2017 Jaguar F-Pace: First Impressions
Jaguar’s F-Type is arguably one of the most striking sports cars on the road. With the all-new 2017 Jaguar F-Pace SUV taking heavy inspiration from that car, it creates a similarly gorgeous SUV thanks to sports-car proportions including a long nose, short rear overhang and a lot of muscular shapes in between.
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The F-Pace’s high-performance appeal goes beyond just the exterior with an interior to match. An F-Pace S on the floor of the 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show with the top 380-horsepower, supercharged 3.0-liter V-6 featured satin chrome interior finishes, a black-and-red leather interior, and red contrast stitching. Overall interior styling has a number of similarities with Jaguar’s also-new XE, which shares basic architecture with the F-Pace as well as a similar dashboard, center console, climate controls and available 10.2-inch InControl Touch multimedia system.
Luckily, the F-Pace’s backseat is far more generously sized than that of the XE, and it features a power-reclining backseat. The backseat isn’t without its quirks. The front seat’s floor-mounted rails take up foot room for backseat passengers, and my Size 11 shoes were crammed under the narrow opening. There’s also a large floor hump that won’t make it comfortable for any passenger who draws the short straw and has to sit in the middle seat.
The F-Pace’s cargo area is larger than I expected. The 60/40-split backseat folds easily thanks to its heftiness — the folding portions are not light, which makes pulling them up a workout. The F-Pace wouldn’t be a proper sports-car-derived-SUV without some compromises or quirks in practicality, and I look forward to driving the F-Pace when it goes on sale in mid-2016.
