The Jaguar E-Pace

Last week I was offered the opportunity to test drive the large Jaguar F-Pace SUV. But, I was actually curious to test drive their smaller SUV, the E-Pace. One of the things that attracted me to the E-Pace was the starting price of KD11,990. The car looked like it cost a lot more and so when I found out how much they were selling for, I became very intrigued by the car.

The E-Pace is a fairly new model by Jaguar that was launched last year. The car I picked up was what Jaguar calls “First Edition” and had a beautiful Caldera Red exterior with a full ebony black leather interior. The car looked really sporty and because it was the “First Edition”, it came standard with 20″ wheels, LED headlights, advanced drivers aids, a panoramic sunroof and a bunch of other cool features. I was really glad the car came with a black interior considering the exterior was a vibrant red. The black interior along with the “black pack” exterior which consists of blacked out parts and comes standard with the First Edition really helped tone things down.

I picked up the car Wednesday morning which was perfect timing since I had a Little Ruby’s event that night and I was picking up three friends on my way. Although the E-Pace is a crossover SUV, its still pretty spacious and my two friends who sat in the back had plenty of legroom. The interior looked very slick in black, with a large infotainment screen in the middle and contrasting red stitching all around. The car I drove had the upgraded Meridian sound system which I loved although not sure I’m a fan of the actual infotainment system as a whole. I was using the iPhone streaming music over USB and on multiple occasions, the infotainment system would just stop working with my phone. Annoying but not the end of the world since I solved it by just connecting by Bluetooth instead.

Personally, I love the way the car looks like and I’ve actually liked the design ever since the car was revealed. A lot of cars look good in photos but then when you see it in person its like bleh. Not in this case, although the striking red color with black interior might have played a role in this. Because the E-Pace is a crossover SUV it’s size is very manageable and not intimidating at all. I tend to love smaller cars since they’re easier and more fun to drive and although the E-Pace handled rough roads and smooth highways equally good, there was one thing I found super annoying, the sensitivity of the gas and brake pedals. I’m actually convinced the car I drove had some kind of issue since both pedals were extremely sensitive. Every car has different pedal sensitivity and usually, it takes maybe an hour of driving to get used to it. I had the car for three days and I still wasn’t used to the pedals to the point I was giving myself motion sickness. I solved the abrupt acceleration by putting the car in the snow/wet weather mode which skips the first gear on acceleration and so smoothened things out, but, I couldn’t solve the braking issue. Stepping on the brake pedal lightly didn’t really do much but then if I stepped on the pedal just slightly harder it would apply too much braking power causing the car to jerk. I couldn’t get comfortable with the ultra-sensitive pedals over the three days which was so bizarre.

Overall though its hard not to recommend the E-Pace with a starting price of just KD12,000. But, once you add options the car cost can balloon up past KD17,000, so if you’re looking for value, you’re going to have to sacrifice on options. I think the size is great for those looking for an SUV but don’t want something too big. The boot was also fairly large so you’re not really sacrificing much in terms of SUV practicality. Really the only major issue I had with the car was the pedal sensitivity, but since I couldn’t find anyone else online complaining about it, it must have been an issue with the specific car I drove. If you’re interested in test driving the E-Pace yourself, just pass by the showroom or get in touch with Jaguar, they’re on instagram @zayanijaguarkuwait