[sudhirsen]

After many minor incidents, I decided to give my Skoda Laura 1.8 TSI some rest. The Laura has been my primary vehicle and companion for the last 12 years. It ran 150,000 Km. But the engine is relatively new; Skoda was kind enough to replace it at 100k km and ten years for free.

So it was clear that I had to buy a new car for my long journeys. I frequently make Thrissur – Bangalore run of 500km. And then a lot of shorter travels and holidays.

I am primarily a sedan guy who loves driving; corners and handling are vital for me. Unfortunately, I also wanted to try an SUV this time, the trend of the time. So I had two choices, Rangerover Velar P250 and Porsche Macan.

I asked for a test drive of Rangerover velar from Muthoot Motors. I was in no hurry. After a couple of weeks, they bought the vehicle for a test drive. I drove it for around 10 km but was left unimpressed. Though the interiors and the design were brilliant, I was left uninspired by the drive. I did not feel that I had upgraded much from the Skoda with the drive. I may be exaggerating a bit here. It may also be because the vehicle they bought for the test drive was a diesel while I wanted petrol. I believe most people who own a Range rover in Kerala probably occupy the back seat.

I gave the same feedback to the service consultant. Then he loosely mentioned about Jag F type and IPace. Now F Type was not practical for me. But frankly, I had never heard of IPace. The fact is that I have never looked at electric as an option. That was partly because I had only heard of Tesla till then, and after being in a Model X a few times, I was left wanting more. I never felt it was a luxury car. In fact, I had for sure decided that Tesla is not for me. It just does not have the finesse I need in a vehicle. It does not provide that level of attention to detail that I expect from a car in that bracket.

So I researched and realized that Jag had recently launched IPace in India. Reviews are, of course, terrific; an award-winning car, right. But where do I see this? I could not find a single one on the road. So again, I took a drive to Cochin on a Saturday. They had a Black and White offering in the showroom. But what I had seen in the images and how the car looked on the road were completely different. The car is massive, with 19-inch wheels; you do not realize it until you stand next. Plus, the air suspension brings it even lower for easy exit and entry when at rest.

So, I saw a sports car with the space of an SUV and practicality that will make me take it everywhere I go. The fit and finish were an actual Luxury car and not a Tesla Model X. I do miss the Sentry and Summoning capability.

Having said that, I definitely think Jag needs a few marketing lessons. A sports car with the right curves, why would someone put the demo car in white or black. In black, the shadows do not come out. The white is too bland. I seriously think they need to take a couple of pages out of Porsche. Show a RED or a metallic Grey, that's where it looks good.

Now, the bad news the dealership in Cochin told me that they don't have a red or a grey with a beige interior and will take six months to come through, which I knew was going to be way longer with the Chip Shortage looming on and

So I called up Marqland. They said a service consultant would call back. And I got a call back the same day from Hemanth. From there on, I have to say the experience was smooth. They had a Caldera Red with black interiors available, but I wanted a Red with Beige interiors and a top-spec(HSE) with air suspensions and optional. They said there is one coming in 2 months' time.

He sent me a series of videos to give me a feel of how it will look. Samples attached.

https://my.ventavid.com/6FQ1PABp71cF

So here I go. I paid the advance for the car. Luckily, there were not too many options, Audi and Merc had EVs, but I did not personally like the exterior views. So I did not even give a test drive.

Meanwhile, Hemanth initiated the conversation with tata power, and he managed the installation. However, after evaluating, I decided to set up a the 7.2kw charger in Thrissur and a regular power plug in Bangalore.

Got the vehicle and now after completing 17k km in 6 months with multiple long trips. So here is my experience.

Sales and Pre-sales

This has been one of the best experiences I have ever had. From the time I got the first call from Hemanth/Marqland. The communication has been exact. He knew every aspect of the car, and was able to clarify every question I had. This may not be important for an ICE car, but this is an electric car, and a lot of things are different compared to the ICE models and specific to India. The industry is still evolving. Then, you have to understand that being a techie, I am a bit deep when it comes to features and functionality. He created multiple personalized videos to take me through the car's features and capabilities.

