Andy Cooper, Editor of Devon Life, borrows the All-Electric Jaguar I-PACE for his family’s staycation…and the car is the star of the trip.
I have been writing as a journalist now for 30+ years. I have a frayed copy of Roget’s Thesaurus. Adjectives and superlative should thus come easy to me. And yet – as I sit here, hovered over keyboard to summarise my experience of driving the all-electric Jaguar I-PACE I am finding myself almost lost for words. What. A. Car.
This is the epitome of luxurious, exciting driving…all wrapped up in an environmentally friendly and dynamic package which truly makes the most of some very special technical innovations from Jaguar. Heading off on a family staycation in the South Hams for a week, the lovely team at Roger Young Jaguar offered to loan me the I-PACE to try out. As I nosed the stylish looking vehicle out of the car park to head for our holiday destination I guess the two things on my mind were those which come naturally to almost all drivers taking the wheel of an electric vehicle for the first time: 1) how far will I get before I need to charge it; 2) what is performance like?
Well, onto performance first. Wow. Pacey, easy to drive and with a pick-up which is impressively jaw-dropping (the I-PACE can do 0-60mph in four seconds) there is no need to worry about what the car can or cannot do when compared to fuelled vehicles. I suspect it will give your fossil-dependent beast a run for its money at every level.
Perfectly at home cruising on the motorway or easing it around Devon’s lanes, the I-PACE provided me with an easy driving experience which only added to the relaxing nature of our holiday.
And then to charging. Well, for the three days we busied ourselves driving in and around the South Hams the car managed on one charge – and even had some oomph to spare when I dropped it back. Jaguar say it can go up to 292 miles on a full charge and my experience confirms that. And if you do need to charge it, then it’s so easy to plug in and get the job done in very short order. No wonder the I-PACE is kicking up such a storm in the motor industry and has already won three gongs at the World Car Awards. This is gold standard driving for the modern age and, as my two-year-old granddaughter observed when we returned to the more standard surroundings of our own vehicle: “When are we getting the nice white car back?!” Nice? I’ll have to go to work on Bonnie’s vocabulary too for this is not just a nice vehicle it’s a monumental one.
