SUV shoppers who want a healthy dose of sport in their sport-ute can now opt for a high-riding Jaguar?for thousands of dollars less than a Range Rover Sport. Coventry’s first-ever SUV, the F-Pace, is a handsome, well-packaged, and fine-driving specimen in a crowded class. The F-Pace is just starting to arrive at dealers, and while we’ve yet to put one through our full test regimen, we’ve settled on the ideal Jag truck. ?Jag truck?" Yeah, that’s weird to say, but chief designer Ian Callum is already used to the idea. And, since we had such a positive first impression, so are we.
MODEL: 2017 Jaguar F-Pace 35t (base price: $43,385)
The F-Pace starts at $41,985. In an unusual move for the U.S. market, it comes with a four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine. Trouble is, that model isn’t out yet, and in this country, what the hell is a diesel Jag" Instead, we chose Jaguar’s mainstay engine: a smooth, potent 3.0-liter supercharged gasoline V-6 that puts out 340 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque. We dismissed the 380-hp S for two reasons: 1) It comes with lovely 22-inch wheels, but we’d destroy them in a matter of days; and 2) the S interiors, even as two-tones, are as dark as a coffin. Besides, the two V-6 engines have almost identical power and torque curves until they approach redline, which means that extra 40 horsepower is negligible in ordinary driving.
We jumped up two rungs from the base trim to the 35t Prestige. For $51,095,...