Jaguar E-Pace R Dynamic SE D180 AWD Automatic

My B-i-L recently got an E Pace. Couldn't even begin to describe the spec or model but he seems to like it. All I know is that it's metallic red and replaced a Merc GLA.

In Wiltshire you have to book online to go to the tip. You have to open a council account then book a slot which can be up to a week later. The electricals that I was going to recycle all went in the black wheelie bin instead!

It got more than 80% of what I wanted to take to the tip, so only been out in it once. I did come home the long way though to take in a dual carriageway, A road and B Road, 4 miles there / over 20 miles back.

I'm surprised, but the only deal breakers are the hard seat backrest and engine. The ride is really firm around town, but it doesn't have adaptive dampers and the tyre pressures are set to full load which means they've got about 20% higher pressure at the front and 30% at the back which won't be helping. The ride improves when the speed increases so I'm fairly sure it is the tyre pressures at fault, it's still fairly firm but not uncomfortable. It feels like a bigger / heavier car than it is, but I've just had a look at the kerb weight and it's heavier than the 750i....that's just ridiculous and explains why despite having 180hp it feels slow (0-60 is 8.6 but I think that's a fib). It feels very nippy up to about 35mph, but that's due to the overly sensitive throttle, which does nothing more after about 1/3rd travel. It's the only car I've driven which I've felt the need to put it into Eco to calm the throttle down a bit in traffic and it's not good for reversing either. Noisy engine too, I'm sure it would be much better with the 300hp petrol engine.

Some good bits. The steering, not much feel but the weighting and ratio is good. Handling is also OK, not fun in any way, but it's easy to place and there's minimal body roll so you can push it along a B Road and the ride improves the faster you go. Similar leg/headroom as the Golf so fine for a small family and it's got a bigger boot with storage underneath and more space than you'd expect with the seats folded. It's a strange mix of more premium feeling parts (boot carpet is a highlight!) and very cheap feeling hard plastics like the area below the instruments.

I was expecting to hate it, so maybe it's due to my level of expectation, but I actually think it's OK. One to buy used though, as it's too expensive, I don't know why anyone wouldn't buy a new one rather than just spend a small amount more and get an Evoque.
Or a Golf R which is on a completely different level.

Terry from France will be arriving shortly to tidy the house up

Do these things sell in meaningful numbers? I hardly ever see them but Evoques are everywhere.

Apparently so, it is/was Jaguars best selling model!  This is April 18 to Mar 19:

Jaguar sold 11,142 E-Pace compact SUVs last year, taking over from the F-Pace large SUV as the firm’s most popular car. The all-electric (and European Car of the Year-winning) I-Pace also did reasonably well, selling 1,760 units in just over half a year.

A total of 38,604 new Jaguars were sold last year, and Glover is hopeful of more success this year, with the launch of the much-imported Jaguar XE looking to snare more sales from tax-conscious company car drivers.

No idea - but I would guess that Monsieur Le Restructure hasn't been brought in to shake everyone's hand, say everything is tres bon and then go hide in his office.

The Evoque hybrid is definitely a heffalump!!

So you've been driving round in the BUF today ??

I am always impressed by how deeply you delve into the spec and price of even a loan car!

2 trips to the tip? Luxury. I've been twice in the last week and I'm not allowed any more. It's two trips per  two weeks. And I needed to set up an online account. And I had to book time slots. And, when I got there it turned out that half the recyclable stuff isn't being recycled currently so, despite having sorted it, loads of recyclable stuff went into the landfill skip. And I got proper shirty with the staff because of this.

I thought the T-ROC was supposed to be distinctly less than premium feeling inside?

Is is, there are some very cheap bits.  She didn’t change because of the interior, it was because of the way it drives.  I’ve only been in it for a short journey but she says it’s uncomfortable, noisy and she doesn’t like the gearbox.  She’s happier with the T Roc and im sure the 330e will feel great when it arrives compared to the two.

There a few E-Paces around where we live, including an orange one with black wheels that looks surprisingly good as I've always thought it a bit of dumpy looking thing. That being said, when we were looking to replace our last Qashqai we looked at the E-Pace and really couldn't see the value over and above the new Qashqai we eventually bought. There was a better choice of more powerful engines but overall quality and technology didn't justify the huge price difference.

It's a privately owned dealer group, they only have 2 x JLR and 2 x Isuzu dealerships so no cheap shopping hatches.

You can imagine what I'd have said if they had left me a Citigo..... 

I only needed 3 x loan cars from Bedford BMW and they had a policy of not giving 7 series customers one of their service department cars, only a demonstrator, so I had 2 x X5s and a 740Ld.