Drove an F Pace Tuesday, the new screen interface software is much improved, and as I understand it, should be in the MY17 RRS. Sat nav was a remarkable improvement, although I couldn't assess it's traffic avoidance in the time I had it.

And the F Pace I tried didn't have the larger central screen with digital dash (i.e. "InControl Pro") fitted. Which I would expect to be std in a Sport. MY2016 HSE D SDV6 - gone due to fuel dilution problems.

By the age of 50 you have the face you deserve - George Orwell.

Last edited by wilf on Thu May 19 2016 8:51pm. Edited 1 time in total

I saw the F-Pace here in San Francisco a few weeks ago. I thought it looked really really good. Better in person than the photos. Actually a bit larger than I expected. The interior doesn't photograph well and looked great in person as well. Still, I think I'll get another RR sport for the V8 which isn't available yet in the F-Pace.

 2018 Range Rover Sport SVR – Bosphorus Grey

I went and had a look at the DB9 yesterday, beautiful car...but if we think our technology is outdated this must be prehistoric! 2014.5 Mariana Black 5.0 Supercharged V8 Autobiography

F pace has been launched and public deliveries are being made but has anybody seen one on the road yet? I saw several development mules under disguise but so far haven't seen a privately owned one out on the road. 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Tim, I saw my first F-pace few weeks ago around Manchester.

Here's quite a good review (if short) of the F-Pace &list=PL5169B7C8C347837A&index=5 Regards etc.,

Wojtek

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WAS: 2006 RRS Supercharged
IS: 2010 RRS TDV8 HSE

udash wrote:

Tim, I saw my first F-pace few weeks ago around Manchester.

Saw one here in France a couple days ago!!  2023 P440e SE Dynamic on order -cancelled

2022 HSE Dynamic P400e

2017 Discovery 3.0 HSE Silicon Silver Nimbus interior and a few extra toys SOLD

2013 HSE Black, Orkney Grey, Ebony Seats and Ivory Interior SOLD

2006 HSE

Plus a few other cars inbetween!

I saw a blue/purple one last week in a Tesco car park in N.Devon

Had a Blue one overtake me on the A12 heading for Colchester last weekend. MY13.5 Autobiography, Santorini Black, Privacy Glass. Gone
Driving a milk float for now.

Do you want me to post the write up I did for the Jag forum? MY2016 HSE D SDV6 - gone due to fuel dilution problems.

By the age of 50 you have the face you deserve - George Orwell.

Please do, its on my list of possible vehicles come replacement time for the RRS, this will most likely be my last LR. We did have an invitation to a pre launch viewing in Edinburgh two months ago but had to decline the offer as the wife was unwell. Since then heard zilch from Jaguar on the F Pace, must have fell off their radar as a prospective customer. 2018 MY19 HSE Dynamic, Santorini, Ebony/Ivory, Sliding pano, Adaptive cruise, Black wheels. Arrived 3rd September 2018
2015 MY16 HSE Dynamic, Santorini, ebony/cirrus, sliding pano, cameras, black wheels - Arrived 1 October 2015

There are loads up here in West London! I have probably seen a good 6-7 of them in the past week or so. Red seems to be a common colour in the R Sport guise it looks sexy!

OK - this is a direct cut and paste of my post on the Jag forum I frequent:

"Sturgess very kindly let me have a 3.0D V6 "S" for a day to assess against my previous experience of the X250 XF and my current Range Rover Sport. The idea being that as a late XF driver and now RRS user, I might be well placed to assess the new F Pace. Oh well, you can fool some of the people some of the time.................

The day was illuminating, to say the least:

Styling:

This really is a good looking car, it exudes "strength", "power", and "muscle" in its lines. All the women I showed it to said "ooh that's nice" (the car, you dirty boys). I think it is rather good looking myself, and takes the fight, styling wise, directly to the Porsche Macan. And, IMHO, wins, because the Jag radiator grille treatment is so much better than the faux 911 nose of the Macan.

The interior design I don't object to either (although of course, you will all know pretty well by now that I dislike black interiors with a passion, and so had to look past that), and anyone in a current XE or XF would feel right at home. It is just different from the older models.

And now let's get the bad news out of the way: there are some areas of the interior that I simply do not feel are good enough in a near-on £60k Jaguar - most glaring example is the cowl over the instrument binnacle - solid nasty plastic should not have a home there at all, and on my last XF this was leather over a soft-feel base. But the rest wasn't really as bad as you might think if you read some of the comments on this forum, it all felt reasonably solid and well screwed together. However, there was a "chirruping" rattle" from inside the dash that only started above 40mph and got worse as you went faster - must be something inside the H&V unit reacting to increased air flows or pressures?

