2018 Jaguar E-Pace: A baby crossover with chops

"Just to piss me off, Jaguar held its press event on the island of Corsica, a land of gut-twisting mountain roads with Neverland drop-offs. In these tight twisties the E-Pace sometimes handled like two cars. Cornering under braking or with its lagging throttle, the E-Pace tended to sink at the nose, grip strongly then scrub benignly and push wide -- no surprise, considering. But when I squeezed the throttle mid-corner the car suddenly freed up and went neutral, raising its nose and tightening its line with a gust of asymmetrically applied torque to the rear outside. Interesting. More of that, please."

"The test route took in a boulder-strewn trail and a water crossing that demonstrated, rather alarmingly, the E-Pace's wading depth of more than 10 inches. All effortlessly negotiated. But, seriously, fording streams in your leased luxury crossover is never a good idea."

-- Dan Neil, The Wall Street Journal

"So how does it drive? On my first stint behind the wheel over paved two-lane twisties it felt sportier than its platform mates the Evoque and Disco Sport, as you'd expect from a Jag. Jaguar says the E-Pace competes against the Mercedes GLA, Infiniti QX30 and somewhere between the BMWs X1, 2, and 3. On its own, my first impression is that the E-Pace, as its competitors, feels set up for suburban comfort, not mountain two-lanes. The steering is too light, with too much boost and too little feel. The engine sounds just a bit raspy at idle and the powerband feels a bit peaky, as if all the power is coming on higher up on the rev range. Torque is also not as strong as I would have liked at lower RPMs, even though the spec sheet says all 295 lb-ft of my R-Dynamic S P300's torque was online starting at 1500 rpm. But the E-Pace hits 60 mph in 5.9 seconds, so, that's something.

"But that was only a first impression, what you might get during a dealership test drive. Don't make your decision based on that. As with anything, I got used to the E-Pace's character after a while and then started to exploit the thing. By the afternoon of my day-long drive I was working the paddle shifters to blip the nine-speed ZF trans into whichever gear felt best. In just a short time I was flogging the E like a dusty welcome mat hung on a clothesline. It responds well, even if you'll never mistake it for a sporty anything -- the steering is just a little too vague and the body roll, while well-controlled via the continuously variable Adaptive Dynamics dampers, is still more than I'd have liked."

-- Mark Vaughn, Autoweek

"In low-speed urban driving, the car feels competent and awake. Acceleration from a slow roll to just beyond the speed limit is reasonably satisfying and believe it or not, so is the sound produced by the E-Pace's humble 2.0-liter turbo."

"But in anything resembling real spirited driving, the E-Pace wants to wash out and run wide like any other 4,000 pound front-wheel drive vehicle.

"Could a racing driver utilize the torque vectoring system more effectively than me and keep the car in traction more easily than they could a full front-wheel drive? Yeah, I'm sure they could. But racers aren't exactly the E-Pace's target demographic. And for banging around twisty back roads, the E-Pace is a lot of work to drive hard without offering much payoff in fun."

-- Andrew P. Collins, Jalopnik

"As is befitting something wearing a Jaguar badge, the E-Pace's handling is on the sporty side and the ride is a bit firm -- particularly on my test model's 20-inch low-profile tires (21s are available). As it turns out, Corsica has plenty of the sort of winding and climbing coastal roads that get driving enthusiasts' synapses firing.

"Surface quality varies wildly, with many stretches of pavement marked by the sorts of cracks and fissures that can be the undoing of a substandard chassis. The 4,000-plus-pound E-Pace handled it all like a champ, delivering pleasingly above-average levels of engagement without resorting to a jiggly or spine-crushing ride (or even the sometimes over-firm nature of the F-Pace)."

-- Chris Paukert, Roadshow by CNET

"In part due to that heft and front-biased weight distribution, instead of the balanced and smooth experience we expected from our time in the F-Pace, we got plowing understeer, particularly on downhill sections. Any noticeable pressure on the brakes sent the front end downward onto the Pirelli Scorpion Zero all-season tires (curiously, there's no performance tire option). In addition, the E-Pace exhibits considerable body roll, impacting its ability to handle left-right transitions of its considerable mass.

"As for the engine, it won't win any awards for refinement, but it won't have many wishing for more power, either. The nine-speed works well, too, shifting gears quickly and smoothly, especially when directed to do so manually."

-- Kirill Ougarov, Automobile

"Paired to a 9-speed automatic transmission, the E-Pace's low-rpm throttle response can be more sloth than rabbit, however, especially when trying to dig out of one of the many tight corners along our test route. I did not sample the other U.S. powertrain, a 246-hp version of the same 2.0-liter turbo four offered in non-R edition variants, though I strongly suspect the 50-hp deficit will seem like more on paper than in actual driving."

-- Jim Resnick, New York Daily News

"In fact, despite the jaw-dropping beauty of my surroundings, it's clear that this car would show better on roads more like those I would find back home in Michigan. The electrically power-assisted steering has nice weight, and is reasonably quick, after all, and the adaptive suspension quite adept at smoothing the ride over occasional patches of knobby road. In most of the big metro markets in the U.S., with lots of freeway driving punctuated by the occasional Sunday blast, I'd wager the E-Pace would be suitably athletic for most shoppers of luxury small utility vehicles. The case is helped by the inclusion of the optional active damping system, though I'll need to drive this sucker in Detroit to really push its limits."

-- Seyth Miersma, Motor1.com