We bought a Jaguar I-Tempo for just a few days final week and we have been in a position to take the electrical car on a good street journey in California. Final 12 months we took it on a drive by way of Portugal however that was a closely regulated and scripted trip by Jaguar. How does the I-Tempo work in an actual world, unscripted use case?
Right here I give my ideas on the I-Tempo, which I believe is a shocking electrical car and a primary nice EV for Jaguar, nevertheless it has some points.
Jaguar I-Tempo Design
Let’s begin with the design and kind issue of the I-Tempo, which is fascinating for various causes.
To start with, it’s a lovely car. Completely gorgeous. The design was rising on me over the few days I used to be driving the automobile and I by no means had so many strangers complimenting me for a automobile earlier than.
When on our street journey, we even had somebody flagging us down in visitors to inform us how stunning it was.
Jaguar didn’t fall for a similar traps that many established automakers have fallen into when making their first electrical automobiles.
They didn’t make really feel the necessity to embody some “electrical design accents” and as a substitute centered on making a terrific wanting automobile that simply occurs to be electrical.
Right here’s the total video evaluate of the Jaguar I-Tempo from our Youtube channel:
Why the Jaguar I-Tempo isn’t actually an SUV
As for the shape issue, Jaguar is looking it an SUV, however I can’t actually get on board with that. The one means this automobile appears and drove like an SUV is while you put the suspension on the “off-road” setting and that’s not one thing you need to do more often than not:
When the suspension is on “regular”, the automobile appears much more like a sedan or a wagon however not precisely. It makes for fairly a singular crossover CUV in my view.
The design isn’t the one factor that differentiates the I-Tempo from an SUV.
When you’re driving, it actually feels extra like a sedan than an SUV because you don’t actually have that top benefit over different automobiles on the street. However that’s not a foul factor in any respect.
Additionally, the cargo area, which is 25.3 cubic toes within the trunk and 51 cubic toes with the rear seat down, is just what you’ll count on in a compact SUV and even sedans. There are sedans, just like the Tesla Mannequin S, with extra cargo area than that.
In brief, it doesn’t have many of the belongings you would count on from an SUV at present, however to be honest, it does have the “sports activities” facet of an SUV…in spades.
Jaguar I-Tempo Driving Expertise
That’s the place the I-Tempo shines the brightest. It’s a enjoyable automobile to drive. So. a lot. enjoyable.
With their first EV, Jaguar managed to benefit from the moment torque of the electrical powertrain and it delivers on an thrilling pedal response.
The dealing with is powerful and helped by the decrease heart of gravity due to the battery pack – the car hugs the street.
I additionally appreciated the steering responsiveness.
On the freeway, the driving is comfy and … boring, correctly in a luxurious car.
As for the driving force help options, I wasn’t impressed. I needed to right the steering system often and typically it could cease working with out warning aside from the wheel render going grey.
The energetic cruise management was largely working fantastic, however the automobile gave me just a few bizarre entrance collision alerts in cease and go visitors whereas energetic cruise management was enabled, which isn’t what you need out of that.
Jaguar has some work to do right here.
Jaguar I-Tempo Vary, Effectivity, and Charging
Formally, the EPA is itemizing the vary of the I-Tempo at 234 miles on a single cost.
We took the automobile on a street journey to Anza-Borrego desert state park in an effort to check the vary and the charging expertise.
In accordance with Google, it was a 170-mile journey a method, which makes it about 340 miles for the whole journey.
Earlier than leaving, the consumer interface of the I-Tempo was exhibiting between 275 and 280 miles of vary relying on the driving mode:
It appeared extreme to me and certain sufficient, we couldn’t get even near that mark and I don’t suppose anybody may with out utilizing some hypermiling strategies.
The excellent news is which you can considerably simply recover from 200 miles of vary out of the I-Tempo with regular driving, which goes to be adequate for most individuals.
That mentioned, vitality consumption was excessive in my expertise. That may have been a bunch of things together with the tires we had.
