Jaguar E-Pace breaks cover and a world record

Jaguar took the wraps off the E-Pace crossover in London. At its world premiere, the crossover entered into Guinness World Records for the ‘furthest barrel roll’ for a production vehicle. Jaguar is positioning the E-Pace closer to the F-Type sportscar rather than calling it the baby F-Pace.

The 'compact performance SUV' managed a 15.3 metre-long jump complete with a 270-degree corkscrew-like ‘barrel roll’ entering the record books for farthest roll for a production car

The baby crossover was put to a long 25-month test programme in the hands of 500 engineers stretching to 120,000 hours across four continents, stated the Coventry-based carmaker.

All the Jaguar design elements are evident in the mesh-grille, the F-Type inspired taillights and headlamps, and the silhouette makes it difficult to not dub it as a downsized F-Pace.

Internally called as the Cub, the E-Pace measures 4345mm x 1984mm x 1649mm and has a wheelbase of 2681mm.

The E-Pace rides on 17-inch (optional 21-inches) alloy wheels and boasts of a boot space of 577 litres which could be extended up to 1,234 litres with the seats folded down. The whole car tips the scale at 1700kg.

It is based on the same D8 architecture as the Range Rover Evoque albeit with a slightly longer wheelbase. The E-Pace has a transverse-engine lay out and is the first Jaguar available with the front-wheel drive for the first time in years.

On the inside, the cabin takes inspiration from the F-Type rather than the F-Pace. There is a grab-handle adjacent to the centre console, similar to the F-Type. The cabin is laden with six airbags.

The 10-inch touchscreen infotainment screen with 4G connectivity, Wi-Fi hotspot, a 12.3-inch TFT digital instrument panel with heads-up display, aluminium inserts, leather upholstery and cross-stitch makes the cabin look upmarket and classy.

There is an optional Meridian premium sound system with 825-watt surround sound. There is an ample amount of stowage space all around the cabin.

Driver aids include all-surface progress control joined by driver condition monitoring, autonomous emergency braking. There are blind spot assist and autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, and park assists as well.

Engine-wise, a pair of Ingenium diesel and petrol motors are on offer. The 2.0-litre diesel unit comes in three states of tune – 146bhp in Td4, 175bhp in Sd4 and top-spec 235bhp.

The oil burner, on the other hand, is a 2.0-litre turbocharged unit with 243bhp and range-topping 296bhp of power output. The entry level variant gets a six-speed manual transmission, while the rest of the line-up comes with the ZF-sourced nine-speed auto.

The E-Pace is Jaguars take in the compact crossover segment to rival the likes of Audi Q3, BMW X1, Mercedes-Benz GLA and JLR siblings Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport.

The E-Pace will go on sale in the UK late this year with prices starting from £28,500. It will be produced at the Magna Steyr facility in Graz, Austria which will be later joined by the I-Pace