Maybe you can contact the supplier for the race version suspension? I've not seen any aftermarket suspension. A clever fellow could lengthen and shorten the arms of the ride height sensors to get a lower car. A truly clever fellow could gain control of the dynamic suspension computer.

I think sticky tires alone would do a lot.

 

Maybe you can contact the supplier for the race version suspension? I've not seen any aftermarket suspension. A clever fellow could lengthen and shorten the arms of the ride height sensors to get a lower car. A truly clever fellow could gain control of the dynamic suspension computer.

I think sticky tires alone would do a lot.

Ha ha! I wish I were more clever!

 

Thats odd. Do you have the adaptive dynamics option? It makes a significant difference in handling. In comfort mode the body does tend to lean a lot in sweeping corners but in dynamic mode it corners flat is very stable.

 

Interesting. I do have the adaptive dynamics option. In dynamic mode, I find steering feel and throttle response to be better, but I find the suspension hardly changes at all. Lots of body roll. I wonder if I should take it into the dealer for a look..

 

I think he's used to a 911, not an off road capable 2.5 ton suv. I find the roll more than acceptable for what the car is.

 

Agree.

 

Dat Psychosteer doe

Contains Egg

oppositelock.kinja.com

 

smitty, I found this interesting older Jalopnik article and YouTube video of Randy Pobst at Laguna Seca.

Jaguar Claims the 2019 I-Pace Just Set a Lap Record at Laguna Seca [Updated]

The brand new 2019 Jaguar I-Pace is a very promising electric car, and it just allegedly set a new lap record around Laguna Seca raceway, beating previous recorded lap times of the Tesla Model S and Tesla Model 3.

jalopnik.com

Jaguar claims the I-Pace lapped the 11-turn road coarse in 1:48.18 completely stock, with no modifications. Jaguar and Motor Trend claim that’s a record for a “four-door stock production electric vehicle.”

There is a G sensor overlay on the screen. The car speedo and the speed sensor seem to differ.

The car seems to be cornering without much body roll, it must be in an optimum Dynamic setting maybe with TCS off too.

I can't determine if Dynamic Mode is displayed on the dash, the infotainment screen seems to be stuck on a settings page.

Cheers, Steve

 

....I can't determine if Dynamic Mode is displayed on the dash, the infotainment screen seems to be stuck on a settings page.

Cheers, Steve

Isn't the silver ring on the power gauge on the dash characteristic of dynamic mode?

 

The D (for drive) looks red. If it is, it's in dynamic mode.

 

The body roll is very pronounced when corning on uneven roads.
Ive actually caught air going 50mph when the car jumped on an uneven road

 

I know it failed the moose test, but our road is a mess of every kind of bump and dip, and I never had this issue. And I have driven in a way that I should not ever, ever do again but likely will. Those all season 20s can grip.

 

Hey, thanks everyone for all the input! I'm going to tinker with dynamic mode in my car a bit, and perhaps take it into the dealer. It sounds like my suspension isn't behaving the way it should and dynamic mode. It sure would be great if this "just" were a software issue rather than a mechanical one. Wish me luck!

 

What trim level is your cat? S, SE, HSE or FE? What wheel size? What tires? What tire pressures?
Your post was complaining about the suspension, but lacking information useful in making an assessment.

 

FE. 19". OEM All-Seasons. 36/41. All immaterial I think, since significant body roll in high-speed corners is the issue I'm trying to resolve. I'm not running out of grip. The car gets scary long before that - which is what makes me think it has the potential to handle better. In all my cars of the past 15 years, tires have been a limiting factor. Not so here.

 

Hi smitty, we both have FEs, mine corners hard and flat as in the Laguna Seca video above.

I have the 20" wheels & tires that came with the car. Front to rear weights are reported as 50%:50% so I am currently running 41 & 42 PSI for hills & country road driving on sealed roads in very good condition.

