New member from Hertfordshire

[paul_hazell135]

Hi,

I’ve recently joined JEC, live in Hertfordshire and currently drive a 2014 XK Portfolio. I’m looking at also buying an F-Pace and would appreciate some advice on engine and specification. My budget will probably cover a 2018/2019 car. I’m not a great fan of diesels, so will probably be looking at either the 4 cylinder ingenium petrol engine or the V6. Specification wise I’m looking at a Portfolio with connect pro.
I’ve had no experience of these engines so I’d be grateful for some feedback of your experience. Also, regarding specification is there anything else you guys would recommend?

Thanks

Paul

[mike020150]

I think you have a conundrum to solve. Cars with large frontal areas (SUVs) drive best with really torquey engines, i.e. generally diesels. These also give much better fuel consumption. However, modern diesels don't like a lot of local running when particulate filters can cause a lot of problems. In practice, the 4-cylinder Ingenium diesels haven't proved to be Jaguar's best engines. The Ingenium petrols seem more reliable. The petrol V6s are 3/4 of the V8 in the XK and, so far, seem both quite reliable and reasonably economical (as large SUVs go). Their shortcoming is a relative lack of low speed torque compared with the 3 litre V6 diesel. Writing purely personally, if I were looking for an F-pace of this age, I would be looking for a petrol V6 unless high mileage is anticipated when I'd buy a V6 diesel machine. Of course, others may have different views which would be good to hear about. Mike.

[paul_hazell135]

You make a good point about miles and usage Mike. My previous Jags were both XF’s with the 2.2 litre diesel which absolutely did the job as I was doing around 20k a year for work, mainly long journeys. Not the most refined of engines (used to sound like a dumper truck when starting) but they had a decent amount of torque, returned good mpg and never let me down. Moving on to today, with the working from home culture, I maybe go to the office once or occasionally twice per week which is just over 30 miles each way generally in the stop start traffic of the M25. Other than that during the week it’s mainly short trips around town and then every couple of weekends a few hundred miles visiting family and friends. With using the XK as well, it’s probably going to equate to around 5000 miles a year. My £35k budget is not unfortunately going to stretch to an SVR, so hence looking at the smaller petrol engines. The 4 cylinder petroleum ingenium engine in 300ps guise appears to make around 295ft/lbs of torque and the V6, 375bhp and 332ft/lbs of torque. Both appear to have enough torque, but I would imagine deliver it in different ways. I guess the answer is to go and test drive a few and see which I prefer. The problem is that the market is awash with diesels and there are relatively few petrol F-Paces for sale in my area with the right spec.

[Marineng]

Hi Paul.
Relating to the engines, as Mike has has explained the V6 engines would be a prefered chioce if possible. When thinking about equipment on these fairly large SUV's I have found the 360 degree camera system very useful for manoeuvring/parking. I also think that the following are useful accessories to have,
1. electrically operated steering column position
2. Adaptive Cruise Control
3. electrically operated front seats
4. Privi Pro infortainment system (not sure on the year of introduction of this system could be 2020 or 2021 onwards) In-control pro however is much better than the standard in-control system.

I would also have liked to experience the Head up Display and the clearview rear view mirror system as I think these would be good options.

The subscriptions will have run out on a 2018/19 model year, and therefore you will need to buy a sim card with a data plan and renew the maps subscription to keep the full connectivity. I have also kept up the 24hr security survalliance on my I-Pace, as I think the Jaguar one is the most cost effective for this type of cover. There are some great colours to the range so I hope you managed to find the car that suits you best. Have a look through the back editions of the magazine (available via the website) the SUV section has some information from members about used car selection. Start the test drives and happy hunting.

Good luck.
Kind regards
Paul

Paul Russell
SUV co-ordinator
JE Magazine

[paul_hazell135]

Thanks Paul,
Some really good pointers there!
Best regards
Paul

[Marineng]

Good morning Paul

Did you manage to find an F-Pace that fitted your requirements?

Kind regards
Paul

Paul Russell
SUV Coordinator
Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club