Then there was the time for payment. I drive down to Bangalore, and for the first time, I see the Caldera Red in real. They also had samples of other paints. I had this inclination toward grey, but I was sure about what I wanted when I saw the Red. This is the first time we meet. I told him exactly the amount I wanted to finance. Considering the EV Tax breaks and low-interest rate on the car loan, I wanted the loan amount to be the max. I also got to see the Ipace in some exciting colors.


I requested to see the car parked in my basement car park as I have some tight corners in my basement parking. They happily arranged for that the next day. It was tough, as the car's wheelbase was way longer than I thought, though the car was not very long. He also got the bank guys for the loan. So both are done together.
The team was exact on the dates the car could be delivered. And the details of the vehicle were shared even before it reached the port from Austria. Each step, including customs clearance and shipment, was made transparent.

Finally, on the third meeting, the day of delivery, they sent a Rangerover Velar to pick us up from the apartment some 40 km away. Unfortunately, I was in Bangalore only for a day and wanted the car to be delivered on a Sunday. But no problems, they made all the arrangements on a holiday. Again, I thought it was just a matter of picking up the car and going. In fact, it took more than 3 hrs to explain every feature of the car and finish the formalities. I drove back to Thrissur the same day.



Washed the car.

Post Sales Service

My experience with after-sales service is very minimal. I did not get my number plate on day 1. So again, during one of my trips to Bangalore, Hemant set up a time with the service center. As usual, when you have a lot of things to do on the same day, I reached the service center (which again is very close to my apartment) during lunchtime. Again, no worries, they took the car in, In less than half an hour, they got the number plate fixed, and I was out. Well organized.

Overall, I would rate my experience with Marqland as a 10/10. Fantastic experience and Hemanth did it well. Young guy, but very passionate about the car, and what matters most is customer empathy.

What I liked about the car.
1. Absolutely stunning performance - You can feel the G force. Infact, I had a neck pain for few days after the purchase.
2. I was blown away by the interior design. The fit and finish. The interiors are nicely done. No noise, very clean, done perfectly.



Attachment 2319147


3. I liked the exterior design as well. But that is extremely a personal choice. Either you love it or you hate it.








4. There is no need to control anything other than the accelerator. The lights adjust automatically, the wipers, the away light, the suspension height adjusts when you open the door, and an array of stuff like that.

5. The Pivi pro, the newer generation, is nice and responsive, unlike the regular complaints I hear.

6. The single-pedal driving.

7. The super silent cabin. Most of the time I am on a call when driving, and not many people realize that I am on the road doing good speeds.

8. Most importantly, not much of a range anxiety. The range predicted by Jag is pretty accurate to 5% variance. And I mostly drive in the sport mode.

Charging and Long Distance travel

One of the significant concerns when I bought the car is the charging network. So I never sold my Skoda Laura 1.8 TSI. On short trips, you don't have a big challenge. Most of the time, I charge at home. In fact, a normal plug takes around 30 hrs to charge, but I never found it a problem as I do have at least 2-3 nights between my long journeys when I am in Bangalore. The 7.2KW is an overnight charging, typically 11-12 hrs.

Jaguar claims 480km range. But based on my driving, they predict around 454 immediately after charge. But, as you go a few km, it will drop to 430, and that's exactly what I get. Note – I don't make any compromises; I drive in sports mode (in high traffic routes like Bangalore – Krishnagiri and Coimbatore L&T highway) and in comfort mode the rest of the time. With AC and ventilated seats and everything. Driving at a 120. So think this way; you push it the way you would drive a bmw M.



Bangalore-Thrissur Trips (~480 km)
The day I picked up the vehicle from the showroom, I drove down to Thrissur. I was not sure how good the charging networks were. So without taking any risks, I got to Krishnagiri and left it for a charge at the Zeon charging station.

