Jaguar All-Electric Crossover SUV I-Pace is a Compelling

Despite hauling luggage for four, as well as the necessary food and beverage provisions, there was plenty of room for everyone, given the I-Pace’s flat interior floor and numerous bins and cubbies up front, ideal for safely storing the items we picked up from the local cannabis dispensary until they could be consumed safely, far from the car. A fully glass roof provides a sense of airiness and views of the San Jacinto Mountains, palm trees, and Joshua trees, while a new interior shade prevents passengers from baking — though an integrated roll-up shade, familiar even in models from more mainstream automakers, would be preferable to one that has to be physically removed and stored.

The 2022 I-Pace is available in only one trim level, the fully featured HSE model. Starting at $71,300 before any local, state, or federal electric vehicle incentives, this is $11,000 cheaper than the previous model year, making it a bargain (of sorts).

This price includes all manner of advanced driver assistance systems including adaptive cruise control, which allows the system to maintain a safe distance from the car in front at any set speed, and lane-keeping assist, which holds the car between the roadway lines — though at times this system felt less like an assist and more like a sparring partner, wanting to take me too close to the middle or edge of the road. We didn’t have any need for the heating feature on the 16-way power-operated front seats, but the fans cooled us down after a brief hike at Whitewater Preserve.

A Meridian 3D sound system allowed us to blast our favorite tunes when on the highway, though we turned down the volume when cruising through town or on the way to our elegant rental in the Vista Las Palmas neighborhood of Palm Springs. And while the power-operated tailgate made quick work of loading and unloading our luggage, it ended up in a bit of a battle with the automatic garage door at our rental house, which, unbeknownst to us, operated in conjunction with the sliding gate at the front of the driveway. It surprised us by suddenly closing on the open liftgate while we were unloading some additional purchases. (The liftgate was badly scratched but still fully functional.)