If you say “Two Jags” in the UK to anyone over 30, they will immediately think of Lord Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister in the Blair New Labour era. He got this moniker when the right-wing press discovered he had two ministerial Jaguars. It was held up as an example of left-wing hypocrisy. As the most prominent left-winger in the Blair cabinet, with a style best described as “combative”, he was not someone I felt I shared many opinions with. It was a time in Britain when politics was largely fought in the centre ground where I feel most politically comfortable. If you ask those same people about something they remember about John’s time in office they will most likely tell you that he once punched a protesting farmer who threw an egg at him. That incident was in Rhyl, my original home town, giving me another thing to hold against him. So it was with no little consternation that I realised that I have become “Two Electric Jags”.

In what seems like the blink of an eye, the three years of the lease on my I-PACE is nearly up. Over the last few months, I have been searching for a replacement. Like in any leading-edge technology, three is a long time in EV years. The number of car choices is now far more extensive. So finding a new car must be easier now, right?

Nope!

The 2020s has delivered a unique car market in the UK at the moment. So what do you get if you combine a global pandemic, Brexit and a chip shortage? The answer is very few new cars. As a result of this, new vehicles have a long lead time and used vehicles are at premium prices. I got my I-PACE just before all these events when there were still deals to be had - and I got a good one. It soon became clear that any replacement was going to be far more expensive. I had a quotation from Jaguar for the repeat of my current car and the monthly payments had nearly doubled. These high prices were the same for equivalent models from Polestar, Audi and Mercedes etc..

I toyed with the idea of getting an EV city car whilst I waited for the right time to pre-order but, I had also taken the difficult decision to sell my camper van, so they would be too much of a practicality compromise for my current situation. I got as far as test-driving the Mini EV. It’s a great little car, but there would be times when that littleness and short range would be too limiting.

I looked at the models from the VW Group, Kia/Hyundai and Ford. These manufacturers could all offer vehicles that matched the practicality of the I-PACE. The Koreans in particular have some features the I-PACE lacks, like super-fast charging and vehicle-to-load. The problem with these options is two-fold. The first is that only the base models would be available for the same cost as my current deal. That means a small battery, 2 wheel drive and half the horsepower of the I-PACE. They are wonderfully efficient cars but, I am sorry Planet Earth, I’m just not a base spec guy. I admit I have an unresolved addiction to gadgets and performance. There was a second problem. Most of those cars are just not available. The Kia dealership was even keeping a manual list as the order book was closed - pre-ordering a pre-order! Used ones are no less scarce and are often being advertised above list.

I even, in a moment of weakness, looked into a few PHEVs. The problem is that, for my driving profile, I would need to rely on fossil fuels too much. The other thing is that I like driving EVs better. I do still drive fossil cars occasionally and even the best of them feels like a step back in time. I have owned many vehicles over the years and some of those had legendary status as driver’s cars. Can the I-PACE match the best of them in involvement over a nice Welsh B road? Nope, but it’s closer than you’d think. I would counter that modern fossil cars are fast losing that involvement. I drove a new 320i Touring about 550 miles on holiday in Italy recently. The 3’er Wagon is a car I have owned in many variants and always loved. It is still regarded as the pinnacle of small sporting saloons. I liked this variant too. It was comfortable, refined and economical for a petrol car on the Autostrada. However, driving it on the country roads round Siena, I didn’t feel it offered anything over the I-PACE. I can cut it some slack for lacking performance as a mid-range model. What I missed though was the instant throttle response and being able to use the regen to manage the speed into the corner. The sound of a blaring four cylinder engine does nothing for me (Lotus Twin-Cam, Honda VTEC and Subaru Boxer excepted). Most mass-market PHEVs have a relatively characterless fossil engine combined with a relatively weak electric motor. Together they can be pretty performant, but fitting in both powertrains brings a lot of extra weight and complexity. You get some of the advantages of both EVs and fossil vehicles, but also some of the disadvantages of both too. It just felt like a backward step.