We have been driving in good situations and climate and we bought about 400 Wh per mile, which might translate to 224 miles of vary primarily based on 90 kWh capability of the battery pack:
There was some elevation on our means there, nevertheless it wasn’t extreme and we did some recuperation on our means again.
Jaguar’s system gave us some good scores on velocity and local weather, nevertheless it appeared to not like our acceleration regardless that we solely did one full 0-60 mph launch and some regular speedy accelerations in regular driving conditions.
Should you add some AC or heating, that may additionally have an effect on the vary.
On our means there and again, we ended up stopping at a EVgo station outdoors of Temecula, which is about half means:
Jaguar claims that the I-Tempo can take “as much as a 100 kW DC cost fee”, however we couldn’t check that on the station.
The overwhelming majority of EVgo station are at the moment restricted to 50 kW. We tried to cost at an Electrify America station simply to check it, nevertheless it turned out that it was additionally restricted to 50 kW and not one of the chargers would even work with the I-Tempo.
First time utilizing an @ElectrifyAm station. I believed I may use the total 100kW fast-charging capability of the @Jaguar I-Tempo, however all chargers have been capped at 50kW. On high of it, nonE of the CCS chargers really labored with the I-Tempo, a CCS appropriate automobile. pic.twitter.com/LCIfkaYjC4
— Fred Lambert (@FredericLambert) January 14, 2019
On the EVgo charging station, the expertise was pretty easy and it labored properly for our street journey.
Although the cost fee is sluggish for a “fast-charging” station, we wanted to cease to eat anyway and the cost state was the place we wished it to be by the point we have been performed.
We made it to Anza-Borrego with out a lot vary nervousness:
That mentioned, it could have been laborious to place many extra miles on the automobile than that in a single day with out significantly better charging structure and we’re speaking about California, which has probably the most in depth charging infrastructure within the US.
Apart from the restricted cost fee, the worst factor in regards to the I-Tempo charging expertise is that it seems you may’t get out and in of the car with out stopping the charging session.
The automobile appears to enter some form of charging mode and getting inside and beginning it, which you’d do to plan your route whereas charging for instance, seems to cease that charging mode. It’s annoying.
As for dwelling charging, the I-Tempo is supplied with a 7.2kW single-phase AC on-board charger for in a single day charging, which might be the primary means most house owners will cost the automobile.
Jaguar I-Tempo Person Interface
That was the largest draw back of my total expertise with the I-Tempo. The consumer interface is unintuitive and it had a number of bugs.
Jaguar’s navigation system wasn’t nice so we wished to make use of Apple Carplay, nevertheless it wouldn’t work.
Apple Carplay would cease working after 30 seconds or so and the iPhone wasn’t the issue as a result of we tried two totally different ones and the issue persevered.
Some apps merely wouldn’t launch once we clicked on them and the middle touchscreen could be very sluggish at occasions.
The local weather management interface was properly designed and labored fantastic, however every part else was troublesome to make use of and that’s if it even labored.
Jaguar I-Tempo Conclusion
There’s lots to love in regards to the I-Tempo. I believe it’s one of many best-looking car on the market interval. It’s tremendous quick and responsive and handles like a dream.
The vary goes to be adequate for most individuals, particularly in the event you plan to make use of it to get round a metropolis, however I believe it could be laborious to take the car on a street journey that requires greater than two full fees a minimum of till the non-Tesla charging infrastructure with over 100 kW of capability turns into extra in depth.
It’s beginning to be the case in Europe however much less so within the US, and I believe that can be mirrored within the gross sales of the I-Tempo – although the US may ultimately meet up with just a few new networks developing.
I believe the I-Tempo would make a terrific household car so long as you aren’t anticipating the area of a full-size SUV.
However that’s all if Jaguar can repair its consumer interface, which was an actual ache to cope with, and hopefully, they’ll use the car’s over-the-air software program functionality to repair a few of that.
