What kind of vehicle is the 2021 Jaguar I-Pace? What does it compare to?
The Jaguar I-Pace was the first long-range, fully electric vehicle to arrive from a traditional luxury brand. It compares closest to the Tesla Model Y. With performance potentially rivaling Tesla, mated with premium cabin and luxury-car feature set, the I-Pace pairs heritage with the future.
Primarily because of its all-electric layout and its sleek, finely detailed style, the 2021 Jaguar I-Pace earns a TCC Rating of 9.0 out of 10. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
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Is the 2021 Jaguar I-Pace a good car?
The I-Pace doesn’t fool with falcon-wing doors like the Tesla Model X or rethink the whole driver interface like the Model Y. Instead, it pairs a familiar Jaguar driver interface and some alluring design with underpinnings engineered specifically for this model. The nearly 4,800-pound I-Pace can accelerate to 60 mph in just 4.5 seconds, will seat four comfortably, and goes an EPA-rated 234 miles on a charge.
What’s new for the 2021 Jaguar I-Pace?
The 2021 model year brings an extensive list of feature changes, but none of the critical stats around performance and range have changed. The I-Pace’s electric drivetrain consists of a pair of electric motors, fed by a 90-kwh battery. The total power from this setup is 294 hp and 512 lb-ft of torque. Jaguar has gone to great ends—perhaps more than needed—to show that the I-Pace is versatile enough for everything from track time to fording muddy streams.
On road trips, the I-Pace will charge at 100 kilowatts using CCS hardware so as to recover 63 EPA miles in 15 minutes, according to Jaguar, and a new higher-amp onboard charger this year cuts the Level 2 (240V) charge time to less than 9 hours from about 13 previously.
The I-Pace doesn’t show many signs that it’s all-electric from the outside or inside. The profile is rakish, with a cab-forward design that helps maximize space, and it fits right in with Jaguar’s other crossovers like the F-Pace. Inside, although the I-Pace gets an additional screen there’s no attempt to go sci-fi, and that’s a good thing; the look is elegant and finely detailed, an evolution of Jag’s best attributes.
That impression continues throughout the cabin, where plush upholsteries and excellent trims and details thoroughly outclass anything from Tesla and manage to make just enough space for four six-footers. At about 25 cubic feet of space behind the rear seats when they’re up it’s enough for a weekend road trip for a small family.
The most significant—and welcome—change for 2021 is a new 4G data system in conjunction with a Pivi Pro infotainment system, which Jaguar says will bring faster startup and a more intuitive menu setup, for this vehicle’s pair of digital screens that control infotainment and climate controls. The previous system offered for 2019 and 2020 was inexplicably laggy. The other significant change to the I-Pace for 2021 is the introduction of an upgraded climate control system that adds more efficient heating plus filtration down to PM2.5.
The I-Pace has omitted no active-safety features, and its InControl suite of driver assistance features offers a full suite of useful items like adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitors, traffic sign recognition, and park assist, although you won’t find any equivalent of Tesla’s much-touted Full Self-Driving package here.
How much does the 2021 Jaguar I-Pace cost?
The I-Pace started at $71,000 (including the $1,150 destination fee) for 2020 and hasn’t yet been priced for 2021. The I-Pace’s list of standard features is rich—think panoramic roof, twin-stitched leather, and perfectly coordinated trims. In previous model years, options could easily load the I-Pace up to cost more than $100,000.
Where is the 2021 Jaguar I-Pace made?
In Graz, Austria.