I just checked my infotainment screen app "Dynamic-i" it has been "Reset" to Factory Settings ie all 3 options are set to Dynamic (none are set to Comfort). The Dynamic-i App also includes a G Meter with max hold display that I have not used yet, but it may be helpful with your problem. On the Laguna Seca video the car is displaying the Dynamic-i app Lap Timer page, in pause mode.

Your body roll problems may be due to a Comfort option "set" in Dynamic mode or soft front tires or a faulty Adaptive Dynamics module.

Cheers, Steve

 

Hi smitty, we both have FEs, mine corners hard and flat as in the Laguna Seca video above.

I have the 20" wheels & tires that came with the car. Front to rear weights are reported as 50%:50% so I am currently running 41 & 42 PSI for hills & country road driving on sealed roads in very good condition.

I just checked my infotainment screen app "Dynamic-i" it has been "Reset" to Factory Settings ie all 3 options are set to Dynamic (none are set to Comfort). The Dynamic-i App also includes a G Meter with max hold display that I have not used yet, but it may be helpful with your problem. On the Laguna Seca video the car is displaying the Dynamic-i app Lap Timer page, in pause mode.

Your body roll problems may be due to a Comfort option "set" in Dynamic mode or soft front tires or a faulty Adaptive Dynamics module.

Cheers, Steve

Thanks Steve! I started exploring Dynamic-i again yesterday. All settings are the same as Factory: Dynamic, Dynamic, Dynamic! All 4 tires are running a little soft due to the cooling weather, but I've had this notion that the Jag could handle better for a year, and only just decided to try and do something about it. More and more, it's sounding like a visit to the dealership is in order.

 

I don't think it's an issue with being in comfort mode. Even in comfort mode, the car doesn't lean all that much. In dynamic, it's noticeably flatter, but not dramatically so.

Where are you, @smitty? Maybe someone nearby can see what's up while socially distanced?

It could be something weird with whatever 19" tires you're running. Damaged suspension. Alignment issue. With 20" all seasons, the car corners at least .85g and swallows bumps while doing so. I have done the same road in anger with an E60 550i sport, E60 528i, FRS, Forester, xA, Integra LS, Model X, Model 3 Performance, Spark EV, Fiat 500EV, 135i, and Z4. The only car from the list that gripped more confidently was the M3P on Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, but dear god was it a dull drive. Also my arms hurt because of the messed up steering effort. I've never had that happen before. But I digress. Your experience is quite different from mine.

I gotta get stickier tires for the FRS, but the rear is set up to slip no matter what.

 

I don't think it's an issue with being in comfort mode. Even in comfort mode, the car doesn't lean all that much. In dynamic, it's noticeably flatter, but not dramatically so.

Where are you, @smitty? Maybe someone nearby can see what's up while socially distanced?

It could be something weird with whatever 19" tires you're running. Damaged suspension. Alignment issue. With 20" all seasons, the car corners at least .85g and swallows bumps while doing so. I have done the same road in anger with an E60 550i sport, E60 528i, FRS, Forester, xA, Integra LS, Model X, Model 3 Performance, Spark EV, Fiat 500EV, 135i, and Z4. The only car from the list that gripped more confidently was the M3P on Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, but dear god was it a dull drive. Also my arms hurt because of the messed up steering effort. I've never had that happen before. But I digress. Your experience is quite different from mine.

I gotta get stickier tires for the FRS, but the rear is set up to slip no matter what.

WOW. Yeah, that's a huge difference from my experience, where there's major body roll in comfort mode, and pretty similar in dynamic. The suspension also tends to get pretty upset in certain conditions, causing the whole vehicle to jostle back & forth. I have tried to push the car around corners the way I did in my 911, modified S4 and modified S5 and some others - but it's spooky to me at higher speeds. I'm really starting to thing something is wrong with my stock suspension setup, rather than it needing modification. Thanks!!

 

Jaguar wheels came in 18, 20 or 22. Not 19.

Tire aspect ratio and inflation pressures influence sidewall strength.
Sidewall strength influences cornering and handling.

"OEM" doesn't tell us anything since they offered multiple tire brands. If you really do have 19s, then it isn't anything supplied by Jaguar.

