2017 Jaguar F-Pace S drive review: a beautiful box Callum's latest is a winner visually and dynamically

[greeNZ]

Leave it to Ian Callum to take a box and make it beautiful. This is the best-looking SUV on the market. Period. Graceful where it needs to be, edgy in a few places, it’s about perfect. And it looks like a Jag -- i.e. it fits in with the rest of the family. It’s clear the interior has a lot of XE in it. Start the car and you have to wait a few seconds for the touch display to get movin’, but once it is, it’s responsive and intuitive.

This is one rockin’ chassis, super-stiff but not at the expense of the ride. It’s comfortable, but the body stays flat in corners. The Jag is quiet and relaxing going down the road, as well, and the six has really good midrange torque. I’m sure it can be driven a lot harder than I drove it heading home and back to work. In fact, I welcome the opportunity.

I’d take the Jag all day long over, say, an X5. And I know people get tired of me spewing sales numbers, but with this car it can’t be helped: Jaguar sales are up almost 60 percent this year thanks to this car. Oh, and it’s already Jag’s second-best seller, and it’s only been on sale since May.

OTHER VOICES:

Loved it when I drove it on the launch event this past spring, and I love it now. The F-Pace is easily the best-looking utility on the road, and it wants for nothing in power and handling. Interior space and amenities are just right for the price, which is a remarkably reasonable $62K even with some options thrown at it. The two minor gripes are both ergonomic: The seat memory buttons and window buttons need to be swapped (the former is on the door armrest while the latter is at the top of the door), and the sun visor needs to be extendable to better cover the relatively long side windows.

See? Minor. And this thing is nice enough you can chalk those flaws up to British charm.