Remembering the E-PACE
ONE OF my favourite hobbies is trying to make hitherto affordable cars ludicrously expensive by going online and ticking all the extras, anything from metallic paint to an uprated infotainment system. My favourite so far has been an eye watering £30k for a humble Vauxhall Corsa that when I’d finished had more options than James Bond’s submersible Lotus Esprit.
When I clicked on the Jaguar website recently to do the same to an XE, I was surprised to discover the E-PACE is still on there. I’ll admit, despite driving several examples over the years – even considering buying one in 2020 but choosing my more affordable XF Sportbrake instead – I’d totally forgotten about the car in the same way I did my last wedding anniversary or paying my accountant. And I’ll wager you have too.
Since its 2017 debut, the car has gained little traction in either the public’s imagination or sales. Jaguar hasn’t released figures for the car but judging by how many you see on the road, it obviously can’t be many.
But I think I’ve worked out the reasons why. Firstly, unlike the I-PACE which in 2018 was one of the first premium EVs from a mainstream manufacturer, the E-PACE didn’t break any new ground. The compact SUV market was already saturated when the car arrived and its rivals were either more established, innovative or simply cheaper. Starting at over £43k today when cars like the Ford Puma or Honda HR-V are considerably less, you have to be a diehard Jaguar enthusiast to choose one.
Yet the car has never really appealed to the majority of traditional Jaguar buyers. Not only is it physically small but it’s always lacked a high performance halo model to give it some much needed attention in the same way the totally bonkers SVR model does the F-PACE. This all results in a car that’s perhaps a little bit too sensible for most Jaguar owners.
TOGETHER WITH THE PUNCHY PERFORMANCE OF THE 2.0-LITRE DIESEL, THE RESULT WAS A HIGHLY LIKEABLE LITTLE CAR
Peel beneath these issues, though, and the E-PACE is a cracking little car. Good looking in a chunky way with lines that can be traced back to those of the F-TYPE, it’s better proportioned than most compact SUVs. Produced by Austrian contact manufacturer, Magna Steyr, in Graz, it’s well-built too, arguably more so than Jaguar’s locally manufactured cars. In my experience, the interior’s materi