 

My mistake. They are 20s. Sidewall strength influences corning and handling, certainly. My tires are Goodyear Eagle Sports, which is a pretty good all-season tire. However, no all-season will match a proper summer performance tire, so I believe the point is a bit moot, so long as tire pressure is to spec. I'll admit mine is a little low, by about 3 PSI all around, due to the cooling weather, but this body roll issue has been needling at me for over a year. That said, I will get some more air in my tires today. I have personally experienced a big difference in handling at the "comfort" pressure vs. "normal" pressure. More to the point: body roll is the issue I'm trying to resolve, which in not affected by tire choice or pressure.

I get that you want to be sure I'm not some rich guy who thinks he bought a fast car, doesn't know how to drive it, and doesn't know the important factors in handling. I assure you, I do. I've run various cars at various tracks for the past 15 years, and have been autocrossing off and on for many of them. I have "graduated" from Bob Bondurant's high performance driving school, attended numerous HPDE days, and am certified solo for the track. I am no race car driver, but track driving was very much a hobby of mine until acquired the I-Pace (I didn't walk away from the hobby because of the I-Pace, but because the thrill was gone - so I sold my 911 and bought the Jag, which is obviously more family- off-road, and environmentally-friendly than a 911). I do, however, still like to drive. Very much so.

In the course of pursuing my track driving hobby, I had the suspensions of two cars professionally modified (An Audi S5, then an Audi S4). Track-friendly tires were of course critical. Suspension mods are a fairly ordinary modification to ICE cars running springs (rather than air), hence my question to the forum. In no way do I expect the Jag to handle like a sports car, sports coupe, or sports sedan. At the same time though, I've been perplexed by the track coverage of the I-Pace in the media, as my car feels like it wants to tip over on a fast sweeping on-ramp. I do think my car could handle better than it currently does, if only its body roll could be contained. Steering feedback is surprisingly good. Acceleration out of corners is of course other-worldly. It's just what the chassis is doing at turn-in and mid-corner that is frankly a bit scary.

Now that that's out of the way, advice regarding my original question would be most helpful. From others' responses, it appears that my suspension isn't behaving the way it should in "dynamic" mode. Thank you!

 

I decided to play with the G-meter. I got lucky with perfect conditions (dry weather, no traffic), so was able to put the I-Pace through my favorite on-ramp test. In dynamic mode (steering, suspension and throttle all "dynamic"), with the G-meter on, the car put up 0.79G on my test on-ramp and hit 104mph before hitting the freeway (where I always decelerate to roughly legal speeds). That's better than I've ever seen it do. With the body waggling around, I've generally only gotten it up around 90. The 911 and S4 could both do better at 115mph(!) and 111mph - but 104 is respectable in my book, especially for a heavy SUV thing - and it can do better. I let off the throttle more than I should have in the turn and regen set in. On the empty forested road to my house I put up 0.85G in a corner and could have gone much harder but for not wanting to kill anyone. If it were to behave like it has today, I could see it putting up at least 1.0G at the track without much trouble. That would be impressive, wearing all-season rubber.

So I dunno. Maybe I scared it into submission. Cornering has been noticeably flatter today in dynamic mode - not what I would call flat, but more like I expect it to be. Maybe running the G meter jogged the software into action. Almost believable, with the Jag's uber-buggy (but slowly improving!) software and all. Perhaps the software actually had the suspension in comfort mode in Dynamic-i despite the UI saying otherwise. Maybe my brain is failing me more than I even realize. Regardless, today marked the first on-ramp test where I wasn't disappointed. I'll keep testing, and see if I can hone in on what's happening. I'm bringing my son to a HPDE next month. Maybe the Jag needs to go too! See what it can do in autocross and on the track. --Tom

 

I'll keep testing, and see if I can hone in on what's happening. I'm bringing my son to a HPDE next month. Maybe the Jag needs to go too! See what it can do in autocross and on the track. --Tom

One former I-Pace owner, McRat, took his I-Pace (20” all season Goodyears) to an autoX event, and the other driver’s had difficulty in beating his time.