I have to say, without Zeon, this purchase would have gone into the showcase. On the Bangalore highway, I only have Zeon which provides 50KW chargers, and they are generally very reliable. All the other chargers I have used till now have been touch and go and nowhere near the reliability of Zeon. I would say Tata has a long way to go. I tried at multiple places; some places it works, and others do not. More about this later. I have to say Relux, I tried only once near Walayar, but it did not work. KSEB, did not even start. I continue to try them. I wish they catch up fast.

I think overall Zeon is in a different league. The ABB charging machines that Zeon uses are of way higher quality. I seriously wish these guys could grow faster and put more 50/100 KW machines on the road.

Typically, I would stop at 1of the 4 Zeon 50KW chargers for 15min to half an hour. I have my dinner while the car charges.


charging at 49KW



Generally, the car is extremely accurate on the highway. I stop charging the moment I have a buffer of 5 km. And I reach home with 2 km remaining etc.. �� But no range anxiety, the car gives you what it says. Then there was this one day when I ran out of charge completely when I was 5 km away from home. The meter said 0 km remaining and shut down the machine



Luckily, I was in near a tata showroom. But bad luck, it was midnight, and the charger was showing as working on the tata app, but it was not working. It was not even powered on. The security had no clue. When I asked for the car charger, he went inside and got me a mobile charger. So I took the risk of driving. That day I realized that the Jag has a 20km reserve. So reached home narrowly.

So Banglore -Cochin highway is a breeze.

Thrissur – Ooty – Bangalore.
Now the range of the electric vehicle depends a lot on the road itself. So when I decided to make a trip to Destiny Farm in Ooty, I thought it was a cakewalk. Just 200 km to go. The plan was to go to Ooty, and then on the way back, I will charge it at Avinashi. Which together should not be more than 300 km.

This was the first drive to a hill station. I had a very stark realization. I was running out of battery way faster. Luckily, there was a Zeon charger in Gem Park Ooty. However, it was a slow charger. So we had a very long lunch.

Plus, the electricity in Ooty was not very consistent. So the charging station lost power at least two times during my lunch, and I had to stop eating and go back and restart charging. This is a pain, but I guess we can't do much. At least the system sends a notification on the mobile that the charging has stopped.

So we reached Destiny Farm, a trendy place. If you have been to Destiny farm, you would know how bad the approach road is.



The images do not do justice, the approach road is extremely poor. These are the moments I feel that it was absolutely the right thing to have got the car with an air suspension. Raise the suspension and drive over. Note- this is a battery car, and the first thing that anything will hit is the battery if you do not have ground clearance. But the Jag went through that very well.

On the way back, I stopped at Gem park again for a charge and lunch and then straight to Bangalore. The best part is the remaining charge and distance increase on a downhill journey. So I realized that I would have managed without charging. But anyway, these were initial days and unknown roads, not worth the risk.

Remaining trips I will update in another post.

NOW What I dont like about the car

• The only challenge the long wheelbase. It has not been easy to maneuver. Not really a car for grocery trips. So I had to put alternative in place though nowhere near the pace of Jag.
  

[wanderhermit]

What a stark contrast to an I-Pace. But EVs are addictive.

Once you get the hang of it, you can't drive an ICE vehicle.

Awesome write up! Please give more info.

[GTO]

Great review, congrats on the awesome EV! Your review will be going to our homepage tomorrow. It's really these kind of ownership experiences & reports that make Team-BHP the unique place it is, within the Indian automotive space.

Originally Posted by sudhirsen

It ran 150,000 Km. But the engine is relatively new; Skoda was kind enough to replace it at 100k km and ten years for free.

Why so? 100,000 km is early for an engine failure.

Though the interiors and the design were brilliant, I was left uninspired by the drive. I did not feel that I had upgraded much from the Skoda with the drive. I may be exaggerating a bit here. It may also be because the vehicle they bought for the test drive was a diesel while I wanted petrol.

With luxury cars, the 3.0 liter motors and above are fun. The 2.0s are just okay, especially in the more expensive models.

