Jaguar F-Pace SUV 2017 Review | Driver's Seat

In the main, the Jaguar F-Pace went into production last year without the expected uproar from traditionalists concerned that this producer of sporty driving cars has bowed to the pressure of SUV sales.

It was a big year for sporting and luxury SUVs, though, after Maserati launched the Levante SUV, Bentley gave us the Bentayga (whether we wanted it or not), while Rolls-Royce seemed to up its efforts to bring its own SUV to market.

So are we mellowing as a nation of car lovers or have we simply accepted that the march of time is sending SUVS on to the forecourts of previously unimaginable car brands?

It’s a Porsche though that the Jaguar F-Pace really needs to go head to head with and beat if this venture is going to be a successful one.

Having said that, it’s already off to a flying start. For the 9 months it was on sale in 2016, the F-Pace became the fastest selling vehicle in Jaguar’s history, with 8,000 models rolling off forecourts.

It’s really not hard to see why as the F-Pace is a great looking thing, it's got a good choice of engines and specifications with prices starting from just over £35,000.

On the diesel front, there’s a 2.0-litre four-cylinder with 178bhp and 318lb ft of torque and is available with either rear-wheel or all-wheel drive (AWD). Both come with a six-speed manual gearbox as standard while an eight-speed automatic is only available on the AWD version.

A more powerful 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine develops 296bhp and 516lb ft of torque and comes with all-wheel drive and an eight-speed auto as standard.

From the petrol corner, you get one choice, but what a choice it is. It’s a 3.0-litre supercharged V6 that develops 375bhp and 332lb ft of torque. That’ll get this range-topper from standstill to 60mph in 5.1 seconds. It gets AWD and an eight-speed automatic as standard.

The F-Pace is available in four trim levels, Prestige and Portfolio, R-Sport and S.

Here we're testing the 2.0d 180PS Automatic AWD in R-Sport trim.