The super-SUV segment got out of hand a long time ago. And I mean way, way out of hand. Do you need a family tractor fitted with a 5-litre supercharged V8? Do you need to get the family and its dog from 0-60mph in 3.8secs? Are you intending to travel in this tank at 178mph? The answer to all those questions is no. Do you, however, want those things? The answer is yes. Which leads us directly to the magnificently bonkers Jaguar F-Pace SVR. It does all those things – it doesn’t need to, but it does.
SUVs have moved on from being statement vehicles to becoming ubiquitous in their presence on UK roads. Given the state of those roads at the moment, having something a bit bulkier with perceived off road ruggedness makes sense. That you get more space to fit your life in is an added bonus. The super-SUV segment keeps the statement element of them alive. The Jaguar F-Pace is a relatively common sight, the Jaguar F-Pace SVR, however, is not.
With more aggressive styling, 22” wheels and almost comical quad exhausts protruding from the rear, it’s easily identifiable from the pack. The SVR badging helps, too. So, what to make of a car like the Jaguar F-Pace SVR? It needs to be all things to all drivers: practical, comfortable, ludicrously fast. On paper it ticks all the boxes.
The Jaguar F-Pace SVR being an SUV first and foremost, let’s start with the living experience. It’s big, without being too big. At 4.8m long and over 2m wide that might sounds slightly crazy, but modern cars are massive, especially in this segment. It doesn’t feel as large on the road as its cousin, the Range Rover Sport, for example. I had to collect friends from Gatwick airport and traversing the short stay car park was easy enough. Whilst cars have got bigger, car parks seem to have shrunk in airports’ lust to make money. £5 to pick up or drop off?! I digress…
The Jaguar F-Pace SVR is fitted with JLR’s overhead 360-degree camera. So, even if you can’t see the front of the car, everything is displayed to you on the 11.4” touchscreen. For £250 you can have park assist, which will park the car for you. Money well spent.
Suitcases and people fit in easily, because of course they do. 650-litres of boot space and plenty of cabin space. Up top, the performance seats are surprisingly comfortable. When you approach them they look a bit thin for a car of this stature. Once in them, however, they offer all the adjustability you could need, plus heating and ventilation. I’ll knit-pick for a moment: the ventilation could be a bit stronger. On a trip to Bournemouth and back they were supremely comfortable, though. Slide open the panoramic roof (£1600), turn up the Meridian sound system (£420) and enjoy cruising along.
A nod to the infotainment system, because it’s really good. A big touchscreen that’s easy to navigate and pair your phone to, it looks good with its curved screen which doesn’t reflect the sun into your eyes.
It handles the practicality side well, as you may well reasonably expect, but on the driving front the Jaguar F-Pace SVR has a lot to live up to. To repeat the numbers: a 5-litre supercharged V8 mated to an 8-speed auto ‘box produces 550hp and 700Nm of torque. 0-60mph takes just 3.8secs although I’ve seen some independently claim 3.5secs. Any you know what? I believe them. The Jaguar F-Pace SVR covers ground in at times scarcely believable ways. Select Dynamic, pull back on the gear leaver to put the gearbox in its sport setting and this thing absolutely flies.
Dynamic sharpens the throttle response; you barely have to breathe on the pedal and the nose is suddenly pointing towards the sky and this 2.1-ton car is at the horizon. It also opens some valves in the exhaust so you get a wonderful acoustic accompaniment. It really rasps above 3000rpm and offers a few pops and bangs on the way back down. The Jaguar F-Pace SVR certainly doesn’t want for theatre.
Even in comfort and Eco modes, which reduce the throttle response and slacken the suspension a little, you can just ride that wave of torque to keep yourself progressing. It makes it a wonderful long distance cruiser since you can simply devour the miles ahead of you.
The Jaguar F-Pace SVR is also rides well. Sure, it’s quite stiff and the model tested is fitted with optional 22” wheels (£900), but there’s not too much of a penalty for that. The state of the roads is appalling at the moment, but it took everything in its stride. Some potholes you just have to accept are going to send a shudder through any car.
Point and squirt V8s have been with us a long time, but where the engineers earn their corn these days is in attempting to make these SUVs enjoyable along your favourite road. Family carrier, straight line bonkers, twisty stuff sports car: the remit is wide.
The Jaguar F-Pace SVR handles this aspect impressively. There’s no disguising the weight so you need to temper your expectations – it might well keep up with supercars off the line and on the motorway, but it does still weigh 2.1-tons and sit high up.
Yet for all that the Jaguar F-Pace SVR always feels a well balanced car. It flows pleasingly along a B-road and when you shimmy through roundabouts, turning left, right then left again, it pivots around you nicely. You get the occasional tyre squeal and it will start to stray off centre, but it corrects itself impeccably and feels playful and enjoyable for it.
The steering, as you have to accept with such cars as well, is devoid of feedback but is nicely weighted. It’s very sharp in the Jaguar F-Pace SVR, with the car responding instantly to your inputs, without feeling too sharp. It’s well judged and makes it easy to place on the road and plot an accurate course through corners.
It speaks volumes for the engineering that you can genuinely enjoy the Jaguar F-Pace SVR. It’s not restricted to straight line punts, nor does it feel overly engineered to the point that your input is all but negligible to the experience. Sure, there’s a lot of tech at play, but it feels as natural as a car of this stature can.
Can a car costing £90,000 represent good value? Well, if you need it to do pretty much everything, then the answer is yes. The Jaguar F-Pace SVR is fast enough to leave you questioning how much more performance you could possibly need, and agile enough to enjoy when the roads are right. You can spend an awful lot more on a super-SUV without seeing all that much more in return.
It also does the mundane stuff really well. Crawling through traffic it feels like a regular F-Pace and doesn’t feel so large that you’re about to hit everything. So, what’s the downside? 21.3mpg across 431 miles of driving. That’s the penalty you pay for having such whopping performance on tap. The Jaguar F-Pace SVR is a thirsty machine. Again, however, if you’re shopping in this market, you can expect to be visiting your local petrol station regularly. Hauling such mass at such speeds is not a frugal exercise.
As you can probably tell, I was very impressed with the Jaguar F-Pace SVR. You’d never get bored of its performance when the time is right and it’ll do the boring yards when you need, too. It sits comfortably on the motorway and isn’t out of place along a decent B-road. In their attempt to be all things to all drivers, super-SUVs can often feel compromised or myopic. The Jaguar F-Pace SVR strikes the right balance as to what these cars can be. That it’s competitively priced only adds to the appeal.
Related article: Range Rover Sport review
