Lock Your Keys Inside the New Jag On Purpose
The F-Pace SUV has an interesting alternative to your keychain.
Jaguar debuted its new F-Pace SUV at the Frankfurt Motor Show with a surprising bit of new technology; a rubber wristband that lets you lock your keys and valuables inside the car while you are running, swimming, boating or doing anything else that would put your keys and other belongings at risk.
That means you lock your keys and phone inside the F-Pace when you go for a bit of stand-up paddleboard action. When you return to the car, press the Active Key wristband to the “J” in the rear hatch “Jaguar” lettering and the car unlocks. The system uses RFID technology, so there’s no battery in the Active Key to die and strand you.
Worried someone might break a window to get to the key inside the car and use it to steal the car? That won’t work, because when the Active Key is used, the regular key is deactivated. But just that one key you’ve locked in the car. So if your significant other needs to use the F-Pace when you’ve locked it with the Active Key, their regular key still works.
There is plenty of other cutting-edge tech in the F-Pace too, like a quad-core Intel processor powering the 10.2-inch touch screen infotainment system and the 12.3-inch instrument panel display. That computing power means you can pinch and swipe images on the touch screen just as quickly as on your tablet computer, without the annoying delays some such systems suffer.
Worried that Jaguar has lost its way, with this introduction of its first SUV? Fear not, says design boss Ian Callum. The spirit of the classic E-Type remains in the F-Pace’s dynamic driving capability, he insists.
That’s because the F-Pace isn’t all Silicon Valley electronic horsepower. There’s some good old internal combustion horsepower under the car’s aluminum hood. It is a supercharged 3.0-liter V6 that comes in either 340- or 380-horsepower configurations, or a 180-horsepower 2.0-liter turbodiesel that Jaguar says sips fuel at an amazing 57 mpg.
Either way, the F-Pace can be configured with all-wheel drive for security in colder climates or with rear-drive for customers in fair-weather states. The diesel model arrives this fall for $41,985, with the gas V6 editions appearing next spring for $43,385 and $57,695 for the 340- and 380-horsepower versions, respectively. The Active Key option costs an additional $400. That charge will be worth it when you don’t lose your car key at the bottom of your nearby body of water next weekend.
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Photos by Jaguar Land Rover
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