2017 Jaguar F-Pace review – Roadshow

I was on my last day with the 2017 F-Pace S, Jaguar’s first ever SUV, reveling in British luxury when the navigation system turned itself on. The new InControl Touch Pro infotainment system had already frozen up on me once, now it had decided to take me to Target, a destination I had input the day before.

At first I wasn’t sure what the final destination the F-Pace had in mind, as it was only telling me to get on the highway. Once I zoomed out on the navigation screen and realized what had happened, I chalked it up to yet another electrical quirk from the British automaker and continued on to Roadshow HQ… without the help of the navigation.

The five-seat Jaguar F-Pace was introduced in 2016 as a 2017 model year, jumping on the crossover craze that has hit America in the face like a punch from Connor McGregor. It’s available in base, Premium, Prestige, R-Sport, S or Portfolio. All come standard with all-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters. The F-Pace sports a 3.0-liter engine or 2.0-liter diesel engine under the hood, although Jaguar will put more engine options on tap for 2018.

While the InControl Touch system is standard, my tester had Jaguar’s InControl Touch Pro, which bundles navigation, audio and phone controls on a 10.2-inch touchscreen. The system itself isn’t the most intuitive and I experienced a few glitches. Buttons froze up and became unselectable. And even though I left the system on Sirius satellite radio when turning off the car, it would often (but not always) turn itself back to terrestrial radio upon start up. The volume control on the steering wheel is slow to react, causing me to stab it with my finger in frustration when a good song came on. 

I am far from the only person to have a bad experience with Jaguar’s infotainment technology. My colleague Antuan Goodwin recently had his own quibbles with the InControl Touch Pro system, with the screen unexpectedly going black and general lagginess across the system.

Jaguar supplements the InControl Touch Pro display with a large 12.3-inch screen in place of a traditional gauge cluster. It’s not quite as slick as Audi’s Virtual Cockpit, but you have your choice of four layouts plus navigation. Having the nav front and center means my eyes on the road more, not on the center stack. It’s a super-slick feature that is especially useful in heavy traffic, when chances for a rear-end collision are higher.  Unfortunately selecting the full map display takes a few clicks and I had to do it every time I started the car. I wish it would default to the last screen used.

And speaking of navigation, you can’t literally speak to navigation. The nav system does not support voice recognition, although you can tell it to call your mom or change the radio station.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are not supported. Instead Jaguar relies on its own InControl app from your phone to throw things like Stitcher, Spotify, and Sygic or Magellan navigation to the head unit. Getting the system to recognize the app was hit-or-miss, and you have to upgrade the premium paid version of some apps, like the parking spot finder app Parkopedia.

There is a Wi-Fi hotspot that can support up to eight devices. I was able to connect my computer easily to get some work done while on the road. 

When it comes to driver’s aids, the F-Pace S comes standard with a rear-view camera, Blind Spot Monitor and Lane Keep Assist. If you want the big guns, you’ll have to pay the big money. The Driver Assistance Package is a $3,265 extra bit of tech that unfortunately my tester did not have. Bummer, too as it includes Adaptive Cruise Control that works at low speeds, and Traffic Sign Recognition, which reads speed limit and no passing signs and displays the information to the driver. The package also has Adaptive Speed Limiter, which uses speed limit information to keep the F-Pace at an appropriate speed. As a lead foot who often needs help keeping my speed in check, this feature would be awesome.