Jaguar E-Pace P250 R-Dynamic S

Now as never before, car buyers crave certainty. So much is obvious given current debates on pressing issues. No-one needs reminding what these are - but leaving aside prognostications, politicisations, determinations, vacillations, oscillations and all the rest, one thing is clear: pedigree persists.

You simply can't knock the rock when the stuff of legend continues to rock and roll, and of all great motoring manufacturers, few can match the hit parade of Jaguar successes.

They own an enviable rock solid reputation when it comes to combining speed, safety and luxury into irresistibly attractively designed packages. Jaguars have a reputation for beguiling the eye while delivering every promise that smooth-contoured elegance is capable of suggesting; that for me is why the new E Pace is a kind of progressive SUV that banishes all doubt.

Wrapped up in one road-hungry epitome of practical dynamism, the £42,610 E-Pace P 250 is an urgent reminder that, despite everything else, there is nothing more important than the here and now. This imposing vehicle is said to reward its lucky owners in positive ways that can only represent a force for the good. It's a true reminder that past glories indeed attain rebirth in hitherto unimaginable reincarnations.

Who would have thought just a few decades ago that such a capable car was even possible? Here is a capacious, luxurious, practical and economical vehicle: a versatile all-rounder if ever there was.

The E-Pace proves capable of zesty performance that doesn't so much blow away cobwebs as shatter every mind-forged manacle that a cohort of pusillanimous poets and nail chewing Casandras might ever have contrived in the heyday of Romantic Literature.

In a word, the E-Pace strikes a decisive blow for liberty. The 2.0 litre 249 PS engine is ably assisted by mild electric power and all four wheels are driven through the most delightful of delightful automatic transmission systems - and yet on test it returned around 35/40 mpg despite Jaguar's modest claim of 31.8mpg ... (it all depends on how you drive readers!)

Of course, I didn't take it to the 142mph claimed top speed - suffice it to say the whole package is beautifully smooth and fast enough for all but criminals.

To the road in the E-Pace!

For me and many others, such a prospect is more than enticing. This roomy car, deftly styled so as to deflect from unseemly bulkiness, is a competent assertion that whatever the future might hold in store, you can set store by Jaguar's brand reputation. It's as though they have a mission to inject positivity into the process of living for the day. It rides and drives beautifully, with sharp responses to wheel and throttle as you travel smoothly over the poorest of surfaces.

Car critics fail to convince that they are possessed of sensible solutions to the problems they perceive. A true answer to these critics is a car like the E-Pace which drives like a dream, is as safe as houses and promotes energy efficiency to a hitherto unprecedented degree. It seems that more and more people are coming to recognise the senselessness of replacing proven and tested technologies with inefficient and costly alternatives. This is a clean mild hybrid with combined CO2 emissions of just 200-218 g/km and as such harms no-one.

As I commented to my passenger, enjoying your motoring is a true endorsement of technological democracy. To this end one should relish the open road for as long as one can. For now and tomorrow the E-Pace speaks up in no uncertain terms for the virtues of excitement, excellence, economy and accessible elitism.

And don't forget it's a Jaguar...