Sprint Review: Jaguar F-Pace SVR

VIEW THE ACCELERATION & BRAKE TESTS HERE

Jaguar F-PaceSVR

Somewhere out there is a person who wants (or possibly needs) a bright orange metallic Jaguar SUV with a bajillion horsepower. I’ m not sure why, but here ’ s my brief impression of the vehicle… Text: Hanjo Stier Images:Nico Boshoff

You should know: This little Sprint Review is a quick gap iller because I made a special request to drive this vehicle for a sole reason: to use it in a tribute video. A homage. Perhaps even an obituary… to the glorious V8 engine. It’ s gloriously decadent and a glorious waste of time in today’s lean, green and rather mean world. More info: A couple of decades ago, vee eights were fairly common. They powered anything from lazy land yachts, brawny bakkies and agitated sports cars but – as climate change, EV hysteria and political correctness lood our collective consciousness, they’ve been pushed into the lastnamed vestige: as sports car motors. What else? I won ’t lament that fact more than I should – while nudging you in the direction of my video – but it’ s my professional duty to tell you that down-sizing and high eficiency vehicles are better. They just are. But for my fellow eight-pot aicionados out there, meet one of the greatest V8 SUV’ s on today’s market. Why you shouldn’t: Sure, it costs almost two bar and will help itself to at least 12.2L/100km on average. Snort, giggle. Try double that, if you ’ re a human being with emotions. Emotions which will be ish-hooked and dragged into the gargling V8 soundtrack; accompanied by instant supercharger response. Why you should: Besides a glorious sound and lots of British opulence? Performance. According to our GPSbased Racelogic PerformanceBox, this 405kW behemoth can sprint to 100km/h in just 4.2 seconds. And although Jaguar claims 0.2 seconds less, that’ s well within are-you-crazy SUV territory (see table on page 15). Top speed? An insane 286km/h. The SVR obviously comes with every imaginable toy and safety aid, probably a comprehensive warranty and service plan, although there’s only one dealership in Namibia. It’ s silly, really. Wasteful. Almost stupid or brash, but that’ s the whole point of that dying star we call a V8. Which my video also tries to explain…

FULL SPEC SHEET

Engine: 5.0 V8 supercharged petrol Drive Train: 8-speed Auto, AWD Power / Torque: 405kW / 700Nm Avg consumption: * 12.2L/100km 0-100km/h: 4.20 seconds (*4.0) Top speed: * 286km/h List Price: R1,996,100