► We welcome the Jaguar XE to our fleet
► R-Sport line was the trim of choice
► 177bhp, 2.0-litre diesel for motive power
How does a car feel over the first 50 metres you’re in the driving seat? Jaguar’s Merlin-esque chassis engineer, Mike Cross, strives to fill you with positive vibes over a distance half the size of Usain Bolt’s office. And feelgood factors surely don’t get much better than the first run home in your all-new XE, Jag’s first compact sports saloon since the failed X-type 14 years ago.
Our XE has taken a sizeable walk up the price range. Ignored were the entry-level 2.0-litre petrol (£26,990) and 2.0-litre diesel with 161bhp; we’ve chosen the higher output, 177bhp derv-ivative instead. As for trim, we disregarded the fleet special SE and pensioner spec Prestige, alighting on an R-Sport, priced from £34,775.
This is the XE in its athletics kit. The basic silhouette is inherently dynamic: long, low nose flowing into a cockpit that shows why being backwards isn’t always a bad thing. It’s handsome if unsurprising, a feeling only cemented by the appearance of the same but bigger XF II. Jaguar says it’s rolling out a consistent look globally to revive a sleeping brand. Works a treat stretched over the SUV proportions of the stunning new F-Pace mind you…
R-Sport brings 18-inch alloys, sports suspension, subtle rear spoiler, manual sports seats and the distinctive ‘J’ pattern daytime running lights. We’ve personalised the XE with glacier white metallic paint (£620), contrasting with black, twin-spoke 19-inch Venom wheels for £1200. In dim light, they make the XE look like it’s floating. Further menace comes from the £500 Black Pack: out goes chrome, in comes gloss-black finish to grille, front bumper blades, glasshouse surround and side vents. The final exterior touch is a full-width glass roof (£1000), to avoid a gloomy cockpit ambience.
That said, the red leather upholstery inserts – which look like a dustbin-sized lipstick has painted go faster stripes along the jet black seats – add welcome pizazz and cost nothing. Front electric seat adjustment swallows £765, with another £235 for lumbar support. The rear bench folds 40:20:40 – a £400 option.
The XE’s cabin feels robust and alluring to touch, but the controls are dated. The centre console features an 8-inch touchscreen above two rows of small rectangular buttons, which are hard to distinguish when you’re hunting for the seat heaters or air-con blower strength. A rotary fan controller would be so much easier than stabbing at a plastic switch, while scanning the console for staple-sized LEDs that denote which setting the blower is on. In a world where Audi has an animated instrument panel that relays your MMI controller interactions, Jag’s bringing analogue weapons to a digital battle.
Not that the XE is stone age: there’s a standard stereo camera that reads the road ahead, relaying speed limit signs in the binnacle and autonomously triggering the brakes in an emergency. But you’ll need to indulge the options list to go higher-tech. Spec the Road Tech Pack and the XE gets a head-up display and adaptive cruise capability; separate automatic lane keeping costs £460. We overlooked both, settling instead for £550 blind-spot monitoring and closing vehicle sensing, and the £530 Parking Pack which adds a rear camera and front distance alert to the standard reversing scanner. Finally, the £435 Cold Climate Pack adds the essential quickclear screen, and heated washer jets and steering wheel. The options spend was £7445, for a grand total of £42,220.
But back to that drive home, the inaugural 50 metres. After the diesel fired gutturally into life, my ears instantly keyed into a persistent whistle coming from the engine bay: annoying. Engage gear with the rising rotary selector (the one piece of cabin theatre), press the throttle, and weave across the car park: the steering – Jag’s first electric motor assisted rack – feels beautifully weighted and so responsive it could be controlled by telekinesis. Compared with some, the sports suspension negotiates the speed bumps like honey sliding across the back of a spoon. But the whistling persists, intensifying under load, sounding like an AM radio that’s not quite tuned in. I switch on the actual radio to drown out the whistle and head for home: the journey of discovery starts here…
Logbook: Jaguar XE R-Sport 2.0 180PS auto
Engine: 1999cc 16v 4-cyl turbodiesel, 177bhp @ 4000rpm, 317lb ft @ 1750-2500rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto, rear-wheel drive
Stats: 7.8sec 0-62mph, 140mph, 111g/km CO2
Price: £34,775
As tested: £42,220
Miles this month: 1199
Total miles: 1199
Our mpg: 45.0
Official mpg: 67.3
Fuel cost overall: £150.78
Extra costs: £0
Jaguar XE: Spec highlights
Colour contrast
£620 glacier white metallic accentuates £500 black pack, with its Darth Vader-esque grille and details. 19inch Venom alloys another £1200
Not the cheap seats
Leather sports seats standard on R-Spec, but add motors, lumbar support and split/fold rear bench costs £1400 all told!
Tech packs
Blind-spot monitor (free on Volvos) is £550; Parking Pack (£530) adds rear camera and front sensors