2017 Jaguar F-Pace spied tearing up the Nurburgring

It didn’t take long for Jag to drop a V8 into its first-ever SUV.

JAGUAR Land Rover’s SVO division has been busy building a new high-performance flagship for its just-launched SUV: the Jaguar F-Pace SVR. Out goes the standard supercharged V6 of the F-Pace 35t, and in its place goes a supercharged V8.

Spied performance-testing at the Nurburgring, the F-Pace SVR’s V8 note can be clearly heard as the camouflaged prototype launches from apex to apex. It’s not as loud or bassy as the Range Rover Sport SVR nor is it as raw and crackly as the F-Type SVR, but the sound of eight cylinders is very much evident.

What’s also evident is the F-Pace’s, er, pace. Captured at maximum attack, the F-Pace SVR prototype shows surprising agility for a midsize SUV, despite this car’s plentiful body roll.

As for the all-important numbers, it’s too early to say. JLR’s 5.0-litre supercharged V8 is a staple of Jaguar and Land Rover performance models but comes in several states of tune: from the Range Rover Autobiography’s 375kW/625Nm version though to the 423kW/700Nm of the F-Type SVR.

The F-Pace SVR will likely take a low-spec engine, forgoing the 404kW and 680Nm of the Jaguar XJR and F-Type R for a relatively modest 375kW and 625Nm tune. Though it might sound like Jaguar is leaving plenty on the table, a 375kW engine would give the F-Pace SVR a significant power advantage over its chief rival, the 294kW/550Nm Porsche Macan Turbo.

And that power will go to all four wheels via a paddle-shifted eight-speed automatic, with a unique calibration for both to give it the traction and gearing to make the most of its sizable outputs.

With the V6-powered F-Pace 35t already capable of a brisk 5.5-second 0-100km/h run, we can expect the SVR to achieve a sprint time somewhere the high four-second range. That would put it in good stead against the Porsche Macan Turbo, which zips to triple-digit speeds in 4.8 seconds.

Other competitors include the diesel-powered Audi SQ5 Plus (which is capable of a 5.1-second 0-100km/h time), while Mercedes-Benz’s AMG division is rumoured to be cooking up a GLC 63 super SUV.

Expect to see the F-Pace SVR surface sometime in 2017.