2024 Jaguar F-Pace SVR Review

Amongst the establishment of Mercedes AMG, BMW M and Audi RS lurks an often overlooked badge – SVR. It’s the high performance line-up of the Jaguar brand and it stands for Special Vehicle Rating.

Having driven the F-Pace 400 Sport earlier in the year and came away impressed by how an eight year old platform is still delivering the goods today, I was keen to see how the F-Pace would perform when fully draped in hot SVR sauce.

Australian delivered F-Pace SVR is retailed at $153,570 before on-road costs and options. Compared to a $240K BMW X5 M, the Jaguar seems like a bit of a bargain. It also costs ‘just’ $26,650 more than the F-Pace 400 Sport, which, in the big scheme of things, isn’t that far of a stretch.

My test vehicle came with some fancy options, some of which should have been standard fitment. They include a sliding panoramic roof ($4,420), semi-aniline leather sport seats with light oyster / ebony interior ($2,288), a head-up display ($1,960), 22-inch forged alloy wheels in gloss black with grey inserts ($1,560), privacy glass ($950), gloss black roof rails ($640), JaguarDrive Control with Adaptive Surface Response ($310) and rear seat remote release levers ($120).

All up, the final sticker comes to $165,818 plus ORCs, which is admittedly still not overly crazy for what it represents.

The base F-Pace is already a beautiful vehicle, with the 400 Sport adding some attitude. This SVR version though, up the ante further and is an absolute looker. Bespoke SVR styling and details are plenty, including more aggressive front and rear bumpers, side skirts, bonnet vents, front fender vents, red brake calipers and quad tailpipes. The ride height is slightly lowered compared to regular F-Pace models and the large wheels sit flush with the fenders wrapped in fat 265mm wide front and 295mm wide rear tyres. This thing is a head-turner.

Things are much more toned down on the inside, which isn’t what I expected from an SVR-badged Jaguar. Make no mistake, it’s still an awesome interior that looks and feels a million bucks with lots of glamour, exquisite detailing and quality materials. But that’s the problem. It’s more plush than sporty. Instead of carbon fibre trimming there’s polished aluminium inserts, and instead of contrasting stitchings there’s creamy milk white upholstery. There’s an SVR logo in the vertical spoke of the steering wheel and some more embroidered in each headrest and also on the drive shifter. That’s about it in terms of SVR detailing.

The sports seats are the highlight of the cabin. Not only do they look fantastic, they’re very comfortable and supportive. And the leather is soft and super high quality. The two outboard rear seats are much the same as well, contoured nicely to body and bolstered on the sides for support. It’s a very inviting cabin for sure, one that’s keeping in line with its family SUV roots despite this being the hi-po variant.

The major refresh to the F-Pace in 2022 has almost completely revamped the interior tech. There’s now a full LCD driving instrumentation cluster customisable with various views including full map display with navigation prompts but no unique SVR pages. In the centre of the dashboard an 11.4-inch curved touchscreen serves to declutter much of the centre console. It runs Jaguar’s intuitive Pivi Pro infotainment system with support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Unlike many other manufacturers, Jaguar has stuck with physical knobs and buttons for essential features like climate and volume controls rather than embedding them into the touchscreen. This is very much welcomed. However, I still find the all-in-one push, pull or rotate knob for controlling fan speed as well as seat heating and cooling cumbersome to use.

The steering wheel feels really nice to hold and the haptic touch-sensitive controls are much better executed than some of the other ones that I have used in that they actually work alright. They make the wheel look pretty sleek as well.

Other notable tech include a wireless phone charging pad, DAB+ digital radio, wireless hotspot and a Meridian premium surround sound system with 13 speakers including a subwoofer that can play your favourite tunes with amazing concert-like clarity.

One of the larger ones in class, the boot measures 793 litres in capacity. Tumbling the 40:20:40 split folding rear seats the space can be expanded to a sizeable 1842 litres. It’s a flat and square space with hooks for shopping bags and a netted storage on the side for the odds and bobs.

Now onto the stuff that matters – the oily bits. The F-Pace SVR is the sole model in the range that has a V8 engine under the bonnet. Forced fed via a supercharger and displacing 5.0-litre, the petrol V8 dishes up 405kW of power between 6,250 and 6,500rpm, along with a colossal 700Nm of torque peaking between 3,500 and 5,000rpm.

Paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive, the two-tonne F-Pace SVR gets to 100km/h from rest in just 4 seconds flat, en route to a top speed of 286km/h. In other words, this thing will demolish many sports cars and hot hatches at a drag strip. Amazing.

Because it’s supercharged and not turbocharged, it’s belt rather than exhaust driven. This translates to virtually zero lag and instant response. Flatten the throttle anytime and the surge of power is immediate with delivery staying linear through to the 6,500rpm limiter. Not only that it’s one of the hardest pulling V8s out there, it also makes one hell of a noise when fully uncorked.

That brutal, reverberating and vigorous V8 roar is dangerously addictive for any petrolhead, me included, and the temptation to pin the right pedal at any given opportunity is hard to resist. While pinning to the back of the seat is fun and the V8 soundtrack is music to the ears, any lack of restraint will see your fuel reserve nose dive and worse, your license suspended. Luckily for me it was only the former during my weeklong possession of the car. You’ve been warned.

Against more refined and highly strung German engines, the hairy-chested British V8 may feel a touch raw and less civilised. But that’s the appeal. It’s charismatic and perfectly suited to the F-Pace SVR chassis. As a rear biased sports SUV, the F-Pace SVR turns into corner wonderfully locked down with not the slightest hint of pushing wide. Power on corner exit is neat and tidy thanks to prodigious grip from those fat and sticky rubber.

Its heft is a constant companion no doubt and it’s no sports car, but it’s impressive how beautifully controllable and manageable it is on challenging roads. The damper tuning is spot on in that it strikes the right balance between keeping the car taut around corners and having enough suppleness to not feel unsettled by mid corner bumps.

The steering is precise and the transmission is well calibrated. It’s got some serious braking power, too, shedding speed as quickly as it’s gained.

Despite the beefed up suspension and low profile tyres, the ride is unassuming, with good bump absorption and smoothening. This is important for an SUV and its touring capabilities, not matter how high performance it is spec’ed up to be. On cruise, the V8 is fairly muted and the cabin is well insulated from road noise. It all adds up to a highly capable performance SUV that is also good at grand touring.

The optional JaguarDrive Control with Adaptive Surface Response fitted to my test car is basically Jaguar’s version of the Terrain Response system from sister company Land Rover. It complements the standard rain-ice-snow driving mode and automatically adapts the car’s four-wheel drive system to the road surface, meaning the F-Pace SVR can assume light off-roading duty if you so wish.

The F-Pace SVR is covered by Jaguar’s 5-year unlimited kilometre warranty with 5-year complimentary roadside assistance. Servicing intervals are 12 months or 20,000km, whichever comes first.

Verdict

2024 Jaguar F-Pace SVR pricing and specification