2024 Jaguar F-Pace SVR: My Honest Review - The Ultimate SUV for Those Who Dare?

In a world where SUVs do their best to blend into the background, this Jaguar F-Pace SVR is like a predator lurking in the shadows. What's it like? Well, buckle up, my friends. Let's go for a drive. I'm your host, Brian Maxx, racer, lover of driving fast, fun things. And on this channel, you get reviews for drivers from drivers. Now, I think we have driven the F-Pace. If so, it was a while ago. I don't know if it's on the channel, but I certainly did drive this, probably wrote about the F-Pace. But this is the first time we've had a chance to pilot the high-performance version, this SVR. And it is full of attitude in every way. It sounds proper. It's got these bucket seats and a little bit of an aggressive attitude. And before we get into what it's like to drive, let's have a look at this in a little more depth. Before we get into the specs, I gotta say I'm a little disappointed that Jaguar is going totally EV, or at least that's what they're saying, because the world needs more SUVs like this, SUVs with attitude and have the looks to match the sound. But it is a unique thing. Under the hood of this SVR is a socially unacceptable 5-liter supercharged V8 that makes 542 horsepower at 6,250 through 6,500 RPM, makes 516 pounds of torque from 3,500 to 5,000 RPM. Transmission's an eight-speed automatic. There is an electronically controlled limited-slip diff at the back, double wishbones at the front, integral link suspension design at the rear, adaptive dampers, thankfully. Steering is electrically assisted, and it is variable ratio. Brakes are 15-inch rotors with six piston calipers at the front, 13.9-inch rotors with four piston calipers at the rear. Wheels and tires are 22s. This'll tow, actually, a little over 5,200 pounds, and curb weight is a tick over 4,600 pounds. Did you know that about 80% of you are not subscribed? Yes, it's true. I checked the data, and 80% of you are not subscribed. So if you content on this channel, do me a solid. Hit that subscribe button while you're at it. Be sure to like this video and share it. And if you don't mind, drop by our merch store. There's lots of great stuff for driving enthusiasts like us, including our very popular line of Save the Manuals merch. Now, back to your regularly scheduled episode. In terms of seating position, the fundamentals are fantastic. And of course, people buy SUVs for that taller seating position and better visibility versus a sedan. But otherwise, after that, it's a little bit of a mixed bag. You've got these two-piece buckets. They're kind of comfortable when you sit in them, but they're a little bit more racy than most. And what I do find is on longer drives, these are a little bit too firm and a little bit too extreme for me. It's rare that I complain about seats. They do a great job of holding you in the seat when you're cornering, but on longer trips, they do get a little annoying, at least for me. Your mileage will vary. After that, though, we've got a great interface to the steering wheel and to the pedals. Love the shape of the steering wheel. Look at that. Encourages you to have your hands at nine and three. Excellent gauge cluster. Very clear, very legible. The infotainment system, much the same as we found in a lot of new Range Rovers and Land Rovers. It works exceptionally well. This used to be one of the pain points in modern Jaguars and Land Rovers. Range Rovers, not anymore. They've completely resolved this, and this infotainment system is quite good these days. As I mentioned, visibility all around, very, very good. Of course, at this price point, you'd expect that this would have cameras. Indeed, it does. Makes it very easy to park. And in terms of spaciousness, there's a decent amount of space here. First row, second row, and under the hatch. Really can't complain about that. This is definitely a true SUV in terms of its cargo carrying capacity. Well, that's one of the cool features. There's no switchable automatic hold. You just put a little extra pressure on the brake pedal, and the F-Pace SVR just holds itself at a stoplight. Gotta love that. Now, Jaguar did not skimp on horsepower, that's for sure. And on top of that, the rest of the driveline, the transmission's fantastic, as we know. But the E-Diff does a fantastic job of putting down power. This'll do zero to 60 in under four seconds. It'll top out near 180 miles an hour. So, it does have the performance chops to go with the big SVR name, that's for sure. But I really dig the way this puts down power. And on top of that, the way it sounds. It just sounds so glorious, and it makes me sad that Jaguar has said they're going all electric. With the supercharged V8, there's just an abundance of power and torque any time you want it. We're cruising along, probably in top gear, and the motor's barely turning. It is very content at any speed, but when you get after it, get into that throttle, it's incredibly responsive and just delivers a tremendous amount of power and torque. You just can't go wrong with this engine. Paired to the eight-speed automatic, it works lovely. And again, that E-Diff does a fantastic job. I've not driven this in any low-grip conditions. I wish I had. And that's unfortunate because I don't think we're going to see another Jaguar F-Pace SVR. Dynamically, this is a bit of a mixed bag, but not for any obvious reasons. We'll get into