Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) New Jaguar E Pace anyone

Everyone is at it. Bentley, Maserati, Alfa, Aston etc. They all need to be there because we, the consumer, seem to want them.
Personally I hate the things, they take up far too much space but are space inefficient.
Despite the 4x4 capability, every time I meet one along the lanes I have to really maintain my road position aggressively as the drivers of these hulks don't want to get their tyres dirty.
I understand real Land Rovers as they were a farmers best friend but you don't need a "Range" to go shopping at Tescos, other supermarkets are available.
Having said all that, of all the "Tonka Toys" I see, I have to say that I think the Jaguar is the best looking.

Time to re-set VED based on a combination of vehicle weight, the space occupied in sqm and the emissions. Anything over 8 sq m and 2000kg and not a commercial vehicle, should, in my book, be putatively taxed.

That would focus attention away from the Chelsea tractors and back towards small cars. The 4/4 would do very well!

A reasonable idea Peter but can we have a couple of years before we make the change? I was just enjoying the ML63 we have taken for a bit. We are not going to keep it that long but it is a laugh to experience something this large going this quickly when the there is enough space to do it.

I agree re the Alfa/Maserati/Aston/Lamborghini SUV issue. Then I realise that the Cayenne has done it already and is mostly invisible. Rolls have been making them for ages but not jacking them upwards as obviously. It seems that the usefulness of the format and good all around vision (for the driver if not the following cars) are popular.

I cannot bring myself to the idea of the Italian sports brands peddling these lumps. Not when they have little to show in the affordable sports car markets that made their brand.

I would love to see Ferrari do another 206 Dino. To see Alfa make a Duetto or small fun car that is not a branded clone of another platform. The FIAT clone of the MX5 is a good example, more Abarth though. Its a fail of their heritage.

Check the dimensions. Much of most SUVs bulk is in the height rather than the foot print. My SUV is shorter than a Series 3 Touring.

Alistair,

Now there speaks the voice of reason. Oh how I wish for the days of Moretti, Stangulini,Osca, etc
The Italians made their name producing small, fast beautiful cars but of course time moves on and if you are unlucky enough to have an accident, you would want to be in a 2017 car not a 1960's beauty.

A friend has just bought their daughter a Fiat Barchetta. I had a little run in one years back and they are the epitome of an Italian car.

Small and light
Underpowered
Highly agile as FWD
Expecting to be driven with one pedal flat on the carpet
Cool as anything dark glasses and a Gitanes poking (unlit of course) out of the corner of the mouth.

As for the Jag (sorry for the thread drift) I expect it will sell in droves. All 2WD 2L Diesels, mostly white and silver. How cynical I have become. I would expect that shape to be highly colour and wheel size sensitive.

They have got the styling sorted as it look more balanced than the F-Pace which looks too long for its width as a _sports_ utility lump.

We recently moved to somewhere slightly more rural, having got completely stranded when we had a couple of millimetres of snow last year we thought a 4X4 would be a good idea, only when I started to take notice of them did I realise just how many there are on the roads, they're everywhere! I'm a long term Mercedes fan so that was my first choice (and they have a long history of making "proper" 4X4s rather than a saloon on steroids). Whilst all offered the 4X4 functionality most actually had less luggage space and cabin room than my E-Class, so we finished up with a GL350 AMG . OK, its big, there's no getting around that (5 inches wider and 12 inches longer than the E-Class), and it's thirsty, but it's a dream to drive. It has seven seats (which we have filled all of) and still a sensible amount of room for bags/pushchair etc. With the rear seats folded flat (electrically operated) there's plenty of room for five adults and their suitcases, if you fold the second row flat you've got almost as much space as a small van (moved a sofa in it a couple of weeks ago).
Being higher does make for a different driving experience and it does feel a little less "planted", but it is a nice drive.
I refuse to call it an SUV because there's nothing sporty about it, the 3 litre Diesel engine has been breathed on by AMG so it's surprisingly quick pulling away for a vehicle that size. I have to admit that I'm beginning to really enjoy it, but I still don't get the majority of the popular SUVs because they don't seem to offer much more than many saloons other than a higher seating position.
When I want sporty I drive the Plus 8 or borrow SWMBOs 911

The Barchetta was a great little car. Just a shame that the front wasn't as pretty as the back.

One of my old customers (an English guy who was a car designer at Peugeot was looking at it at its launch. He turned to the chap next to him and said "I love the rear; it's very pretty and well resolved. Juust a shame that looked at from the front it's like a bulldog licking pi$$ off a stinging nettle".

The man in question was (of course) Andreas Zapatinas - one of the designers.

We had a couple of Porsche Macans as course cars at Prescott this weekend.
While I only rode in the diesel (with a 911 C4 owning Clerk of Course) I was impressed with the performance and comfort. Apart from a red line a little below 6,000 rpm it drove like a petrol. Even the clerk I was shadowing was impressed with it, which worried him as he's a died-in-the-wool 911 pilot

That's interesting, I had always categorised them as Audi Q5s for people with even more money than sense.