You probably weren’t wondering what connects a couple of vintage Italian supercars to Jaguar’s latest SUV, but you’re about to learn. The bridge is an Englishman named Ross Restell.
Restell had two car posters in his bedroom back in the ‘90s—one was a Lamborghini Countach 5000 QV and the other a Ferrari 512 TR. He chose them because, at some point during his youth, Restell decided those two cars pretty much had it all right. Then decades later, after he’d earned his engineering degree at the University of Northampton and undertaken a ten-year stint with Lotus Cars Ltd., Restell joined Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations as Lead Engineer, Vehicle Dynamics.
Restell has done seriously track-tuned cars at Lotus, and he dug in at JLR SVO with heavy lifting on the Nordschliefe-record-breaking XE SV Project 8 sedan. He’s done some fairly wild things on his own time, including an MGB roadster that he built with Rover V8, but Restell had never done anything in the vein of Jaguar’s latest release, or the first of its “Pace’’ vehicles to get the full Special Vehicle Operations treatment: the 2019 F-Pace SVR.
Restell hasn’t forgotten the Italians that helped light his passion for cars. He remembered them recently in the south of France, after a technical briefing on the F-Pace SVR—noting with a hint of reverence that this F-Pace is .6 seconds quicker to 62 miles per hour than either the Countach QV or the 512 TR, with a similar top-speed (176 mph). Restell might also have noted that the SVR seats five comfortably and offers 63.5 cubic feet of cargo volume, tows up to 5300 pounds and gets 40 percent better mileage than the 512 TR (which was the substantially more efficient Italian, according to the EPA).
Special Vehicle Operation’s SVR models invariably start with a performance-tuned take on JLR’s 5.0-liter supercharged V8, and so it is with the F-Pace. Here the engine generates 550 horsepower and 505 pound-feet of torque, complete with Jaguar’s booming Variable Valve Active Exhaust System, which happens to be lighter than the standard F-Pace exhaust by 14.5 pounds. We’ve seen more peak horsepower from Jaguar’s 5.0 in other applications, including the 592-hp XE SV, but the 550 in the F-Pace SVR is 170 hp or 44 percent more than the previous range-topping F-Pace S V6, and it’s competitive with hotrod SUVs from BMW M, Mercedes AMG etc. There’s no dull, plastic fairing hiding the SVR’s V8, either. Instead it has a racy looking aluminum casting covering the V and supercharger.
The F-Pace SVR gets what the Brits call “bespoke calibration’’ for its eight-speed ZF automatic. That means the transmission is re-tuned for quicker manual or automatic shifts, and it allows the driver to adjust both shift pressure and shift schedule. The all-wheel-drive’s wet-clutch transfer case defaults to 100-percent rear-drive, but it can send up to 50 percent of the engine torque to the front wheels in about 100 milliseconds if the electronic brains deem it necessary. The SVR also gets a torque-vectoring rear differential to power it through bends with more speed and stability.
Underneath, Jaguar’s aluminum double-wishbone/integral link suspension gets the anticipated performance spiffs. The SVR’s progressive rate coil springs are 30 percent stiffer than those in the S in front, and 10 percent stiffer in back. Anti-roll bars, bushings and bump stops are stiffened, all tailored to reduce body roll 5 percent. The adaptive shocks are recalibrated to minimize the impact on ride quality. Yet the most interesting thing might be what SVO didn’t do. Restell says his crew considered lowering the F-Pace’s ride height early on, for about four minutes. It quickly decided that potential consequences, in terms diminished ride quality, reduced off-pavement capability or a reduction in the F-Pace’s general utility weren’t worth the pay-off.
The F-Pace SVR’s brakes grow to 15.5 inches diameter in front and 15.6 inches rear, increasing swept area 12 percent and 22 percent, respectively, compared to the S. It adds four-piston calipers in front and bi-metal aluminum/iron rotors. With forged wheels measuring 21- or 22-inches in diameter, un-sprung weight drops a few pounds in each corner. This F-Pace will head to the States with standard all-season Pirellis, though dealers should be able to offer the Euro-spec PZeroes as an alternative.
The SVR gets the anticipated nips and tucks to enhance its appearance of bellicosity, but here they’re largely functional. All the front apertures are larger. Vents near the rear edge of the front fenders relieve pressure in the wheel wells to reduce lift and improve air flow over the brakes. The hood gets a pair of extractor vents. A unique rear spoiler adds a hint more downforce, and slashes in the rear fascia reduce drag by smoothing airflow at the trailing corners of the bumper.
In total, the SVR upgrades (and most prominently the powertrain) lift its curb weight 300 pounds compared to the F-Pace S V6, but a little perspective might be in order. The F-Pace unitbody is 80 percent aluminum, with a composite tailgate, a magnesium dash beam and a magnesium front sub-frame, so it falls toward the light end of this category to begin with. Dimensionally, it’s a bit of a ‘tweener: a hair bigger than compact European competitors like the BMW X3 or Mercedes GLC (an inch or less by any exterior dimension), but a lot smaller than mid-size competitors like the X5 or GLE (as in eight inches shorter in overall length). The SVR has substantially more power than a Mercedes GLC 63 AMG, and the same output as the GLE 63 AMG with a significant weight advantage. In short, the F-Pace SVR sits near the tip of the power-to-weight pyramid among hotrod SUVs, surpassing even the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio.