 

It's a hugely heavy car. It does not dance on the tip of a needle. It does have lots of grip and acceleration, handling bumps pretty well too. But it's no 911 or modified S4. Those can be made to corner much faster because they weigh much less.

The difference between dynamic and comfort are noticeable, but really not huge. The spring rates are still the same. The roll bars are still the same. It's just the shocks tightening up.

 

True that! The car definitely does not dance. Autocrossing it should be interesting. I imagine it will drive like a bruiser due to the weight, but will squirt out of turns thanks to the electric motors. More or less the opposite of your FR-S, where you really have to (and can) carry speed through corners.

 

I’ve taken my I-PACE on many a SoCal windy canyons and switchback filled mountain roads and it has fared admirably.

 

There is a huge difference between light and heavy car handling. A heavy, well-suspended, low COG EV can have a ton of grip and give a lot of confidence thanks to relatively low body roll. However, it's not going to change directions as happily or nimbly as a light car. Nor will it brake the same way. With prper race pads on the FRS, I could brake very late and very hard compared to most other cars at the track, still staying out of ABS, even as I could not keep up in the corners on my Prius tires and with the tail-happy, less grippy suspension of the early FRS.

I can go much faster in the IPace, probably even mid corner, stock vs stock, but the FRS was forgiving to ham handedness, even fun that way. That kind of roughness just makes the I-Pace wallow like a whale.

 

Totally agree. Unfortunately for me, I'm used to fairly light cars with minimal body roll that are very happy changing direction (even when done poorly). My I-Pace has quite a lot of body roll, which for me is unsettling, though it changes direction admirably. Can it carve that corner even though it feels like it wants to tip over? Almost certainly, given the low center of gravity, broad contact patch and pretty good tires. Does it inspire confidence (in me)? Nope. It's something I'll either have to get used to or... find that different suspension setup! I have switched to driving in "dynamic" mode almost exclusively, which does limit body roll more than I gave it credit for (if it were me, this would be the default, with firmer settings available from there). Track and (hopefully) autocross are this weekend. Any which way, it'll be interesting!

 

Use Dynamic Mode

 

Anti-rollbars, rear steering, and active shocks in a luxury EV is my wish list. Jaguar only has 1/3 of that, and their active suspension tech is only so-so. It's a good thing they know how to design regular suspension.

 

I find the suspension pretty stiff in dynamic and a bit too wallowy if taking corners hard in comfort. The whole point of AD is to dynamically adjust the suspension constantly to keep the car level on dynamic mode. Have to say mine works perfectly in that and I came from a Nissan GTR not known for its forgiving suspension set up (even on comfort mode).

 

Sure, whatever on other (sometimes much cheaper) cars is achieved in base trim just by going right size stabilizer bars, on I-Pace requires tier 2 air suspension upgrade.
But then, stiffness, damping and body roll stabilization are 3 individual parameters addressed by different suspension components. The TS was talking about stiffness (which I agree could be softer), and consensus on body roll seems to be - OK-ish even on standard air suspension. But damping is just not there.

 

I don’t have the dynamic suspension and the car is not setup the way I like suspension setup. I think Jag chose medium stiff shocks and springs and very stiff anti-roll bars. I think this is why the car rides well over bumps that effect one axle at a time. This would cause the issues disrupting the car when hitting a bump mid-corner. This also would explain the ride when crossing speed bumps at an angle. I considered disconnecting the sway bars and testing it out but it doesn’t bother me enough. I just drive straight over speed bumps. The suspension setup seems similar to what Mini uses. The super stiff anti-roll bars make the car feel sporty since the car feels like it turns immediately after steering input.

 

Remember, this is a car that can go around a race track pretty well and then go off road pretty well too. This will not outdo a BMW M SUV on the track, but it will outdo the M SUV off road. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darned amazing still. Perhaps they could soften it up if they added some active anti-roll bars, magneto dampers, and rear wheel steering. But then we'll be in the Taycan price range.