that. Here's the thing. I actually really dig the overall dynamic package. Steering's great. Braking's pretty powerful. Overall handling's pretty good. It's just a well-balanced package. But what lets me down are some of the more techie features of this F-Pace. Turn-in response is fantastic. I'm very, very impressed with how this turns in, how it handles as well. The adaptive dampers do a great job. I'm just really impressed with how this works as a package. Steering's nice and quick. Brakes are very clear. I'd like maybe a little bit more positive pedal. It's a little too soft for me. Maybe I'd like a little bit more brake pedal pressure that's required to get into the brakes because this will go very, very quickly. And it can go quickly around the corners. I'd like a little more positive feedback out of that brake pedal, but can't complain. I mean, this is an SUV and it will go quickly around corners or even around a racetrack. Look, it's got a lap times feature here and stopwatch. Who knew? I will confess that I am driving this around in the firmest suspension mode just for fun, and it actually works. The adaptive dampers do a great job here, and I'm actually very impressed with this setting. Excellent body and wheel control in every condition. I haven't had it on terribly rough roads, but the ride is compliant and body and wheel control is excellent. Does a great job of ensuring that the tires remain in contact with the road, and that's what dampers are supposed to do. Body roll is surprisingly at a minimum, and that is surprising given that this suspension is still pretty compliant. You'd expect a little bit more roll because you've got a higher center gravity, but that's not the case. Your core is relatively flat, and that's another impressive part of the handling of this SVR. What is annoying, and it's because perhaps we've been spoiled with the range of new Defenders as of late, and their advanced driver assist systems work great in this Jaguar SVR, which has the same functionality. The advanced driver assists are things I really don't want to use. I find the lane keep assist is overreactive, and the adaptive cruise function, that radar system, does not do a great job of identifying the car in front. The system does get a little confused from time to time, and of course you don't need to drive with these things. Although if you do take it on a road trip, you may want these things, but when I get into this SVR, those two functions I don't even bother using. One of the reasons I would use cruise control is because this is capable of going very, very fast and very competently, so it's easy to break speed limit laws in this part of the world with this SVR. How do you spec yours? Well, not in this color. It's not to say that the paint is poor quality, it's the color choice, and this is the color choice of boring people in this part of the world. People in Canada and the Toronto area just love boring, dull colors, and this F-Pace SVR is so full of attitude. It needs a bolder color than this Iger Gray. This is the ebony interior, and these are, of course, the performance seats. This is some leather trim, but boring color combination, and I think we could do better than this, that's for sure. Base price in the U.S. is $91,900 with a couple of options. It's $93,800 in Canada. This is $103,600 base and $105,600 as tested, and that's before freight and local taxes. At those prices, among the premium performance SUV set, this is definitely a bargain. A lot of other performance-oriented SUVs from Europe cost tens of thousands of dollars more, so if you're looking at something, this you can consider a bit of a bargain. My verdict? Well, we often talk about fuel consumption, but it is so offensive I'm not even going to report on it, and rest assured I do enjoy using the throttle of this F-Pace SVR, and I'm definitely paying for it, but it's worth every single penny of premium fuel I'm putting in this F-Pace. I'm really surprised with it. No, it's not perfect, but it's full of attitude. The world needs more of these SUVs, that's for sure, and this one unfortunately seems to be going away, never to come back again, and I really dig it for all of those reasons. Full of attitude, very different from, of course, the German marks, and it's an unexpected choice if you want to put one of these in your driveway. Thanks for hanging out with me today and having a look at this 2024 Jaguar F-Pace SVR. Hope you liked this episode, and if you did, well, you're not new to YouTube, you know what to do. Smash the subscribe button, turn on your notifications, like this video, and as always, sharing is caring, so please share this with your friends, especially on Reddit, because on Reddit, they really need to see reviews for drivers from drivers. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comments below. I'll get back to you as soon as I can, and if you want to support the channel, please hit up our merch store. Links here, links below, lots of great stuff for driving enthusiasts like us, including our very popular line of Save the Manuals merch. Thanks again for watching. We'll see you again next time, and remember, cars don't understeer by themselves, not even Jaguar F-Pace SVRs. We're close to Brampton, and since we're close to Brampton, that's where they make the Dodge Challengers and Chargers, and oh, look, over there, there's a Challenger with splitter guards on it. Shocker.