Sometimes I think a car manufacturer can offer too many variants – Jaguar’s F- Pace is one such vehicles. Already Jaguar’s best seller it comes in 12 different variants with a choice of 2.0-litre four-cylinder and 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel or 3.0-litre V6 supercharged petrol. Having driven all three engines I personally found the entry 2.0-litre turbo-diesel Prestige a little underdone for the money. The 3.0-litre Turbo-diesel V6 R-Sport offers enormous performance with prodigious torque – the chassis rather taut and great on a smooth surface but ride quality on poorer road surfaces was harsh despite 55-series tyres. What impressed me most was the top-line First Edition Jaguar F-Pace 3.0-litre supercharged V6. With eight speed automatic, manual shift paddles and an inspiring supercharger whine, exceptional road grip and comfort levels the supercharged F-Pace flagship is a sensational SUV – yes expensive at $127,000 as tested but cheaper to the dearer diesel-only Maserati Levante I spoke of last week. First edition Jaguar F-Pace models have more gear in them and the petrol flagship I tested was really nicely appointed with white embossed leather and a 12.3 inch high definition centre touch screen and display. With adaptive dynamics and Jaguars 4 mode drive control the top-line Petrol Jaguar F-Pace is really fleet footed – it needs to be – this 1860 kilo luxury SUV can accelerate to 100k in just 5.5 seconds – after a week behind the wheel it was just so hard to hand back.

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