• Sporty and luxurious but still practical
• Enormous boot
• Rear seat access slightly obscured

How much space is there?

The F-Pace is a pretty chunky SUV on the outside, but thankfully that also means it’s a spacious and practical option for those looking for some room. Firstly, the F-Pace is quite tall so it’s more of a step up into the cabin than you’ll find with the Mercedes GLC or Audi Q5.

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We found access to the rear a tiny bit cumbersome because of the huge wheelarches, but there’s plenty of headroom for four occupants to sit in comfort one they’re in place. Legroom is adequate but not generous, and though it’s wide enough for three across the rear bench the third passenger has a narrow perch with an uncomfortable backrest as the seats are sculpted for the outer occupants.

Racier models, with their chunky, hard-backed sports seats, makes life a little more difficult for rear occupants. There’s a little less space, and the integrated headrests spoil the view out of the front.

Boot space and storage

The Jaguar F-Pace has been built with practicality in mind, and it shows. It has a huge 650-litre boot accessed via a standard powered tailgate and rear seats that fold almost (but not quite) flat in a 40:20:40 split, which means you’re able to load longer items of up to 1.8 metres into the car.

A pair of skis shouldn’t be an issue, for example. Its loadspace expands to a total of 1,740 litres with the rear seats folded, while the boot floor is reversible and rubberised on one side for easy cleaning after loading sports equipment or pets.

Otherwise it’s a nice, deep load bay that’s bigger than you’ll find in the BMW X3 and Audi Q5 rivals, which is great if you’re carrying anything chunky. The only niggles we’d have are that the powered tailgate can be slow (if you’re impatient) and the loading lip is comparatively high when lined up next to its rivals. Bear this in mind if you’re regularly carrying heavy items and you need to heave them in. 

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The plug-in hybrid P400e has a smaller boot because the battery is kept under the boot floor. This means overall boot space is reduced from 650 litres to 552 litres.

Storage for smaller items is good. The cabin features a number of storage spaces including door pockets with space for taller bottles, while the central storage cubby is large and houses USB and 12-volt connections along with HDMI sockets, where specified as optional extras.

Is it easy to park?

At 4,747mm long, 1,655mm wide and 1,664mm tall, the F-Pace is shorter than an XF saloon and the higher vantage point means manoeuvres are that little bit easier. The large door mirrors also help and while the rear windscreen isn’t the tallest, you at least get front and rear parking sensors as standard on all models, as well as a camera that shows the whole vehicle in 3D.

How safe is it? 

• Five-star rating when tested by Euro NCAP
• Lots of contemporary driver assistance kit
• Many F-Paces feature four-wheel drive

When the F-Pace was crash-tested by Euro NCAP at the end of 2017 it achieved a full five-star score. This wasn’t a surprise given the Jaguar’s safety kit ensemble is impressive on all models.

Automatic LED headlights come as standard, as well as hill-start assist, trailer stability assist, lane-keep assist, autonomous emergency braking, traffic sign recognition (including an intelligent speed limiter), whiplash protection for front seats and Isofix child-seat lashing points in the rear.

Plus, let’s not forget, this is an SUV, so all models benefit from a more commanding view of the road ahead than you’ll experience in one of Jaguar’s traditional saloons and all-wheel drive is fitted on all models in the range.