Inside, the SVR has slimmer sport seats than other F-Paces, with quilted inserts, shoulder harness ports and embossed SVR logos in the headrests. There are also some updates Jaguar is applying across the F-Pace line for its third model year, including Apple CarPlay or Android Auto for the infotainment system and an expanded suite of standard safety features (lane-keep assist, driver-condition monitor, automatic emergency braking, rearview camera and front and rear parking aid). And for 2019, the F-Pace offers the next level of self steering. The adaptive cruise control adds steering control to track lanes and keep the car centered without driver intervention.
You can inspect the F-Pace SVR at Jaguar dealerships now. It retails at $81,015 with the $1,025 destination charge, and you’ll still find all the previous iterations—two grades of 2.0-liter turbo, a diesel four and the supercharged V6—on the same lot. Jaguar’s first SUV has been a sales smash by Jag’s historical standards, clocking nearly 200,000 deliveries globally in its first two calendar years and soundly beating the original E-Type in both volume and market share.
With the SVR, F-Pace might achieve bedroom poster status.
Execution
The 2019 F-Pace SVR is a slick, good looking machine that strikes a fine balance between aggression and sophistication. It’s powerful and sticky, and at full bore it delivers a boom-box soundtrack you won’t hear from many 2019 models built by mainstream manufacturers. It can encourage the occasional act of uncivil behavior, if not outright hooliganism, and it disproves the fool who insists SUVs built primarily for pavement cannot be emotional.
Step back from the emotion, think rationally for a minute, and you end up in a similar spot. The F-Pace SVR is well tuned, well sorted and fast. Jaguar’s claimed 4.1-second sprint from zero to 60 seems like no problem, and maybe a hair conservative. SVO’s 5.0-liter supercharged V8 is not the silkiest engine, but its rougher edges seem more a function of the conventional supercharging process than the engine itself. The whirr and pulse of the blower tend to propagate that Road Sovereign state of mind, yet at sedate speeds, 2500 rpm, no one will be thinking anything but smooooth. The re-tuned eight-speed automatic can be plenty aggressive in automatic operation, if you find the right switches, or maybe it’s just all the torque. In any case, the automatic kicks down readily and holds gears through corners, and it’s rarely in a hurry to shift up. If you actually shift manually, it’s not going to override your wishes, unless you think you can downshift to second at about 95 mph.
Steering is from the gods, if we assume the gods are old guys who remember what we used to get in a tall four-wheel-drive wagon, aka a truck. It’s smooth but not over-boosted, with a variable rate rack that reduces the amount of additional lock needed the more you need to turn. The F-Pace SVR is less inclined to understeer than a lot of machines of its type, and with its suspension set for the firmest damping, ride quality is never an issue. At least on smooth roads in the south of France. It’s comfortable light years beyond those Italian supercars on Ross Restell’s bedroom wall, at greater speeds.
One thing the SVR has that the Countach didn’t, beyond generally superior technology, is a relative abundance of high-up mass. Maybe 85 percent of the time, it won’t matter to most drivers. The F-pace SVR turns into switchbacks precisely and stays sport-coupe flat in fast sweepers. But as you inch toward more heavily aggressive, track-style driving, even as its Euro-spec P Zeros are holding steady and not even complaining, you can feel the mass up toward the SVR’s beltline wanting to break toward the outside. When you dial in lock toward a different bearing, you can feel that mass catch up to the directional change and cross over.
It’s probably fair to say that the comparably sized Porsche Macan is a bit better weight managed than the F-Pace SVR, in the track sense, and that probably starts with the fact that the Macan’s roof and ride height are nearly two inches lower than the F-Pace’s. Remember: Ross and the SVO crew deliberately chose not to drop the SVR’s ride, with good reason. You’ll be much more inclined toward an energetic tilt down a washboard dirt logging road in a loaded F-Pace SVR than you will in a Macan GTS. Guaranteed.
Automotive engineers are making performance SUVs better and better all the time, and minimizing the impact of the necessary compromises (or camouflaging them under the sticky tires and amazing horsepower those engineers have at their disposal). The F-Pace SVR demonstrates the giant strides these machines have made, even in the context of early-‘90s Italian supercars. It also reminds us that, for car lovers, there are still limitations inherent in an SUV’s packaging and purpose. You can only put so much lipstick on a pig before you have to replace it with a filly.
The point? It’s more a question. Maybe whether it’s the smart move buying a performance-tuned SUV from a luxury brand’s in-house tuner. If you actually went out and tracked your F-Pace SVR, you’d probably learn that it isn’t the most fun you could have, if the alternative were say a Jaguar F-Type (or maybe that Ferrari 512 TR). You might not be any more inclined to track it again than you would if your SUV were a 380-hp F-Pace S or a 247-horspower F-Pace 25t. Those lesser F-Pace models will do the job nearly all the time, and take care of your soul through the daily grind, and you’d keep $20,000 to $40,000—maybe toward an F-type, or a 512 TR.
With the SVR, you’re paying to demonstrate some superior approach to life or to more thoroughly impress your peers, or maybe for occasional bursts of adrenaline during rare instances when you can actually boot all 550 ponies and soak up the roar. It comes back to emotion, and that’s okay.
Takeaway
The F-Pace SVR impresses, even if it doesn’t surprise. It’s everything you’d expect from Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations, based on cars like the F-Type SVR and SE XV, with relatively more high-up mass. You still have to pick your own poison — and pay for it.
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