[soulreaper_20]

As my recent posts would suggest, I was in Europe for 3-months trying to find interesting car content from across the continent. Upon reaching Germany, I met up with German tuners Hamann who are based in Laupheim in the Bavarian region of Germany.

Upon arrival, the first car that caught my attention was Hamann's version of the Range Rover Evoque convertible that had been given a wide body treatment along with some stunning wheels and upholstery, flanking the Evoque on the left was a Porsche Macan, which too, of course, had received the Hamann treatment. But at the far end of the showroom stood the company's latest creation, the Jaguar F-Pace S tuned by Hamann.

Little bit about the company. Hamann Motorsport was started by Richard Hamann who was quite the prolific driver back in the day. His race car of choice, a BMW M1 (of course, in Hamann tune), with which he won 3 championships back in the day. Richard Hamann passed away in 2011, and since then, his wife Marion Hamann has taken over the reigns of the company where they still keep churning out new tuner version of production cars every year.

While I had an option to choose between the Macan and the Jaguar, I went for the later, as the F-Pace was a car that I wanted to drive, plus in today's market scenario, a car that I assume would garner a wider audience.

The second reason why I chose the F-Pace was that the Hamann bodykit, that in my opinion, made it look really special. At the front, the F-Pace S featured Hamann's new 3-piece front end which neatly wraps around the sides on to the slightly flared wheel arches. At the back, there is a small spoiler. And while there isn't too much going around the outside of the car, I think the kit gives the car a subtle upgrade without it looking completely outlandish in every regard. That said, the Graphite Grey 23-inch wheels give the car a rather nice urban touch, which works really well with their lowering kit.

On the inside, Hamann had left everything stock with the exception of upgrading the pedals to their signature anodised aluminium units, along with their name brand floor mats. I guess Hamann wanted to keep the interiors relatable to a stock car while providing customers options when they come to purchase their tuned machine.

We started driving the F-Pace S tuned by Hamann on the small B-Roads around Laupheim while we started to head in the direction of the derestricted Autobahn... because, of course, apart from testing the performance of the F-Pace's 3.0-litre supercharged V6 (which had been left unchanged), I wanted to hear Hamann's newly-developed exhaust system for the car... more on that later.

One thing I would say right off the bat, the F-Pace felt surprisingly stable for its size and height. Granted that the Hamann lowering kit would have certainly made a difference to the cars overall dynamics, but I am sure, it wasn't a major change. At city speeds, the car felt quite comfortable and the ride never felt crashy even once (usually a side effect of a lowering kit). The steering was quite responsive, as you'd expect from a Jaguar. But the one thing I loved about the car is the way it warps itself around you, making itself feel really compact and agile... almost unusually sporty for its size. In fact, if I wasn't sitting this high in the cabin, it would have been quite easy to forget that I was driving an SUV.

I switched to the sport settings immediately upon entering the derestricted Autobahn. Around Laupheim, the unrestricted part is quite small actually, maybe not more than 5-6km, so we had to make haste. While nowadays there's absolutely no necessity, I still chose to manually shift gears so that I could have a little more control over whats happening. This is where the Hamann-tuned exhaust comes into play.

While you can always hear the exhaust mildly humming in the background while driving over normal city roads, it's never so loud that it starts becoming annoying. It is only when you shift to sport mode and decide to use your right foot as a brick that the active exhaust opens up. And unlike most cars where the exhaust note is eventually drowned out by the wind noise, we could hear this one all the way to car's top speed at around 240kmph. If you have a look at the video, you will see that the exhaust gives out a subtle bark, that more of less stays strong all the way till the top speed on the Autobhan.

To sum up, I think Hamann has done a really balanced job with their F-Pace kit. It's perfectly suited for someone who's looking for an extra bit of oomph from their F-Pace without sacrificing on real-world practical use. I won't say the same about their Evoque convertible widebody, but it's safe to say that the Hamann tuned Jaguar F-Pace is the perfect sporty upgrade to an already capable SUV.

Here's a video of my experience with the F-Pace tuned by Hamann.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JZnmQ7m_HA&t=9s

Jaguar F-Pace tuned by Hamann (and more) in Photos

The widebody Range Rover Evoque Not my favourite TBH


Richard Hamann's BMW M1 race car


Hamann tuned E46 BMW M3... V8


The Hamann F-Pace S from the front


The small spoiler gives the car such a distinct character


How the spoiler changes the rear end


The new 3-piece front bumper


The interior is almost stock


Apart from the anodised aluminium pedals and Hamann-branded floor mats


But seriously, that spoiler!


And also those 23-inch wheels. God I love them!...


...so much that here's one more photo


All bits combined give the F-Pace a much more aggressive stance... do you agree?

[ChiragM]

You seem to be having the time of your life in Europe.

To be honest, I am not a fan of tuned cars. Some of them just look too brash and I would like to keep my cars stock, at least when it comes to the looks. But I do agree with you on the F-Pace. Hamann has done a terrific job in the styling department. It is subtle enough to appeal to people like me, while at the same time ensure that the SUV stands out.

Surprised that they haven't done anything to the engine. Good to hear that the ride still remains comfortable. That active exhaust sounds really good when you floor it.

Please do post a picture of the Hamann tuned Porsche Macan as well.

[soulreaper_20]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

You seem to be having the time of your life in Europe.

To be honest, I am not a fan of tuned cars. Some of them just look too brash and I would like to keep my cars stock, at least when it comes to the looks. But I do agree with you on the F-Pace. Hamann has done a terrific job in the styling department. It is subtle enough to appeal to people like me, while at the same time ensure that the SUV stands out.

Surprised that they haven't done anything to the engine. Good to hear that the ride still remains comfortable. That active exhaust sounds really good when you floor it.

Please do post a picture of the Hamann tuned Porsche Macan as well.

Opps, just saw this reply... Same here Chirag. Even I am not very inclined towards cars which are tuned with cosmetic upgrades, but somehow the F-Pace is appealing. I don't know how, but I completely missed out on taking photos of the Macan. There's not even a single photo of it while I have photos of almost everything that was there...