Honda Accord vs Jaguar F-Pace

What's the difference?

Will the new Honda Accord e:HEV RS topple the SUV throne? Unlikely, but it proves sedans can still haul the family around in relative comfort and style.

The new Accord drives stupidly well and offers great ongoing ownership costs, even if it's price tag is a little steep. It's hybrid powertrain also offers fantastic efficiency and that's a big win.

The F-Pace has been gifted new styling, new engines and more practicality making it an even better SUV than it already was. You could seriously pick any of the grades and be happy with your purchase. Then there’s the question of the engine…

Jaguar says there’s a few more years left in the combustion engine yet, but we know exactly how many years – four, because the company has gone on the record announcing it will go fully electric by 2025. The question for you is – how will you ring out the end of an era – with a four-cylinder petrol, a six-cylinder turbo diesel, an inline turbo six petrol or a cracking V8? 

The sweetspot in the range is the R-Dynamic SE 400, with just enough luxury and more than enough grunt.

The design for the new Accord is powerful with a sexy silhouette that features a rear spoiler, black accents and sporty 18-inch alloy wheels.

The old chunky grille is long gone and at certain angles you almost get a Nissan 200 SX vibe, which is gorgeously retro and a refreshing take for Honda - which has been playing it safe for the last few years.

The interior is simply styled but looks timeless. The dashboard has clean lines and a featured honeycomb mesh that hides the air-vents. It's a feature which might not land with everyone but it adds personality.

The black upholstery looks plush and there are enough soft-touchpoints to make the cabin feel like it deserves a premium tag.

The very first F-Pace arrived in Australia in 2016 and even after all these years and the arrival of more rivals I still think it’s the most beautiful SUV in its class. The new one seems to look a lot like the old one, but the styling updates have kept it cool.

If you want to see instantly how the design of the F-Pace has evolved from the original to the new one, be sure to watch my video above.

Short story is, this new F-Pace has been given a pretty major styling overhaul inside and out.

Gone is the old F-Pace’s plastic beak. That sounds weird but the previous F-Pace’s bonnet stopped short of the grille and a nose cone had been fitted to cover the rest of the distance. Now the new bonnet meets a larger, wider grille and its flow from the windscreen down isn’t disturbed by a large join line.

Also more pleasing to the eyes is the badge on the grille. The snarling jaguar head is now larger and no longer mounted on a terrible looking large plastic plate. The plate was for the adaptive cruise control radar sensor, but by making the Jaguar badge bigger, the plate was able to be house in the badge itself.

The headlights are slimmer, and the tail-lights have a new design which looks futuristic, but I miss the styling of the previous ones and the way they dipped into the tailgate.

Inside, the cabin has been made over with a giant landscape screen, new chunky climate control dials, a new steering wheel and the rotary shifter has been replaced by a regular upright one which is still small and compact, with cricket ball stitching. Again, take a look at the video I’ve made to see the transformation for yourself.

While all F-Paces have a similar look, the SVR is the high-performance member of the family and stands out with its giant 22-inch wheels, a tough body kit, quad tailpipes, a fixed SVR rear wing, and bonnet and fender vents.

For this update the SVR has been given a new front bumper and larger cooling vents flanking the grille. But it’s more than just tough looks, the aerodynamics have been revised to decrease lift by 35 per cent, too.

What hasn’t changed are the dimensions. The F-Pace is a mid-sized SUV measuring 4747mm end to end, standing 1664mm tall and with the mirrors out is 2175mm wide. That’s not huge, but make sure it’ll fit in your garage.

Access to the cabin is great thanks to wide door apertures but the Accord is a low car to get in and out of with its 134mm ground clearance. Expect a couple of grunts when parked on a hill!

Both rows offer ample legroom but the front enjoys the best of the headroom. A 183cm (6.0ft) friend was lumped with the middle seat and spent the trip dreadfully hunched over and uncomfortable. Save the middle seat for kidlets.

The electric front seats offer decent comfort for a longer trip but it's disappointing that only the driver’s side gets lumbar support.  

The rear row enjoys well-padded seats and amenities, like retractable sunblinds, reading lights, two USB-C ports and directional air vents but it took a while for the back to cool down on hot days which my kid made known. Loudly. 

Storage consists of a large glove box and middle console (which can accommodate a small handbag), a sunglasses holder, four cupholders, four drink bottle holders and two map pockets. There is also a dedicated phone tray but a few extra cubbies up front would be welcomed.

The boot offers plenty of space with its 570-litre capacity, which is great for the class, and you can also open up storage options with the ski-port door, if need be. The powered boot release is a handy feature.

