Jaguar I-Pace long-term test: report 3
When Jaguar launched the fully electric I-Pace, it had few rivals, but that’s certainly not the case any more. So, is it still worth considering? We’re living with one to find out...
The car Jaguar I-Pace EV400 R-Dynamic HSE Black Run by Steve Huntingford, editor
Why it’s here To see if Jaguar’s electric SUV still feels like the future, or if it’s had its day
Needs to Combine its sleek looks with dynamics, luxury and range worthy of a prestige electric car
Mileage 2408 List price £77,495 Target Price £74,418 Price as tested £84,035 Test range 222 miles Official range 261 miles
30 March – Let's do the twist
They say the devil's in the details, but I reckon such things can be pretty angelic, too, with the climate control in my Jaguar I-Pace a prime example.
You see, this is operated via a large dial; you twist it to change the temperature, pull out then twist to adjust the fan speed, and push in and twist for the heated seat. It’s a really clever bit of packaging that keeps distraction to an absolute minimum because there's no need to hunt for individual buttons.
You can even, if you prefer, choose for the heated seats to be the primary function, and the interior temperature a click away. True, switching to this is done via a touchscreen, meaning you have to look down to find the icon in question, but that is at least permanently on display instead of buried in a sub-menu.
I'm also convinced, from the I-Pace's interior, that at least one person on the design team had young children at the time they were working on it. For although the overhead map lights in the front are activated when you tap the light itself – a cool feature that my six-year-old daughter loves to play with when she’s in my seat, pretending to drive – the lights in the rear have conventional switches that she's not remotely interested in. As a result, I don’t have the lights constantly flicking on and off while I’m actually driving.
What I’m less keen on is the way you select drive, reverse or neutral by pressing buttons on the centre console instead of pulling a lever back and forth, because it’s too easy for your passenger to select neutral without you noticing, leaving you panicking that you’ve lost drive. However, I’ve got to admit this is only really a problem if you have a comedian like What Car?’s reviews editor Will Nightingale sitting beside you.
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