Greetings all I-Pacers. I ordered an I-Pace several months ago just after JLR opened up the orders and got confirmation on my order & build this past June. My I-Pace was just built with an expected delivery (South Florida) in just 4-6 weeks slated for mid-late October, 2018; in fact, my I-Pace may very well be the first or certainly one of the first consumer production I-Pace vehicles coming to Florida.
Today was an exciting day for me as well. I had the opportunity today to drive a pre-production demo I-Pace today at my local Jaguar dealer. I spent the first 20 minutes playing with some of the settings before test driving, and then did a nice mix of spirited driving & casual cruising around for another 30 minutes or so. My initial impressions:
1) The I-Pace is absolutely AMAZING! Anyone who isn't impressed with the drive-ability, handling, acceleration, feel, and quality is either lying, in denial (for whatever reason), or mentally ill, lol! :laugh:
I came from a 2015 Porsche Macan Turbo (which I added a piggyback tuning device to increase HP/TQ from 400/400 - 480/470) and in my opinion, the I-Pace absolutely BLOWS the Macan away! Maybe it's just the instant torque and what I describe as "butter soft" smooth ride and linear acceleration, but I am also very impressed with the look & feel of the vehicle. While I truly enjoyed driving my Porsche everyday, I really think I'll love driving my I-Pace everyday even more than my previous Macan Turbo. The I-Pace is just so smooth and while different than driving any other ICE car, it's very cool in a good way! Now I understand why Tesla drivers just love their Teslas.
Another tidbit of info from my test drive today...I followed a guy who was test driving an Aston Martin DB11 and we both got on to the highway at the same time...I was behind him and he floored the DB11 so of course, I floored the I-Pace. Let's just say I have a feeling he went back to the Aston Martin showroom (shared with Jaguar) and inquired about the Jag I-Pace which costs $170k LESS than the Aston Martin and of course has better "fuel" economy than the DB11's 11 mpg...and I was on his tail the whole time, ahem, slightly past the speed limit, lol!
2) Regen Braking - While my original thought was to likely drive the I-Pace set in "Low Regen Braking" (because I typically do ~ 70% highway driving here in South Florida), I now will likely drive my new I-Pace in "High Regen Braking" even on the highway. It's just that easy and seems to make driving easier and more pleasurable...the "1-pedal driving" while a bit unnatural is very easy to get used to...I got used to driving this way literally in under 3 minutes! You can still use Cruise Control on the highway AND you can of course still apply the brakes if you need to stop more quickly than the regenerative braking applies after you lift off the accelerator. I found my self gently applying the brakes on a couple of occasions when I needed to stop a bit quicker (like stopping quickly at a red light). The brakes are great too; similar in stopping performance as my Porsche Macan Turbo (and that's saying a lot!). BTW - it appears that when in high regen braking mode and you lift off the accelerator, the brakes lights do in fact turn on so the cars behind you know you're braking and slowing down.
3) The full solar glass roof & heat? Okay, so you know now I'm in South Florida where it's quite hot most of the year so I've been worried about the I-Pace not having a sun shade under the full glass roof BUT I can tell everyone today right now that the UV-ray/heat deflecting glass actually works quite well...wow!
Although I'm no giant (only 5'8") so my head isn't that close to the glass above my head, I certainly didn't feel the sun's heat beating down on my head today (and it was a typically 84 degrees today with the sun shining bright). After my test drive, I did put my hand on the glass roof from the inside of the car and I did feel that it was very hot, BUT again I didn't feel the heat when I moved my hand just a few inches away. So interesting and very pleased that it seems to work well!
4) A/C, Navigation, & Infotainment - all works well (but in all honesty, I'm used to the new JLR Touch Pro Duo system as we have a 2018 LR RR Velar) and is a bit slow but not as slow as our 2018 Velar's Touch Pro Duo system and of course, the I-Pace version adds a lot of features and information specific for the I-Pace EV. BTW - interesting fact (which should also quell some concerns by many)...these systems including A/C, seat A/C/Heating, Infotainment features use a separate, smaller battery instead of draining more juice from the car's main EV battery. In addition, this separate battery also gets recharged through the regen braking & when you plug your I-Pace in to charge each day. So, what does all this mean? This means that if you (like me) were concerned that using these systems like A/C and seat heating/cooling will affect your main battery and driving range, don't be as using these systems shouldn't affect your I-Pace driving range! JLR really has thought of almost everything with this new I-Pace. So, this is very good.
5) Apple CarPlay & OTA software updates - they told me today that while the initial I-Paces coming into the US won't have the Apple CarPlay feature, it should in fact be included with an upcoming software update; they just don't know exactly when. In addition, they also mentioned that they prefer that software updates be done at the Jaguar dealer (instead of doing yourself at home via OTA update) simply because if there's a problem, you're I-Pace may be stuck at home. I understand their point on this, I would like the ability to do these OTA software updates at home without any issues...just update and GO! Hopefully, they will feel more confident in their OTA software updates to promote this feature, just like Tesla does.
So, that's about it for now. I am really excited to take delivery on my I-Pace...just built and expected delivery/handover in about 4-6 weeks in mid-late Oct!! It will be my first EV and I have a feeling, I may never go back to driving an ICE car (except for my 700 HP/TQ GT-R Black Ed. of curse, lol...that car is just special in so many other ways)! :grin2: CHEERS!!!!