And..............rev the engine past 3500 and the ensuing vibration was so bad that I backed off very quickly. So I have a slight question mark over build quality - those two faults should not have left the factory IMHO.

Performance:

Easily as quick as my X250 XF "S". Gearing is a lot shorter - in top gear, 2000 rpm gave 86 mph indicated, that was 100mph in the XF, and is much closer to the RRS, which is at 88mph at the same revs. This car has that lovely way of piling on speed in the 50 to 90 range incredibly rapidly, yet silently and imperceptibly if you use the mid range torque, the mark of good real-world performance in my book.

Gear changes were always imperceptible, and the annoyingly slow engine pick-up after braking down to 10mph or so for a turning or roundabout entry was nowhere near as bad in this car as in my last XF or indeed the Sport. Overall, throttle response was better than I have felt in most Jag diesel V6s. Of course, engage "Sport" and "Dynamic" and the mapping holds onto the gears too long as ever, for a diesel.

This is a "plenty quick enough in the real world" car, just as was the XF S.

Ride and handling:

Without any doubt at all, this is a Jaguar, it rides smoothly and silently in the cruise, and soaks up bumps with amazing suppleness and smoothness, and also quietly. I was initially little other than astonished over the ride on the 22" rims (with 265 40 tyres) fitted on this car. Just amazing. Point it at the twisties and it feels fluent, light, and well behaved, and of course it handles rather well. You hardly need "dynamic" mode on this car, so well judged is "normal".

There is a price to be paid I think though - the ride, on normal A and B roads, rarely "settles", it is always verging on "fidgety" compared to the Sport, which simply ploughs over most irregularities in the road unruffled and with a calm serenity. But we are, after all, talking about a vehicle whose base model price is some £30k higher than the F Pace's £34k. And whilst the ride is seemingly unaffected by those big rims, the tyre noise is still there.

But overall - well done Jaguar, what a great-riding and handling sports SUV you have created.

Other stuff:

The screen user interface is so much better than in earlier generations. Faster, much cleaner graphics, and although I couldn't test the Satnav's abilities to avoid traffic, it might just be able to do that too. This car wasn't equipped with the full InControl Pro pack which brings the wider centre screen and the LCD instrument pack, and I must say I didn't like the deeply-cowled tacho and speedo of this "standard" version with the mechanical dials, too deeply inset for good visibility, but of course I have become spoiled by the RRS!

Comfort etc. - less adjustment in these seats than I would personally normally specifiy, but not bad at all, even if the car encouraged a far more reclined seating position than I normally adopt. Door mirrors a bit on the small size and of course rear visibility is compromised in the same way as an Evoque. Once again, I was back in a car where I could not see or judge the four corners (the RRS is brilliant in this specific aspect) and so more reliant on the parking aids. Just like in my XFs.
One thing I did notice was the noise of the ventilation system - very loud if the fan was anything over "idle speed". I hardly ever hear it in the Sport.


So, how to summarise?

It is definitely a Jaguar, not a Land Rover 4X4 derivative.

The interior could do with a little more class in some specific areas, but I suspect it stands up reasonably to comparison with its direct competitors.

It performs well with this engine (with 300+BHP, 516lbs ft it should do!)

It rides brilliantly considering how it handles and the wheel rim size fitted (wonder what it is like on 21s or even 20s?)

It handles brilliantly for a tall SUV

It has a huge boot and the interior was nowhere near as "snug" as I feared, plenty of shoulder, head, and elbow room, and I am not small!

I have no idea what it might do off road, and of course I am spoiled by the huge abilities of a RR Sport in that respect.


Would I buy one? Watch this space, at the moment I am seduced by the effortless qualities of the Sport. Which has, thankfully, slowed me down a touch. I just know the F Pace would speed me back up again, and I have to admit that my reactions are not what they once were. Maybe slower is better for me these days.

And, of course, I am still waiting for the big engine/light interior combination - are you listening Jaguar?" MY2016 HSE D SDV6 - gone due to fuel dilution problems.

By the age of 50 you have the face you deserve - George Orwell.

Great review.  Regards etc.,

Wojtek

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WAS: 2006 RRS Supercharged
IS: 2010 RRS TDV8 HSE

Am I on the wrong forum or have we been taken over by Jaguar?  Current RRS: MY18 SVR
Previous RRS: MY15 RRS 5.0L Autobiography