Car review: Jaguar I-Pace SE

There’s a great deal to be said for electric cars. It’s not just the instant power delivery and ever-increasing battery range – they are a real game-changer in car design.

Not having a massive lump of iron under the bonnet means bodies can be difference shapes, with lower noses, and putting the heavy batteries close to the ground means you can put the weight where it is most useful for balance.

Jaguar’s new I-Pace is the company’s first full electric vehicle and there is nothing quite like it on the market. The company calls it an SUV, in that it has four-wheel-drive and can adjust its ride height for rough terrain and wading. But it lacks the usual bulk of an SUV and it has the swooping roofline of a coupe.

Power comes from two 78kg electric motors – one at the front for the front wheels, one at the back for the rears, both connected by a drive shaft. These are fed by 432 lithium ion pouch cells which generate 400PS and almost 700 Nm of torque, instantly available at the twitch of your toe.

The instant power is as impressive as you would expect (60mph arrives in just 4.5 seconds despite the car weighing a hefty 2,133kgs), but what is equally impressive is the range – up to 480km when temperature and gradients allow.

The I-Pace is instantly recognisable as a Jaguar, despite its unusually chopped-off boot line, the aerodynamics of which are so effective that no rear wash/wipe system is needed. Design director Ian Callum’s scoops and tweaks break up the mass of the vehicle and avoid it looking slab-sided, and the slim rear lights add a pleasing delicacy to the styling. Another attractive touch is Range Rover Velar-type recessed door handles.

The low bonnet line and muscular front wheelarches give it a powerful look, and short front and rear overhangs, plus a huge wheelbase and 22-inch wheels are very pleasing to the eye.

So, it’s a looker. But what is it like to drive? Thanks to a combination of well sorted air suspension (the front from the F-Type Jaguar) and having the weighty batteries at the bottom of the car, there is virtually no body roll, even when tackling twisting mountain roads during the car’s international launch in Portugal.

There are two levels of regenerative braking, and with maximum regeneration you hardly ever need to touch the brakes. It is easy to adjust to gentle use of the throttle and you slow down so quickly if you take your foot straight off the pedal that the brake lights come on.

Over the past few years some Jaguar cabins have not exactly enhanced their cars’ appeal. This one is much better, with high-quality materials and pleasing trim details in a variety of styles including wood and a carbon-fibre-like material.

Using a 100Kw public charging point the I-Pace can receive an 80 per cent charge in 40 minutes, and using a 7Kw wallbox a 100 per cent charge from totally flat would take 12 hours 36 minutes.

This is a technically complex car and there were some issues during the launch. Several cars just conked out (one journalist needed replacement cars twice) and “mine” refused to restart for several minutes. After it automatically rebooted itself we continued almost normally. Despite it being mid afternoon the car suddenly insisted it was 11.30pm.

The other issue was motion sickness. Several people, including me, felt nauseous, possibly because of the slight pitching caused by the regenerative braking, despite our best efforts to drive smoothly. It wasn’t a bug, because it eased as soon as I stopped driving.

Despite these problems – these were very early production cars, after all – I found very little to dislike about the Jaguar’s I-Pace. It looks great, is pleasingly rewarding to drive and even acquitted itself very well on the difficult Portimao race track.

It is not exactly cheap. The entry-level I-Pace S costs £58,995 after the Government’s £4,500 incentive grant, and the flagship First Edition cars are £76,995. Considering the quality of the car, this is not unreasonable – always assuming the gremlins in the early cars are sorted out.

Details: Jaguar I-Pace SE

Price: £69,495

Top speed: 124mph

0-62mph: 4.8secs