Road test review: Jaguar F-Pace SVR

Sunday, 20 June 2021

Strap in for a lap of Hampton Downs in a Jaguar XE SV Project 8 (video published June 2021).

JAGUAR F-PACE SVR
Base price: $169,900
Powertrain and economy: 5.0-litre supercharged petrol V8, 405kW/700Nm, 8-speed automatic, AWD, combined economy 11.9L/100km, CO2 273g/km (source: RightCar).

Jaguar’s F-Pace SVR is brutally fast, beautifully finished and could well be an endangered species.

Vital statistics: 4762mm long, 1666mm wide, 1670mm high, 2874mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 509 litres, 21-inch alloy wheels.
We like: Brutal power, epic soundtrack, remarkably well-behaved if you want it to be

Jaguar’s SVR badge is always attached to very special things.

We don't like: A V8 in 2021 is hard to justify, sadly could be the last of its kind

Jaguar has topped off its refreshed F-Pace line-up with the SVR variant, slotting its bellowing supercharged V8 under the hood and sprucing up the rest of the SUV to match. It’s not quite as unruly as the last one, but is there a place for it in 2021?

The SVR’s mighty supercharged V8 is a powerful, roaring relic from a time when the planet really didn’t matter to us.

A supercharged V8 SUV? Right as gas-guzzlers are hit with an extra levy?

That probably sounds like poor timing, but it was going to happen sooner or later. While it means you’ll pay an extra few grand on top of the final price, it won’t really matter to you if you’re considering one of these.

The F-Pace SVR belts off the line with feral pace.

* Sunday drive: Jaguar F-Pace

* Road test test review: Mercedes-Benz GLC 300

It’s not just all about raw power with the F-Pace SVR – the interior is superbly finished and truly luxurious.

* The Jaguar F-Pace SVR is our Top Performance SUV of 2019

And you’re considering it for one very loud reason – that awesome V8. The days of such an engine are numbered, so this might be one of the last chances to put one in the garage.

It’s almost impossible to poke holes in it, such is the ferocity and savagery of its performance.

Class, luxury and effortless performance – the SVR can wear the iconic leaper with pride.

I don’t recall a single time I didn’t have a big stupid grin plastered over my face while taking off from lights, let alone hitting an empty on-ramp in Dynamic mode.

It must sound pretty good then?

It also looks properly menacing all in black too...

Well, it’s the same engine that’s in the current F-Type R, so yeah, you could say it sounds pretty good. It might be a tad more muzzled than older variants, thanks to European emissions laws, but when the valves open up under full throttle, the thing still absolutely roars.

The eight-speed transmission rips through the gears, each upshift coming with a ferocious snap not seen in other large European SUVs.

But, being a large European SUV, it isn’t quite as cannonfire as the F-Type, especially in terms of pops-and-bangs on the over-run, which is good. Snaps and crackles through the exhaust are nice, but they wear thin.

On the interior noise front, Jaguar has implemented some active noise-cancelling to help cut out the worst of the tyre din. It works well too, and it doesn’t feel weird in the way that some noise-cancelling headphones do, as if your ears need to pop.

Pretty powerful too?

More than 400kW is a lot for a sports car, let alone a 2.2-tonne SUV. The supercharger adds a decent gob of torque low in the rev range, so the SVR can really leap off the line. It does the awesome thing of lifting its nose to the sky as the rear end squats under power too. The 0-100kmh time is still in the four-second bracket, which is weirdly slow compared to the three-point-something competition.

In Dynamic mode, all the power is sent to the rear wheels until the all-wheel drive system detects front-end slippage, so the SUV is great to drive through the corners as well.

In fact, the F-Pace SVR is superbly well-balanced, thanks to extra work done on the suspension systems. The dampers aren't ultra stiff, which means there is a smidge of body roll, but it results in a better ride and prevents the SVR from bouncing around on the road, in spite of the 22-inch wheels.

I found the new e-boosted brakes to be a bit weird to use at first – the pedal doesn’t move much until you put a fair bit of pressure on the pedal. They still work well, mind, but the pedal feel could be improved for better low-speed braking.

The steering is beautiful, nice and accurate without being too heavy or too light. It’s just a great car to drive hard, made all the more impressive by the fact that it’s a large, heavy SUV.

I had the chance to drive the F-Pace SVR on track as well, and can confirm it’s every bit as good on a speed-limit-free racetrack. There’s more opportunity to let the rear hang loose there, which it will do with almost alarming ease, and top speeds aren’t that far off the awesome XE SV Project 8.

Then, when you're finished, (or, more likely, running out of fuel), turn everything back into Comfort mode and enjoy a sweet, quiet cruise back home.

But?

Unfortunately, there is a but. That V8 is amazing and glorious and epic, but, man, it’s thirsty. Jag says it’ll do 11.7L/100km, but that figure is closer to 16L/100km in reality, which results in around 300km of driving range per tank, less if you drive it how it really wants to be driven.

There’s also the dilemma of buying a big, polluting V8 in 2021, but at least the F-Pace SVR is less obnoxious than its carbon-clad Range Rover Sport SVR sibling.

But, on the other hand, this could well be the last new SVR Jaguar will launch with the venerable blown V8, save for special editions. It’s committed to going fully electric by 2025, which means the engine will be phased out in the next few years. It’s a sad goodbye, and I’m sure more than a few fans out there will be upset it’s coming in the form of an SUV, but them’s the breaks. At least the F-Pace SVR is a thumping good car, right?

Any other cars I should consider?

The $169,900 F-Pace SVR is very well priced for a 405kW V8 performance SUV. It’s vastly cheaper than the 460kW BMW X5 M Competition ($225,900), and ten grand less than the 375kW X3 M Competition too ($178,900), while offering performance roughly between the two.

The situation is the same at Mercedes-Benz, with the 375kW AMG GLC 63 S costing $187,900 while also being less powerful, and the more powerful 450kW AMG GLE 63 is $234,100. Audi doesn’t have an RS Q5 at the moment, but the 441kW RS Q8 is a hefty $243,900.

That means the closest competitor is really the V6 turbo Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio, undercutting the Jag at $144,900 but, again, with less output at 375kW/600Nm.