Road Test
PURPLE REIGN
I’ve driven the Jaguar F-Pace SVR – it’s a raucous supercharged SUV that’s a tribute to a race car
HERE’S a Jaguar that starts at £101k – get used to it.
While six-figure Jags used to be the exception not the norm, pretty soon this will be your cheap one.
6
6
Let me explain.
Jaguar has tried to play in the middle of the premium market, aiming to sell alternatives to the BMW 3 Series to travelling salesmen and company car drivers with the XE.
They lost that fight.
Now they’ve decided to take it to the posh boys and go up against Aston Martin and Bentley.
READ MORE MOTORS REVIEWS
That’s why this 1988 Edition of the F-Pace SVR is the classiest yet — but at a price, to get us used to super expensive models in the future.
In addition to that, they’re also bringing out a faster, more glitzy I-Pace 400 Sport, which is the second part of Jaguar’s masterplan.
Not only are they going high-end from 2025, they are going completely electric.
For those wondering, this explains why we haven’t heard much from Jag over the last 18 months.
Most read in Motors
They are busy working behind the scenes on a luxury electric crossover “like no other”.
Incidentally, it has freed them up to divert chips to other cars within the group with huge waiting lists — Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender.
A Jaguar source said: “We are slowly moving our cars up in price and specification. That’s part of the transition as we move up to a new audience.
For now, we should enjoy cars like this best-of-breed F-Pace
“People will look at the new car and just go ‘Wow’. Trust me, it will blow their socks off. It is a copy of nothing.”
We’ll see the car for ourselves next year, before it hits the road in 2025.
I can also confirm it will be built in Solihull, alongside the electric Range Rover, which is good news for UK Plc.
But it’s unlikely any of the existing line-up will be renewed.
For now though, we should enjoy cars like this best-of-breed F-Pace.
It’s a full-fat SVR with a stonking 550hp 5-litre supercharged V8, lush but understated interior, and purple paint job.
Purple?
Correct.
6
6
You might only see it on a summer’s day in August but this 1988 Edition is painted dark metallic purple, or “Midnight Amethyst Gloss”, to celebrate Jag’s 1988 Le Mans triumph with the Silk Cut XJR-9.
That’s the actual race car in the pictures. That’s also why Jag is making 394 cars, one for each lap completed in the 24-hour race.
Other than that, the only visible clues are the 22in “champagne gold” alloys, tiny 1988 badges on the front wheel arches and illuminated treadplates.
It takes less than a mile to realise this thing is rapid. Properly rapid. Sounds the nuts. And handles far better than an SUV weighing two-point-something tonnes should.
It’s a lot of fun. Yet drive it sensibly and it’s safe and commanding and impeccably smooth.
The cabin is rich and classy, with subtle gold satin detailing on the paddle shifts and elsewhere.
The Pivi Pro infotainment is slick and easy. The Performance seats warm and soothe your back. It’s all very satisfying, all very well executed.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Jaguar will be a very different car company in 2025: Modern, electric, expensive and, by the sound of it, extraordinary.
It’s funny how this 1988 Edition pays homage to the past and yet teases the future.
Jaguar F-Pace: SVR 1988 Edition
Price: £101,550
Engine: 5-litre supercharged V8
Power: 550hp, 700Nm
0-62mph: 4 secs
Economy: 23mpg
Top speed: 178mph
CO2: 275g/km
6
6
Topics