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2018 Jaguar F-Pace long-term test introduction

We just spent six months driving around Jaguar's XE in diesel trim, a fun, frugal sports sedan that impressed all of us. But we know that diesel sedans are a pretty slim part of the market, so we decided to check out the other side of Jaguar's coin. For the next six months, we'll be driving a 2018 Jaguar F-Pace. In today's SUV and crossover obsessed world, the F-Pace is already the brand's best seller, and if history and the Porsche Cayenne is any indication, it'll hopefully help finance the sort of lust-worthy but low-volume cars we all love so much. In the meantime, we'll be finding out what all those new Jag owners are getting themselves into. What we got Our particular F-Pace is very close to fully loaded. Outside, it's coated in deep, vibrant Caesium Blue, a hue that was originally intended only for the F-Pace First Edition but popular demand made it more widely available. It's accented with the "Black Package," a $360 option, which swaps out shiny chrome trim on the grille, window surround and fender vents for gloss black pieces. We also added gloss black 20-inch wheels to match, a $1,020 option. For $410, we added a fifth one of those wheels in the trunk, too, since we opted for a full-size spare. Our F-Pace's sporty appearance is complemented by an athletic engine. The F-Pace S (starting price $60,770) comes with the most powerful engine currently available, a 3.0-liter supercharged V6 good for 380 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. Like all F-Pace models, all-wheel drive and an 8-speed automatic transmission are standard. Also, because this is the S model, our F-Pace has the ability to store a custom configuration for the steering and suspension. Most of the options on our F-Pace are convenience items such as the $1,840 "Comfort and Convenience Package" that adds heated and cooled front seats, heated and power-reclining rear seats, remote levers for folding those seats, and a powered, hands-free-opening hatch. The $2,350 "Luxury Interior Package" adds configurable ambient lighting, four-zone climate control, a lockable and cooled glovebox, an air quality sensor, a pair of 12V power sockets in the rear, illuminated door sill plates, a suedecloth headliner and fancier floor mats. The "Driver Assistance Package" and "Technology Package" each cost $3,250 and provided us with Jaguar's top-of-the-line Touch Pro infotainment system, Wi-Fi, a Meridian sound system, navigation, parking sensors, 360-degree cameras, and adaptive cruise control.

Automotive Grade Linux will be the backbone of your connected car

Creating a backend for a secure, reliable, and expandable infotainment system is costly and time consuming. The Linux Foundation, a non-profit organization, has set out to promote and advance the Linux operating system in commercial products. Automotive Grade Linux, or AGL, is a group within the Foundation that seeks to apply a Linux backend to a number of automotive applications in a variety of vehicles from various suppliers and manufacturers. AGL's goal is to create a common, unifying framework that allows developers and manufacturers to easily implement applications across platforms. Currently, the focus is on infotainment systems, but AGL has plans for instrument clusters, heads-up displays, and eventually active safety software. At CES, a display from Panasonic showed a completely digital and customizable dashboard that allows information and apps to be moved from the gauge cluster to the infotainment screen and back, all through the use of gesture and touch controls. Although the organization has been around for five years, it's really only been in the past three that the group has been working hand in hand with automakers and suppliers. The first two OEMs to participate, Toyota and Jaguar Land Rover, have since been joined by Mazda, Suzuki, Ford, and, as of this week, Daimler. The latter is important as until now most of AGL's partner's have been based in Japan or the US. Other partners include suppliers Denso, Renesas, Continental, Qualcomm, and Intel. AGL want's to supply roughly 80 percent of the backend, allowing partners to then finish and refine the Linux system for each individual application. Think of how the Android operating system is refined and customized for individual smartphones from Samsung, LG, and Motorola. While the final product looks different, developers can have an application that will work across all AGL systems. Because it is open source, anyone can use and develop for AGL. You can even go onto the group's website and download a copy right now. There is also a software development kit available that helps facilitate app creation on the platform. Vehicle development cycles take roughly five years, so there currently are no cars that run an AGL backbone available for consumers. AGL Executive Director Dan Cauchy says products should be hitting the market later this year, with even more coming in 2018. Right now, the industry is relatively fragmented when it comes to infotainment and related systems.

Jaguar CEO says people just don't want EVs right now

"Customers are not impressed with it currently." These are the words of one Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, spoke at the Automotive News Europe Congress in Birmingham, England. The "it" Speth is referring to is battery technology, which he characterized as "too heavy, too expensive," and with power density that's "too low." That all could go some way towards explaining why the British automaker has yet to bring an electric vehicle to market, why it killed the C-X75 hybrid-turbine supercar project, and why it only recently started offering hybrid versions of its Range Rover models (and has yet to offer them in the United States). That doesn't mean the company won't pursue electric propulsion in the future, though. According to Automotive News Europe, Speth forecasts that "the next generation of batteries will be higher density, lower weight and the cost will come down." What he didn't say, exactly, is when he expects that next generation of battery tech to come around – or when JLR will start to more closely embrace electric propulsion. In the meantime, Jaguar Land Rover will continue investing in research and development. Since Tata acquired the brands from Ford seven years ago, JLR has quadrupled its R&D budget and doubled the number of engineers on staff. Related Video: