JAgUar F-PAce vs POrsche Macan - luxury SUVs compared

Twin tests this week rooted few months ago, on a frozen lake in Revi Jaguar Land Rover proving ground in northern Sweden.

On the ice packed and polished, Dave Shaw, vehicle engineering manager for Jaguar F-Pace, made a remarkable admission bright, in the context of the conversation in which a man in his position rarely go far from the rough recognition.

"The F-Pace will not be the car now if not for the Porsche Macan," he said. "The Porsche puts our project back months when it comes to the market in 2014. It made us take some big decisions and retune the car's suspension and steering. It sets the benchmark treatment we can not ignore."

Seldom do you hear such high praise for the car Benchmarked competitors like that - and when you do it, someone like Shaw, you can at least take encouragement that instinct you believe as road tester, in the car stating such great Tiger right, is sound.

The cars were inching back to our class are five big-selling version of the equivalent of the BMW X3, Volvo XC60 and Mercedes-Benz GLC. Tiger gets no mention of the rival F-Pace on that occasion, not least because there is no sub- £ 40,000, four-cylinder diesel version of the Porsche which may compete directly in the same niche.

There are, of course, 255bhp sixcylinder Macan S Diesel, which, although it cut the price list 296bhp Jaguar F-Pace 3.0d S by several thousand pounds, looks on paper like a close rival to British cars. And so here we are. Jaguar apparently considers this car opponent. Both were cracked by the manufacturer as the respective key pace-setters in the medium SUV class to handle the sophistication and driver involvement - and very little separating them on performance, size or curb weight.

However, after a 36 hour shift between the driver's seat each, I am not convinced that the Porsche Macan is such an important benchmark for the Jaguar F-Pace after all. For reasons we'll get, I'm not sure you could actually be in the market for two cars at the same time, and so forth - interesting though they are, because you are going to read - Tigers dynamic gains may not mean much to typical family SUV buyers.

On we go, then. Specifications comparison will not give a very clear indication of the different roles that Tiger and F-Pace is designed to meet like you get with a couple of parking within a few feet of each other and slowly take them in. Jaguar prefer you to think of F-Pace as a modern crossover vehicle ', after all, but relatively squat, brooding presence of Tiger, with pillars raked and swooping roofline, create your very unlikely to do that.

There are a lot of high coupé on Porsche shape - so much, in fact, that it almost unintelligible car looks, all jacked up and bent at the same time. This is one of a class apart now, of course; reference X4 Coupé BMW and Mercedes GLC who had followed him down the street combines coupé appearance and a slightly downsized proportions with SUV capability. However, this eye Jaguar look more attractive of the two, at least in part because of a more coherent, it's easier on the eyes and gray matter. A family SUV recognizable, despite the stylish and overtly sporty.

The curvature of the roof line of the Tigers also mask the size of the car is very skilled, so you will not believe that it was within a few inches of the F-Pace in overall length and an inch or more in altitude. But there is no mistaking the fact that Jaguar is a bigger car than the two - something that you will not be questioned as you compare one with the other cabins.

Up to F-Pace feels very much like a premium-brand SUVs climbed the typical - for beginners as you climb. Jaguar driver's seat is high enough that it would mean set up a stretch for a lot more comfortable and slide the side for some. Porsche driving position is much lower and more lean - less SUV-like, more sports car-ish. More.

Porsche Macan interior

Porsche cabin has a greater impression of solidity two, a material that feels smoother, smarter and more fun than ankle level right the way up to the windshield and equipment show clearly greater integrity. But the Tigers interior is surprisingly plain and functional - and quite distinctive as Porsche's cabin. Jaguar cabins, while it may not feel as well built as Porsche, has a flavor that distinguishes of wealth and luxury to feature highly on the shopping list so many SUV buyers. Another important point of difference.

F-Pace cabin also offers a sense of space that may have every bit as highly on the list. A wide rear door grants access to the second row seats in a comfortable Jaguar will recognize and take shelter two large adults - or three smaller ones. rear side door Tigers are much smaller, they require routine entry aperture tried more physically and, once inside, the higher the adults will find a car that is a little tight at the knee and shoulder room. You will not even attempt to sit three behind the Tigers, and while the boot is more than respectable in size, it is mainly smaller than F-Pace. The bottom line is that the Jaguar is a family car that is practical and luxury for those with adult children, while Tiger is really just as extensive as, say, the Nissan Qashqai or the BMW X1.

