Page 44 - Layout 1
P. 44
AUTO REVIEW
2017 Jaguar F-Pace SUV
By Steve Schutz, MD
Many years ago, William Lyons, the vi- Pace SUV, as the start button pulses red in a trate vividly how much SUVs and crossovers
sionary leader who founded Jaguar, famously heartbeat-ish blink-blink, pause, blink- are surging and "regular" cars are dying. In
opined, "The car is the closest thing we will blink, pause. It's a visual gimmick, of course, 2000, Porsche sold 22,410 cars in the U.S.
ever create to something that is alive." All but it sends a message — as does the rotary compared with 43,728 Jaguars, but in 2015,
these decades later I'd add the drone, Ama- shift knob that rises from the center console thanks to the Cayenne and Macan SUVs,
zon's Alexa, and any number of robots to the after you start the car — that Jaguar is dif- the story was reversed with Porsche selling a
list of life-like human creations — I would ferent from Lexus/Mercedes/Audi etc. It's remarkable 51,756 cars and SUVs compared
insert the adjective "annoying" to them, btw more alive. Umm, OK. with Jaguar's 14,466 cars. (For the record,
— but Sir William had a point. Our auto- thanks to the new XE sedan and F-Pace,
mobiles are helpers and maybe even friends The fact that we're discussing a Jaguar Jaguar sales totaled 31,243 in 2016 and
to all of us, and it seems appropriate to pause SUV at all means that England's best known promise to be much more in 2017.)
to appreciate that warm connection to our luxury automaker is less different from the
cars as we head inexorably toward a future above mentioned competitors than it was Not surprisingly, the F-Pace is very good
dystopia where we're no longer allowed to because Jaguar used to boast that they would looking — it’s a Jaguar, after all. Integrating
drive ourselves but instead must rely on always build only cars, not SUVs, minivans, a bigger facsimile of the front end from the
shared malodorous and autonomous pods to or crossovers. XJ, XF, and XE sedans with a standard SUV
ferry us from place to place. Ugh. profile, very fetching curves in its bodywork,
While I applauded that vow when it was and many elegant styling details, the F-Pace
Anyway, Jaguar obviously remembered made 15 or so years ago, it was not a wise can’t help but catch your eye. It’s understated
Mr. Lyons' words as they developed the F- one. I've published these figures before, but but gorgeous, like seeing Jessica Alba in jeans
they're worth repeating because they illus-
44 San Antonio Medicine • July 2017