Another option that really tempted me was the VW id.Buzz. Impracticality is not a complaint you can level at the Buzz. Having sold my camper, being able to combine some of the attributes of the camper and the I-PACE into a single vehicle had a real attraction. I have had the chance to clamber round one at Fully Charged and I really liked it. A few years back when I was seriously considering a VW California camper, one of my open questions was “Could I run it as an only vehicle?”. The California is refined for a van, but still a van. With the Buzz, being an EV, means that it comes with more refinement and a lower centre of gravity. It’s much more viable as an only vehicle. The only problems with the Buzz were cost and the fact that the lead-time is 12-18 months. I decided I would wait for a few more variants to be launched and for VW to clarify their teased plans for Vehicle-To-Grid. It may well still be my next vehicle.

You may have guessed by now what my final choice was based on the title of my article. In fact, when I put my parameters into Autotrader’s search engine for 5 door vehicles with a certain performance level and within my budget the only real candidates were the I-PACE and the Tesla Model S. I like the Model S, but most of the cars appearing were older and high-mileage. I decided to look for a nice First Edition I-PACE. These were the original “tick-all-the-option-boxes” launch cars that were only available for the first year of production. Hopefully I found one. It also helped that Jaguar had a promotion giving an extra years warranty and other benefits on used I-PACEs. This took a lot of the worry away of getting an older vehicle.

It might sound like I am just settling for another I-PACE but I see it more as a positive decision. At 4 years old it is no longer at the cutting edge when it comes to range, efficiency and charging but that does not mean it is not competitive. The motoring press has sort of forgotten it when it comes to group tests these days, but on the rare occasion they include it, it more than holds its own:

The I-PACE offers still less real-world range, and Jaguar’s non-Tesla SUV trailblazer is now four years old. It also faces an ever-expanding competitor set. But it remains a stand-out Ian Callum design, capitalises on a bespoke EV platform to provide acres of passenger space, plus it’s an outstandingly good car to drive. Like the Taycan, it translates Jaguar trademarks (supple ride, great steering and agile handling) to a new discipline, with performance that looks modest yet actually strikes a sound balance between thumping you down the road while not completely overwhelming proceedings through corners. It places second.
Car Magazine “AND THE BEST EV FOR PETROL HEADS IS…” May 2022

There aren’t many EVs that have had their own race series or spent their days pounding round the Nurburgring giving passenger rides. The rivals have also not had to pass Land Rover’s off-road tests or benefited from their legendary traction control technology. Jaguar claim the I-PACE has the same wading depth as a classic Defender. I sincerely hope that I never have to test this claim but it is reassuring nonetheless. So, whilst I don’t think of it as an SUV, it is more than just a “soft-roader”.

I still need to organise my existing car to be collected. So, for a short-time, I will be “Two Electric Jags”. So am I the new John Prescott? Maybe we have more in common than I ever realised. First of all it turns out that he was born in Prestatyn. Prestatyn is the neighbouring town to Rhyl and I both went to school and worked there. The relationship between the two rival coastal towns is “complex” and perhaps explains (if not excuses) the infamous punching incident. He also lived for a time near Chester, my current hometown. A quick search on Google brought me to stories that John, a long-time Jaguar enthusiast, had sold his last Jag. He had done this just prior to COP26 - giving up cars for good. This is a quote from a BBC article:

I am now “Zero Jags” - selling a car or eating fish and chips with a lower carbon footprint alone won't save the planet, but as the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said, "Great acts are made up of small deeds

Now, there is a sentiment I can definitely support. My double-Jaggedness may be temporary, but I realise my own steps are more cautious. Running an EV is better than running a fossil car. Buying used is greener than buying new. Could I have bought a more efficient car? Definitely. Is not running a car at all better still? Yes. I’m not quite ready to go that far yet, but I am always trying to find new ways of doing small deeds for the planet.