Jaguar E-PACE D240 SE 2018 Review

Is there a car that captures the globalisation of the automotive industry better than the Jaguar E-PACE compact SUV?

Integrally British it may be, but these days Jaguar is Indian-owned and the E-PACE is built in Austria by independent contractor Magna-Steyr.

Get beyond the rounded skin, piercing headlights and large grille and you’ll find a steel platform shared with Jaguar sister company Land Rover Range Rover, ditto the Ingenium range of 2.0-litre turbo-petrol and diesel engines, nine-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive system.

The Jaguar E-PACE comes in a huge variety of choices in terms of equipment choices and engine outputs. The version we are testing has the intermediate SE trim specification and the highest diesel engine output at 177kW and 500Nm. We’ve avoided the R-Dynamic pack which adds a sporty body kit and other hang-on bits.

Standard safety equipment includes six airbags, low and high-speed autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control, blind-spot assist, lane-keep assist, a reversing camera, front and rear parking aids, parking assistance and LED headlights. The space-saver spare tyre is mounted on a steel wheel.

Comfort gear includes grained leather seats, 14-way powered memory front seats, a 10.0-inch media screen including sat-nav with a pinch-zoom function, a 380-watt Meridian sound system and a power tailgate. Apple and Android connection is a $420 optional extra.

A cool standard feature is the puddle lamps that show a Jaguar and cub walking across the countryside. Hey, it’s a different to just shining the logo on the ground.

Priced from $68,850 before on-road costs, our test E-PACE had nearly $5000 worth of extras, including a $2160 panoramic sunroof and $950 keyless entry (what the?), bumping it up to $73,510. That’s one thing about Jaguar, it has taken over from the Germans in terms of both range complexity and options gouging.

The E-PACE comes with a three-year/100,000km warranty that includes roadside assistance, basically the bare minimum these days. Jaguar offers a five-year/102,000km service plan for the diesel E-PACE, which costs $1500.

Given range pricing spreads from $47,750 to $83,733 and its vitals measures are 4395mm long, 1984mm wide and 1640mm high, the E-PACE can be shopped against a huge swathe of the compact and medium-sized SUV opposition. Below, we’ve listed the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, Audi Q5 and Volvo XC40 as competitors as a way of demonstrating just how broad that reach is. But we could have just as easily put the BMW X2, Mercedes-Benz GLC and – of course – the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport in there.

If there’s one thing that’s always struck me as curious about the E-PACE is its name. Yep, I get it’s smaller than the F-PACE, but shouldn’t E-PACE be the name of the new electric Jaguar cross-over, the I-PACE?

Anyway, back to the job at hand. The five-seat interior of the E-PACE is a workmanlike effort without being anything special. There’s no rising dials in the centre console, no wakening air-con vents in the dash. I would have loved some some flappy paddles for the shifter, but you only get those if you opt for R-Dynamic.

Space created front and rear is good enough for adults, although storage spaces aren’t that generous. The cupholders in the centre console are too small for bottles. Coffee cups only.

The boot is quite generous at 484 litres. Fold the rear seat down and you’ll get a full-size mountain bike in the back if you remove the front wheel. It is a tight fit though, so be prepared to wipe knobby marks off surfaces!

The controls lacked intuitive ease. Tuning in radio stations seemed an extraordinarily complicated affair; even turning off the headlights or zeroing the trip computer was a challenge. This clumsiness extended to the gear lever which on first pull often wouldn’t go into reverse. Fiddly stuff.

For some reason the infotainment system also took ages to wake up when the ignition was keyed and on occasion there was some hesitation to show the sat-nav screen or the reversing camera.

Speaking of hesitation, the primary driving issue with the D240 was low-rev engine lag. Tip-in throttle was greeted with a lack of meaningful acceleration, something exacerbated if turning at the same time. It didn’t happen every time, which made it even more annoying because it was hard to anticipate.

Once up and rolling the Ingenium was a prompt and powerful engine. Backed up by the nine-speed auto it was especially impressive when it came to mid-range overtaking oomph. During a long weekend drive I came to really love this ability, along with its happiness to cruise along quietly at 1400rpm at 100km/h.

The D240 felt strong despite weighing in at nearly 2000kg – which is crazy-heavy for such a small vehicle. Fuel consumption came out at around 7.6L/100km, which is well over the 6.2L/100km claim but not too bad when you consider how lardy this thing is. You can dial the drivetrain through various modes from Eco to Dynamic, but I stuck with Comfort most of the time. It worked.

Ride and handling are the stand-out features of this vehicle. I can’t imagine anyone is ever going to want to go out and get jiggy in this thing, but it’s nice to know it can walk the walk if you want it to. More importantly, it displays faithful steering and grip behaviour in a sudden maneuver, which is just what you want in a time of crisis with loved ones onboard.

The big 19-inch tyres are overkill though. Too much noise on coarse surfaces and a pattery ride on the rough stuff are the consequence of trying to look good. To be honest, I thought the wheels over-sized for this car. Go for 18s I reckon.

The Jaguar E-PACE SE D240 is neither a classic or compromised. But it’s closer to the latter than the former.

I dislike the turbo lag, the pricing, the fiddliness of some of the controls and the options pricing and what is on the options list. I enjoy the drive experience on the open road and appreciate the interior space.

Balance it all out and there are undoubtedly better choices in the segment, something we proved with our recent comparison test against the wonderful Volvo XC40.

That doesn’t make the E-PACE bad, it just isn’t great.

How much does the 2018 Jaguar E-PACE D240 SE cost?
Price: $68,850 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 177kW/500Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 6.2L/100km (ADR Combined); 7.6L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 162g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star ANCAP (2017)