Meanwhile, Hemanth initiated the conversation with tata power, and he managed the installation. However, after evaluating, I decided to set up a the 7.2kw charger in Thrissur and a regular power plug in Bangalore.

I remember your charger thread (Experience with setting up a home charger for my Jaguar I-Pace). I also believe that a standard charger will do for 98% of Indian EV owners - related thread (Why a cheap & simple 15A plug is just fine for home-charging your Electric Car).

The team was exact on the dates the car could be delivered. And the details of the vehicle were shared even before it reached the port from Austria. Each step, including customs clearance and shipment, was made transparent.

always happy to hear of dealerships doing their job well.

Absolutely stunning performance - You can feel the G force. Infact, I had a neck pain for few days after the purchase.

Hahaha! All it takes is one 0 - 60 or 0 - 100 acceleration run to make anybody fall in love with EVs.

But, as you go a few km, it will drop to 430, and that's exactly what I get.

430 km real-world range is fantastic!

I have to say, without Zeon, this purchase would have gone into the showcase. On the Bangalore highway, I only have Zeon which provides 50KW chargers, and they are generally very reliable. All the other chargers I have used till now have been touch and go and nowhere near the reliability of Zeon.

Been hearing positive things about Zeon overall. Clearly an organisation with the right attitude.

The security had no clue. When I asked for the car charger, he went inside and got me a mobile charger.

Made my Sunday! Thanks for the laugh.

So I had to put alternative in place though nowhere near the pace of Jag.

What a cool garage.

Congrats again on your Jaguar EV! Considering you're doing almost 3000 km / month, you'll be hitting 100,000 km in <3 years. Do keep updating this thread. Many of us are curious to know about the long-term experience with electric cars, reliability, battery degradation etc. We're depending on BHPians like you to throw more light on this!

[JoshMachine]

A great initial ownership review, thanks for sharing!

Reviews of luxury EVs are far and few, so information received in threads like yours (detailed with the much needed practicality) will be lapped up and subscribed immediately.

Red color and a SUV, a Jag at that. Great.
And add the instant, crazy acceleration to the mix. You have a heady cocktail.
The interiors look too good.

The EV charge/range of 400+ km for such a heavy-duty car speaks volumes about the kind of tech that JLR has put into this.

And you did mention about the super silent cabin, yet another boon of the EV era. No engine clatter at idling or anytime.

Your running of 3k km in the last 6 months including long trips shows great confidence being reciprocated by the car! With that burn rate, you will go past the Laura's odo reading in no time.

Congrats again, and keep on sharing regular updates with us

[benbsb29]

Thanks for sharing your ownership experience, sudhirsen.

I had a chance to test drive an iPace at a Jaguar event here in Australia, and for some reason wasn't too impressed. I believe being a busy event, the organisers wanted the car to hold charge to the maximum, and hence had regenerative braking set to the extreme, which was uncomfortable for a newbie to EVs, like me.

Infact, i specifically requested for that to be reduced during my drive. Reading through your review, i realise i needed to have a longer drive to draw a fair comparison.



Link to my Test Drive experience : iPace Test drive (Driving the Jaguar F-Type on track at the Jaguar Art of Performance Tour)

[EV NXT]

Probably the first real world ownership review of a high powered EV on team bhp with the potential upside and downside indicated in good detail. Congratulations on your new car.

The move from a Laura 1.8 TSI conveys the lure that an EV can have even on hard core enthusiasts.

With TATA owning JLR, let’s hope they get some of the range increasing tech down to their own cars which would make their EV’s appealing as good alternatives to ICE cars.

All the best!

[brainscooper]

Brilliant write up. Great information for those planning to go electric. Just one question. Does the car come with a mobile charger (at least as an option) that you can use to bail yourself out of trouble if you are stuck in a place without a charger, or will you have to use an ordinary outlet and wait for 30 hours to get it charged?

