29 Jaguar F-Pace: A truly brilliant crossover

We're pretty sure that, originally, this was never supposed to happen. When Ford paired Jaguar and Land Rover together under its ownership, and when that pairing transferred to Indian conglomerate Tata, the idea was for them to be complimentary.

Jaguar would make swish saloons and sports cars, and the occasional estate while Land Rover would make 4x4s and crossovers. Simples.

Well, the fact is that Jaguar could no longer afford to ignore the global rush for SUVs, lest it go out of business, so it borrowed some Range Rover hardware, modified the aluminium chassis of the XF saloon and produced the F-Pace crossover. And it’s brilliant.

Now, that needs the caveat that the F-Pace is hugely sensitive to spec and colour and needs careful perusing of the options list (and significant inflation of its price tag) to be as good as it can be, but the good news is that the basic 180hp 2.0-litre Ingenium diesel engine is the pick of the range – fast and frugal, albeit lacking in refinement at times.

Entertaining to drive, but watch the lack of hefty brakes on faster V6-engined models.

Price range: €44,100 to €116,900

Co2 emissions: 129 to 209g/km

Which one? 2.0D R-Sport Auto 4WD

PCP from €POA