Published:
23 May 2016Would a Jaguar still feel like a Jaguar if you sat in it bent-legged and meerkat-like at the wheel – as many SUV drivers are used to doing? For now, the question remains unanswered, because the F-Pace’s driving position is entirely unlike that.
Although the car’s hip point is quite high, you board it very conveniently rather than dropping down into the seat and your view out is good.
But you sit with arms and legs outstretched, surrounded by high-rising door cards and fascia, a relatively high transmission tunnel console, slanting A-pillars and a fairly slim glasshouse. So the F-Pace doesn’t seem like an SUV at all.
Neither has Jaguar strayed very far from its established conventions with the interior design. The sweeping arc of the dashboard and the swooping, free-form shapes of its features will be familiar to anyone transferring from an Jaguar XE or an Jaguar XF.
Everything looks and feels appealing enough. Material quality is good rather than outstanding, just as we found with the XE and XF. Fit and finish standards are likewise, with some trim pieces feeling just a little bit wobbly when subjected to scrutiny.
You get useful convenience features: big door bins, a sizeable centre cubby, good-sized twin cupholders and upright storage cubbies in the sides of the centre console that are designed especially to take your smartphone.
