Jaguar South Africa sharpens F-Pace’s claws once again

Despite introducing the revised F-Pace to South Africa last year, Jaguar has given its flagship SUV another round of updates in readiness for 2023.

What has changed?

What is likely to be the final update in preparation for the new second generation allegedly out in 2024 or 2025, the second lifecycle change, after the initial lifecycle change two years ago, sees the entry-level S model departing entirely and the black styling package being made standard on all but the SE that now starts the range off.

In addition, the R-Dynamic package no longer comes as an added extra across the range, though SE models are mounted on 20-inch alloy wheels and HSE derivatives on 21-inch wheels detailed with black-and-silver instead of red-and-silver centre caps.

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As for the black pack itself, the gloss finish now stretches to the grille surround and Jaguar badges, while the R-Dynamic badge on the grille has changed colour from red-and-green to black-and-grey.

Inside, the adaptions are smaller and while the 11.4-inch Pivi Pro infotainment system with over-the-air updates and the customisable 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster remain, the former now boasts wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. All models also get a wireless smartphone charger as standard.

Up front, Jaguar has dropped the petrol-powered P250 and P400 and equipped the plug-in hybrid P400e with a bigger battery pack.

This means the 147kW/430Nm D200 remains the base model with the mild-hybrid D300, that punches out 221kW/650Nm, being the other “conventional” model.

As before, the SVR caps the range off, but unlike sister brand Land Rover, still without the BMW-sourced 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 that powers the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.

Instead, the most powerful leaping cat prevails with the Ford-era 5.0-litre AJ-V8 supercharged mill that cranks out 405kW/680Nm, which propels the F-Pace SVR from 0-100 km/h in four seconds and onto a top speed of 286 km/h.

As for the P400e plug-in hybrid, Jaguar has retained the turbocharged 2.0-litre Ingenium petrol engine, but paired it to a new 19.2-kWh battery in place of the previous 17.1-kWh module.

Although combined outputs remain unchanged at 297kW/640Nm, the claimed all-electric range now stands at 65 km instead of 53 km. The 0-100 km/h sprint takes 5.3 seconds.

As before, all F-Pace derivatives are fitted with a ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic gearbox that sends the available twist to all four corners.

When?

It goes on sale in early 2023. Jaguar South Africa has confirmed that pricing will only be released closer to the actual launch date.

With the discontinuing of the S and P250, expect a significantly higher price of around the R1.4 million mark versus the current R1 281 900 for the D200 S.