[shyampsunder]

Originally Posted by brainscooper

Brilliant write up. Great information for those planning to go electric. Just one question. Does the car come with a mobile charger (at least as an option) that you can use to bail yourself out of trouble if you are stuck in a place without a charger, or will you have to use an ordinary outlet and wait for 30 hours to get it charged?

The mobile charger is the one you plug into a regular 15 Amp socket. You would have to wait for 30+ hours if you want a full charge. A few hours of charging will be enough to travel 50 to 100 KMs which should hopefully get you close to a fast charger.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by shyampsunder

The mobile charger is the one you plug into a regular 15 Amp socket. You would have to wait for 30+ hours if you want a full charge.

Are you sure? The last I checked with BMW for i4, they will provide - One wall charger that does 7,4 kW on single phase or 11 kW if we have 3 phase. So, the mobile charger should be around 5- 7,4 kW on single phase - 230V.

Even Tesla mobile charger for 230V does a lot.

Using a 240 volt outlet provides up to 30 miles of range per hour depending on vehicle model.

https://www.tesla.com/support/home-c...bile-connector

[shyampsunder]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Are you sure? The last I checked with BMW for i4, they will provide - One wall charger that does 7,4 kW on single phase or 11 kW if we have 3 phase. So, the mobile charger should be around 5- 7,4 kW on single phase - 230V.

Even Tesla mobile charger for 230V does a lot.

Using a 240 volt outlet provides up to 30 miles of range per hour depending on vehicle model.

https://www.tesla.com/support/home-c...bile-connector

All the mobile chargers that come with cars like the MG ZS EV, Hyundai Kona in India are doing around 2 - 3 kW charging speeds. The Tesla example you mention above is using a 50 amp socket. I did do some research on the Jaguar i-Pace, the charger installed by Jaguar does 7 kW charging but they do mention that plugging in the "Jaguar's Domestic Plug (Mode 2)" will charge at a much a slower rate. So I am willing to bet, it can only charge up to 3 kW. link

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by shyampsunder

the charger installed by Jaguar does 7 kW charging but they do mention that plugging in the "Jaguar's Domestic Plug (Mode 2)" will charge at a much a slower rate.

You can get the wiring done for higher current at another residence or workplace and use the same portable charger or do we need to buy a higher amperage charger different from a portable one?

[shyampsunder]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

You can get the wiring done for higher current at another residence or workplace and use the same portable charger or do we need to buy a higher amperage charger different from a portable one?

The portable charger cannot handle 7 KW even if you have the wiring to support it. It will be far more easier to install another 7 KW charger at your office or home. Costs around 50k to 60k.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by shyampsunder

The portable charger cannot handle 7 KW even if you have the wiring to support it. It will be far more easier to install another 7 KW charger at your office or home. Costs around 50k to 60k.

I got it; Tesla used to give portable charger with the car that will do about the same as wall chargers. Just get an adapter and do wiring for 240V in the garage (if not already).

https://shop.tesla.com/product/mobile-connector


I was assuming we get similar ones with other cars too and can use high amperage wiring we usually have at home. Did you got one with with car (apart from wall charger) or have to pay for it?


60-70 K for wall charger, looks we have to pay super high duties on these as well

https://shop.tesla.com/product/wall-connector

[shyampsunder]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

I was assuming we get similar ones with other cars too and can use high amperage wiring we usually have at home. Did you got one with with car (apart from wall charger) or have to pay for it?


60-70 K for wall charger, looks we have to pay super high duties on these as well

https://shop.tesla.com/product/wall-connector

All the EVs launching in India come with both the home charger that is installed by the manufacturer and a mobile charger that can be plugged into any socket.

On the cost of a wall charger, I guess it's better to pay high taxes once rather than pay every time we refuel like we do at petrol pumps

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by shyampsunder

On the cost of a wall charger, I guess it's better to pay high taxes once rather than pay every time we refuel like we do at petrol pumps

Absolutely.

Can you share a picture or portable charger whenever possible where specs are mentioned.