The touchscreen multimedia system looks nice but is a pain in the butt to use until you set some time aside to get to know it. It’s just not intuitive but the screen is responsive and it's a bonus that you get the built-in sat nav and Google apps. 

The new Accord gets wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto but it took a few beats to get the wireless CarPlay to work.

The charging options are good throughout the car with four USB-C ports, two 12-volt sockets and a wireless charging pad to choose from.

The F-Pace was always practical with a big 509-litre boot and great rear leg and head room for even me at 191cm tall, but the cabin re-design has added better storage and usability.

The door pockets are larger, there’s a covered area under the floating centre console and in a victory for common sense and practicality the window switches have been relocated from the window sills to the armrests.

This is along with a deep centre console storage area, and two cupholders in the front and another two in the rear fold-down armrest.

Parents will be happy to know that all F-Paces come with directional air vents in the second row as well. And there are ISOFIX outboard child-seat anchors and three top-tether restraints, too.

There’s a Jaguar F-Pace for every budget as long as your budget is somewhere in between $80K and $150K. That’s quite a large range in price.

Now, I’m about to take you through the grade names and I need to warn you that it’s going to be messy and confusing a little bit like white water rafting, but not as wet. Life jacket on?

There are four grades: the S, SE, HSE and top-of-the-range SVR.

They all come standard with the R-Dynamic pack.

There are four engines: the P250, D300, P400 and P550. I’ll explain what this means in the engine section down below, but all you need to know is 'D' stands for diesel and 'P' for petrol and the higher the number the more grunt it has.

The S grade only comes with the P250. The SE comes with a choice of P250, D300 or P400. The HSE only comes with the P400 and the SVR has exclusive rights to the P550.

Following all this? Great.

So, the entry grade is officially called the R-Dynamic S P250 and it lists for $76,244 (all prices listed are MSRP - before on-road costs). Above this is the R-Dynamic SE P250 and it lists for $80,854, then there’s the R-Dynamic SE D300 for $96,194 and the R-Dynamic SE P400 for $98,654.

Almost there, you’re doing super.

The R-Dynamic HSE P400 lists for $110,404 and at the top is King F-Pace – the SVR with the P550 listing for $142,294.

There you are, wasn’t so bad was it?

Coming standard from the base grade up is the new 11.4-inch touchscreen, sat nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, there’s keyless entry, push-button start, dual-zone climate, power adjustable front seats, leather upholstery, LED headlights and tail-lights, and an auto tailgate.

The entry-level S and the SE above it come with a six-speaker stereo, but as you step into the HSE and SVR more standard features appear such as a 13-speaker Meridian sound system, plus heated and ventilated front seats. A fully digital instrument cluster is standard on all grades apart from the entry S.

The options list is extensive and includes a head-up display ($1960), wireless charging ($455), and an Activity Key ($403) which looks like an iWatch that locks and unlocks the F-Pace.  

Paint prices? Narvik Black and Fuji White are standard at no extra cost for the S, SE and HSE. The SVR has its own standard palette and includes Santorini Black, Yulonhg White, Firenze Red, Bluefire Blue and Hakuba Silver. If you don’t have the SVR but want these colours it’ll be $1890, thank you.

Our test vehicle has an electric continuously variable transmission and features a new self-charging hybrid powertrain that couples two electric motors with a 2.0L, four-cylinder petrol engine that combine to produce 135kW of power and 335Nm of torque.

Only being available in one powertrain may limit its audience but the combo delivers decent performance for a sedan of this size.

Jaguar’s engine names sound like forms you have to fill in when you apply for a home loan.

The P250 is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine making 184kW and 365Nm; the D300 is a 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo diesel producing 221kW and 650Nm; while the P400 is a 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo petrol with outputs of 294kW and 550Nm.

The P550 is a supercharged 5.0-litre V8 producing a colossal 405kW and 700Nm.

The SE grade gives you the choice of the P250, D300 and P400, while the S only comes with the P250 and the SVR of course is powered only by the P550.

The D300 and D400 are new engines, both are straight sixes and replace the V6 engines in the old F-Pace. Superb engines, they are also found in the Defender and Range Rover.

Jaguar calls the D300 and P400 mild hybrids, but don’t be misled by the terminology. These engines are not hybrids in the sense that an electric motor is working to drive the wheels along with a combustion engine. Instead, a mild hybrid uses a 48-volt electrical system to help take the load off the engine by helping it start and running the electronics such as climate control. And yes, it does help save fuel, but not stacks.