Frankly, given the way it drives and the way it feels on the inside, it was a surprise to find that the Tigers so slightly lighter than the F-Pace. The cars feel evenly matched on the out-andout speed and flexibility, and despite the 41bhp deficit to Jaguar's peak power and greater torque, Porsche pull every bit as hard as you accelerate.

Both diesel V6s have an abundance of mid-range thrust to overcome the mass is so easy that you feel as though you can shunt rolling stock with these cars. But that Porsche Audi-sourced V6 is slightly more responsive than the two engine, driving through a dual-clutch automatic gearbox is also fast-shifting of Jaguar ZF eight-speed torque converter auto.

F-Pace counter with a greater willingness to rev than the Tigers, but given that these cars are driven most often on their torque reserves, profit is not very telling. Both engines are a pillar of strength. Both are perfect for, SUV sports a relatively heavy Pacey. But not in the end be strong enough to attract the power of the car was out of the reach of others.

Which is a shame regrettable - for Jaguar. To be honest, the Tigers do not need a good machine. Even comparing a Porsche air sprung with Jaguar suspended by steel coils like us, where you might expect the former to suffer with a sense of disconnection from the road surface air suspension can give, Tiger is head and shoulders in front of the F-Pace as a driver's car: on the level grip, body control, feedback steering, cornering balance and handling response. Porsche continues to do today, in the presence of F-Pace, what it was two years ago without the presence of Jaguar: it shows how lively and exciting high-side SUV can be - if it really should be. equally crucial and obvious, that not all of the F-Pace was never meant to be.

Tiger steering is heavy and direct - feelsome, but also capable of sending a weird vibe bumpsteer up into the palm of your hand, which is something that is all but unknown in most of the luxury 4x4. And it needs to be every bit as weighty as it is, like the amazing willingness car to change direction. Past the first few degrees of steering angle lazy engineered to keep the Tigers stable at speed and the rate at which the car accelerates to the top of your corner rounding, when you add the key, really take your breath away. You expect body roll - a bit of understeer early softening, too - but you get neither. Tiger settles and rotates below you with alacrity of a sports sedan pedigree. And then a second later, because you start thinking about the stretch of road on the other side of the corner and how much faster you can concentrate on that than you expected, you get another surprise: rear-driven balance of handling, a clear manifestation of torque going backwards before going and so on in other places, and even some throttle adjustments as your confidence level grows.

No other SUV, the Range Rover Sport SVR included, dealing with such abandon as the Tigers - and so does the Jaguar F-Pace. Jaguar steering is lighter and less informative, credited and fluent but governed by a demanding brief slick management and feedback. Much softer sprung suspension of the Tiger, more settled and better-rises above B-road is really bumpy but more sluggish in body movement and therefore heavier and less athletic-feeling.

On the way to the corner, the F-Pace has a crisp handling response; on the way out, it has distinguished balance. But it is also not in the league and the Tigers did not make the F-Pace felt like anything other than a very well-sorted SUV. Jaguar will argue, with justification, that the F-Pace handling sophistication depends especially on the marble-smooth asphalt compared with the Tigers, and you can imagine the ability to handle rough surfaces smooth as effective as actually could sell the SUV performance. There is no mistaking the fact that Porsche is excited, hyperactive prospect at times, throwing and throwing more intrusion road hard and not always feel as well as muted as it should be. But for interested drivers like you and me, it really is a sports car in SUV clothing - and sharpness entirely convincing.

So the Tigers win; it should. This car better handling and a better car driver by some distance. This phenomena. But back came the ambiguity: does that make it a better handling SUV? Probably not - because I do not really believe that Tiger is a SUV at all.

In the 3.0-liter diesel form, with adaptive dampers that Jaguar throws as the standard for tidy £ 50k asking price 3.0d S AWD's, F-Pace finally fulfill his promise. It's fast, smooth, agile and exciting, but still luxurious, comfortable, spacious and relaxing expansive. It is expensive, too. But has it gone up against the competition right here, not of Porsche but from BMW, Audi and Mercedes, I have little doubt that we would have to report to a commanding victory. And - while you have to believe me this bit, and have people on the frozen lake Sweden to thank for little mismatched contest you've just read - I wrote that after spending a lot of time in the X3 and GLC lately.

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