Jaguar F-Pace. A crossover with a dynamics of a big sedan
The Jaguar F-Pace is a premium compact crossover that has been produced by the British Jaguar Land Rover company (JLR) since 2015. It may be both rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive. You could buy the first generation of Jaguar F-Pace in a 5-door SUV body in Israel in 2020.
The F-Pace is the very first crossover from Jaguar. Engineers and designers of the brand ‘strived to make a true Jaguar’. And they succeeded! Everyone likes this car! Everyone who sees it admires both the looks and the amazing, purely ‘Jaguar’ feeling from driving this luxurious crossover.
First generation
The first crossover from the ‘Jaguar’, presented at the International Show in Detroit in January 2015, was the embodiment of the concept car ‘Jaguar C-X17’. Crossover testing began in 2013. It was already known then that the first Jaguar F-Pace will be built on an aluminum platform and will have a 3-L V6 engine. The crossover prototype, designed by Jan Callum, was first shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The F-Pace was tested in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, where the temperature in the cabin can rise to +70 degrees Celsius, and in the polar forests of northern Sweden, where temperatures can drop to -40, and on flat and mountainous areas, and with different road substrates.
The new Jaguar F-Pace delivers an amazing driving experience. On the autobahns and mountain serpentines, it seems as if you are driving not an SUV, but a full-fledged sports sedan, which allows both dynamic acceleration and cornering without any rolls.
During the development of the model, most of the technologies and mechanisms were borrowed from the sporty Jaguar F-Type. As Julian Thompson, one of the model’s designers, admitted, even the letter “F” in the name sends us to the Jaguar F-Type. The shape and lines of the body, fit, short overhangs, numerous details like grilles, bumpers, optics, interior design - all this suggests that we have a very familiar car. And the feeling of driving is akin to that of driving any other Jaguar. And only the visual height of the ground clearance and the off-road features of the car indicate that there is an SUV in front of you.
Distinctive features
At the heart of the F-Pace is Jaguar’s lightweight aluminum platform. The platform length is 4731 mm and the wheelbase is 2874 mm. The short overhangs allow very steep climbs and descents: the maximum approach and exit angles are 25.5° and 26.0°. The crossover does an excellent job on gravel surfaces, where the driver is assisted by the Adaptive Surface Response system, borrowed from Land Rover with its Terrain Response technology. The Jaguar F-Pace has no problem overcoming an earthen hill, off-road obstacles, or fords. The body of the F-Pace is 80% aluminum and contains a variety of composite materials. For this reason, the crossover has a fairly low weight. The suspension of the car is very successful, it is a combination of a double-wishbone on the front axle and an Integral Link on the rear, it was once created for the F-Type, and now it has been chosen for the new F-Pace.
Technologies
The new Jaguar F-Pace delivers an amazing driving experience. On the autobahns and mountain serpentines, it seems as if you are not driving an SUV, but a full-fledged sports sedan, which allows both dynamic acceleration and cornering without any rolls. This is due to one of the technologies originally developed for the F-Type and applied to the new F-Pace, which is the Torque Vectoring technology. Another interesting technology, first introduced at the F-Pace, immediately says a lot about its intended audience, mostly young people with an active lifestyle. Jaguar’s Activity Key technology is a water- and shock-resistant bracelet key. When the car is locked using the Activity Key, the Jaguar F-Pace deactivates all the keys left in the car, so breaking the glass and stealing the car while the owner is playing sports or surfing is impossible.