There’s plenty of grunt from all these engines no matter which you choose, they all have eight-speed automatics and all-wheel drive.

You are also very likely looking at the last combustion engines to go into an F-Pace. See Jaguar has announced that it will only sell electric vehicles beyond 2025.

Four years and that’s it. Choose wisely.

The new hybrid powertrain means lower outputs and the official combined fuel cycle figure is just 4.3L/100km! Which is only beaten by the Toyota Camry's 4.0L/100km.

The on-test figure pops out at 5.1L/100km after doing a some urban stuff but mostly open-road driving. Which is where hybrids tend to be the least efficient, so the fuel usage is excellent.

Based on the official combined (urban/extra-urban) fuel cycle and 48L fuel tank, you should see a theoretical driving range of up to 1116km, which is a little less than the Toyota Camry but still an amazing range for a family car.

That range figure drops to around 940km using our real-world average consumption number.

It doesn’t make sense that Jaguar has announced that it will be going all electric by 2025 yet doesn’t offer a plug-in hybrid in its Australian line-up, especially when there is one available overseas.

Jaguar says it doesn’t make sense either, but by that they mean business sense, in bringing one to Australia.  

So, for fuel economy I’m marking the F-Pace down. Yes, the D300 and P400 use clever mild-hybrid tech, but it doesn’t go far enough to reducing fuel use.

So the fuel consumptions, then. The official fuel consumption for the petrol P250 is 7.8L/100km, the diesel D300 will use 7.0L/100km, the P400 is stated to sip 8.7L/100km and the P550 V8 petrol will drink 11.7L/100km. Those figures are "combined cycle" numbers, after a combination of open and urban driving.

Power delivery for the new Accord is pretty punchy and, in most scenarios it’s responsiveness is great. But occasionally, when you’re getting up to speed, there can be a small lag before things kick in.

The Accord handles like a dream and feels firmly planted on the road in corners. Even in high winds, the car feels stable and sure of itself. Delightful.

The cabin is quiet and engine noise is at a minimum most of the time. Around town, the Accord sounds and behaves like an EV. Only once you hit the open road do you get some road noise but it never intrudes on chatting.

It might also be one of the easiest sedans to park and it's got a lot to do with the top-notch 360-degree view camera system and direct steering.

My two test cars at the Australian launch of the new F-Pace were the R-Dynamic SE P400 and the R-Dynamic S P250. Both were fitted with the road noise cancellation system which comes with the optional $1560 Meridian stereo and reduces the level of road noise coming into the cabin.

Which would I rather? Look, I’d be fibbing if I didn’t say the SE P400 with its smooth inline six that has seemingly endless shove, but it’s $20K more than the S P250 and neither engine is low on grunt and both handle and ride almost identically.

That ride has been improved in this new F-Pace with the rear suspension being retuned so that it’s not so firm.

Steering is still on the sharp side, but body control feels better and more composed in this updated F-Pace.

On the twisty and quick country roads I tested the S P250 and SE 400, both performed superbly, with responsive engines, great handling, and serene cabins (thanks to the help of the noise cancelling tech).

The second part of the test was driving both in city traffic for the best part of an hour each which isn’t pleasant in any car. The now wider F-Pace seats were comfortable and supportive, however, the transmission seamlessly swapped gears and even rolling on 22-inch wheels in the SE and 20-inch alloys in the S the ride was excellent.  

The F-Pace scored the maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it was tested in 2017. Coming standard is advanced safety tech such as forward auto emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot assist, lane keeping assistance and rear cross-traffic alert.

This tech is great, but in the five years since the F-Pace first arrived safety equipment has moved on even further. So, while the AEB can detect pedestrians, it’s not designed to work for cyclists, there’s no reverse AEB, nor evasive manoeuvre systems, nor a centre airbag. All are items which weren’t common in 2017 but are now on most 2021 five-star rated cars.

The Accord comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty, and an eight-year battery warranty, which are now normal terms for the class.

You get a five-year capped priced servicing program and it costs just $199 per service, which is very competitive.

Servicing intervals could get annoying if you put a lot of kays on your car as they're set at every 12-months or 10,000km, whichever occurs first.

At the launch of the new F-Pace Jaguar announced that all of its vehicles would be covered by a five-year unlimited/kilometre warranty, a step up from the three-year coverage it used to offer.  

Service intervals? What are they? The F-Pace will tell you when it needs maintenance. But you should sign up for a five-year service plan which costs $1950 for the P250 engine, $2650 for the D300, $2250 for the P400 and $3750 for the P550.