it, genuinely makes you laugh out loud.

The ride is really impressive, and the cabin, unsurprisingly, is quiet.

The overall numbers on offer aren't outrageous - especially for the EV world - but it's the way that power is delivered that makes you smile. Breathe on the accelerator, and every ounce of torque arrives in this crowding rush, so much so that you end up covering the distance between corners in a way that feels far faster than a conventional car. It's weird, of course, but it's most definitely a good kind of weird. 

Engaging 'Dynamic' firms up the suspension and adds weight to the (not hugely talkative steering), and with everything firmed up, the I-Pace feels super flat and composed in tight corners, and you really need to push it to elicit a warning squeal from the tyres. The standard torque-vectoring system does a massively commendable job of warding off understeer, athough it can't work miracles. 

It does feel heavy, of course, and even the all-new and all-aluminium body structure can't totally compensate for the 600kg of extra battery weight, but they are housed down and low and spread out in a way that allows Jaguar to claim a perfect 50/50 weight distribution. Still, you can feel the extra weight, with slow-speed stuff especially feeling like its bulk is following you into corners. 

Jaguar even unleashed us upon a water crossing, and the I-Pace conquered with absolute ease.

But it's away from the red mist of a racetrack or a twisting road where the Jaguar is perhaps most impressive. For one, you cant help but notice the staggering normality of the drive experience. We covered plenty of low-speed and freeway suff, tootling through and between villages and towns, and provided you're a little gentle with the super-reactive throttle, it's a calm and comfortable experience.

Jaguar even unleashed us upon a water crossing (a substance that famously mixes well with electricity) and up a scrabbling off-road hill climb, and the I-Pace conquered all with absolute ease. 

The ride is really impressive, and the cabin, unsurprisingly, is quiet. So much so that you can actually dial up how much car noise you want in the cabin, just in case the silence creeps you out. Bad road surfaces do send plenty of tyre noise into the cabin, though. 

Our test cars had some quirks, though. The air-conditioning gave out on the right side of the cabin, for example, not long before a colleague was unable to deactivate his seat heater. Another vehicle developed a worrying vibration under hard acceleration, too. 

Jaguar's standard three-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty applies to the I-Pace, and the service intervals are an impressive 24 months or 34,000kms. Or to put it in the words of one Jaguar executive, "we don't want to see our customers for two years".

Jaguar is also in the process of rolling out 150 fast-charging points across its dealership network, all of which will be available for customers to use.