Jaguar E-Pace D150 FWD Manual 2018 UK first drive

There is certainly a touch of low-range hesitancy about this engine, which you probably fall victim to more often than you might in its more powerful states of tune simply by dint of changing gears yourself. But once it’s revving beyond 2000rpm it has a useful wad of torque, and whisks the E-Pace along with perfectly respectable strength. Motorway driving doesn’t oblige you to do an unreasonable amount of shifting unless you’re in a desperate hurry.

The E-Pace’s cabin sealing is good at high speeds, and its mechanical refinement is appreciably better than in Jaguar’s more highly-stressed diesels. There are several different suspension configurations to choose from across the E-Pace range, with stiffened sports springs featuring on higher-grade cars along with adaptive dampers. The ‘D150’ gets passive ‘comfort’ suspension as standard, though, and rides and handles well enough to be a good advert for keeping the car’s rolling chassis specification dialled down.

Weighty steering will likely be the first thing you notice about the car’s motive character, which is quite unlike what you find on most luxury- tuned SUVs. The E-Pace’s low-speed ride is firmer and marginally less isolating than the SUV norm, though less fussy on 18in wheels than we’ve found it with 19- and 20in rims.

Though the car can be a bit restless on bad urban surfaces, by and large it’s comfortable enough – and the level, settled composure of the car also improves with your prevailing speed.

This particular E-Pace’s handling, meanwhile, in combination with its ride, gets closer than that of any other we’ve driven to nailing that elusive dynamic compromise that so many SUV makers are currently groping for. There’s good, upright body control here, quickish feelsome steering and smart handling response, but nothing excessive in any dimension; enough, in each case, to lift this car just above the dynamic standards of the average compact SUV, but not to make it uncomfortable or tiresome to drive.

The car’s well-judged balance of comfort and poise may have a lot to do with its relative mass, of course. There is the occasional hint of tractive corruption to the steering, evident mostly as you tip into the accelerator with steering angle dialled in or on an uneven surface – and, to be fair, you don’t feel it in four-wheel drive E-Paces. It’s nothing strong enough to be confused with true torque steer, though, and mostly it just reminds you of how nice it is to get the odd bit of feedback through an SUV’s steering rim.