09 March 2024 , 12:00
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I find it remarkable to think that the Jaguar I-Pace has been part of the automotive furniture in the UK for nearly six years. The luxury EV market has developed so quickly in that time, but here's one of the pioneers still very much a familiar sight and still looking remarkably fresh.
Jaguar has announced it will discontinue the I-Pace next year, which is a shame, because it's been great to see a credible rival to the Tesla onslaught coming from such a beloved brand, and keen drives like me need a car like the I-Pace to keep us sane.
While it does still look fresh, however, there are signs that it's in need of a bit of an update, when you live with one for a while. And that's what I've been doing. I spent a week in an I-Pace, taking it down to see family in the Chilterns - a 250-mile round trip.
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While the on-board battery is a decent size at 90kw, and the official range of 292 miles sounds like it's up to the job, I was fully prepared for the fact it wouldn't make it there and back on one charge. And I was right.
To be fair to the Jag, the weather was chilly, which is hardly conducive to mile-munching, and long swathes of motorway aren't great for economy in EVs, so I wasn't surprised to find I had just 70 miles left after my 125-mile journey down. It's pretty much par for the course with a luxury EV.
And the journey was every bit as blissful as I'd expected. While the updated infotainment system is good, the cabin is starting to show its age, with a plethora of physical buttons. This, of course, is something of a welcome relief, given how fiddly the new craze of bundling all the controls into a touch-screen can be.
Despite the sleek looks, the cabin really doesn't feel in any way claustrophobic. In fact, it's incredibly roomy in the rear and the boot space is good at 577 litres with the seats up. It's easy to forget this is pretty much a full-blown SUV, because it looks much more compact in pictures.
There's a superb array of driver aids, the front seats are nice and comfortable, visibility is pretty good and there's nearly 400bhp on tap from its two motors, so progress can be quite rapid.
If anything, the I-Pace still feels pretty fresh, then, but there are hints tucked away that it's getting a bit long in the tooth. The first reminder of this came when I popped out one morning to top up the batteries. Adding 100 miles to an electric car these days isn't a tiresome task, with some bigger models capable of gulping in up to 350kw of juice from fast chargers. Not so with the I-Pace. Its charging capacity is just 100kw.
I figured I'd need the best part of half an hour to give myself a comfortable range for the return leg, but the fast chargers in Tring had other ideas, and I had to limp back to base with even fewer miles remaining.
Thankfully, my in-laws let me plug the I-Pace into their household socket and it made it all the way up to 92% overnight, saving me a bunfight for the CCS chargers at Newport Pagnell the following day. I'd have only had around 40 miles to play with by that point, so I was relieved not to be cutting it fine in a slow-charging car.
There are hints, then that the I-Pace is past its best. But they are just subtle hints, and I remain impressed by how lovely it is to live with. It's pricey, don't get me wrong, with a starting cost of nearly £70,000, but this is very much a Jaguar. It might not have a V8 beating heart like some of the marque's icons, but it feels just right. It feels like a Jag.
And that will be more than enough for some people. Sure, the range and charging speed might put some people off, but we need to remember how long this car's been around. And how much it shook things up when it arrived.
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I can't say I'll shed a tear when the I-Pace does finally get put out to seed, but I'll be very excited to see what Jaguar comes up with next. Because this has been a fantastic introduction to the brand's future. And it remains a viable proposition to this day.
THE FACTS
Model tested: I-Pace R-Dynamic HSE EV400
Price: £83,775 (as tested)
0-60mph: 4.5 seconds
Power: 395bhp
Battery capacity: 90kw
Range: 292 miles (official)
Max charging capacity: 100kw