Jaguar I-PACE vs. Bentley Continental GT: Battle of Britain

W12 twin-turbo monster versus twin electric motors. Who will win?

We all know that electric motors can spin up faster than traditional internal combustion engines. How much faster, though? YouTube channel Carwow decided to find out for themselves the old fashioned way: with a drag race.

In the right lane is Jaguar’s newest darling, the I-PACE. It slices. It dices. It’s the face of Jaguar’s future, and the future of driving overall.

In the left lane is the evergreen Bentley Continental GT, powered by a six liter W-12 engine producing 635 stampeding horsepower. Both cars weigh about the same and share a similar goal: to ferry you to your very important destination in a spirited fashion with style and grace.

In the first race, from a dead dig, the Bentley pulls away effortlessly. The I-PACE’s instantaneous power delivery wasn’t nearly enough to best the mighty Bentley Continental GT, which tripped the lights at 11.7 seconds in the quarter mile.

The I-PACE is no slouch, though, finishing its quarter-mile run in just 12.8 seconds. That’s more than enough performance to put the hurt on some seriously exotic hardware, and all without so much as a peep from its silent electric motors.

ALSO SEE: Jaguar I-PACE is the Electrified Future We All Deserve

Next up was a roll race from 50 miles per hour. Surprisingly, the I-PACE got the jump on the Bentley this time around, pulling a little more than two car lengths on the Continental GT before it could catch up. Instant power, instant response: the future seems like a pretty nice place to us.

The final test was to brake from 70 miles per hour. The Bentley Continental GT’s larger, more exotic hardware easily stopped it well before the I-PACE, which ground to a halt a couple car lengths ahead. While the I-PACE may not be the hottest thing on the street in terms of all-out performance, it’s proof positive that electric cars are inching ever closer to surpassing their traditionally-powered counterparts.

Join the Jaguar forums today!

Cameron Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.

He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.

In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.

You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.

Instagram