RE: Jaguar XE - full details

RE: Jaguar XE - full details

Tuesday 9th September 2014

Jaguar XE - full details

It's been dangled under Hueys and lapped the M25 all day in disguise - now the covers are off!



Here it is: Jaguar's long-awaited 3 Series rival, round two. This time, the company promises us, it's nailed it. We've heard a lot about the XE already, but this what we now know after today's reveal.

XE dangled under a Huey for promo tour of London
XE dangled under a Huey for promo tour of London
The new saloon is rear-wheel drive, lightweight thanks to a mainly aluminium body and is available from launch with Jaguar's new two-litre diesel or the 3.0-litre V6 supercharged petrol lifted straight from the F-Type, badged S. In diesel form, it'll come with a manual gearbox, making it the first Jaguar in six years to do so.

We got a good look at the car last Monday at the Solihull factory where Jaguar will start building it from the end of this month, and we can say that seen in isolation it looks exactly how we'd want a modern sports saloon to look: longish bonnet, short front overhang, sloping rear roof and some nice Jaguar-specific detail. Unsurprisingly it resembles a slightly shrunken, tauter XF.

Weights and measures
They're still holding back certain details until the full reveal at the Paris motor show next month, details such as the exact weight of car. This figure should be good - for example the weight of the unpainted body without closures (doors, bonnet etc) is 251kg. By contrast the figure for the Volvo V60 is 321kg. The target we'd imagine is around 1,400kg, which is 100kg below that of the BMW 320d - the car the 163hp 2.0d competes head to head with.

The 75 per cent aluminium content of the body is key to the weight reduction. This is costly material, but Jaguar reckons that the entry price of £27,000 for the single-turbo diesel model (a twin-turbo is also coming) matches the BMW spec-for-spec, dispelling fears that the privilege of running the more exclusive car would whack the wallet harder. The Jaguar is also better on CO2 - officially recording 99g/km and 75mpg for the diesel.

Still hankering after that A4 or 3 Series?
Still hankering after that A4 or 3 Series?
If the low weight is good for economy, it has also defined the handling, or so the company reckons. The level of boasting we experienced on the Solihull visit was off the chart, which bodes well. Phrases we recorded in our notebook included "best driving dynamics in the segment", "highest levels of quality", "lightest, stiffest and most aerodynamic Jaguar saloon ever built" and "steering response of the XFR".

The bonded and riveted aluminium body is said to be 20 per cent stiffer than that of the XF, better enabling the suspension to do its job. Up front the XE has a double wishbone arrangement instead of the more usual MacPherson spring-over-damper struts. At the back is what Jaguar calls an integral link set-up that it reckons delivers the perfect compromise between smoothness and taut handling. At the top end the XE will come with adaptive dampers.

Steering? It's electric
In a first for Jaguar the XE is also fitted with electric power steering. As we know this fuel-saving technology has been hit and miss so far, but we're told this system has more feel that set-ups elsewhere. XFR steering response is a pretty high target.

The proof of claims that the XE is the new sport saloon benchmark will come with the first drive of the 3.0 V6 supercharged S with its 340hp, 332lb ft of torque and a claimed 0-60mph time of 4.9 seconds. We've seen no price yet, but expect a figure pushing £40,000 to pitch it against the (lower powered) BMW 335i M Sport.

No manual version was mentioned but the auto was confirmed as the eight-speed ZF 'box that Jaguar has used to good effect elsewhere. We'd also bank on all-wheel drive being one of the new derivatives Jaguar has said it plans to launch "every three to six months".

Long nose and rakish lines sex up the rep saloon
Long nose and rakish lines sex up the rep saloon
Disappointingly the two-litre turbo petrol won't initially be the engine being developed from the same Ingenium family as the new diesel. Instead it'll be the old Ford turbo unit shared by the likes of the Range Rover Evoque and even the Jaguar XJ in certain markets. It's not clear if we in the UK will even be offered this initially.

Other models in the range are a given and the factory is set-up to be as flexible as possible on this front - we've already seen the SUV concept and five'll get you 10 there's an estate in the pipeline too. A two-door coupe is fairly certain, although designer Ian Callum told us that that coupe swoop of the rear meant there was little point doing a four-door coupe.

Despite that falling roofline, a sit in the car revealed there's an acceptable amount of headroom in the back and we can well believe executives when they tell us it's one of the roomiest Jaguars ever (not a surprise to anyone who's had to squeeze into the back of XJs prior to the X350). The boot is pretty big too at 455 litres, although behind the 3 Series at 480 litres.

Stylish but possibly lagging the Germans inside
Stylish but possibly lagging the Germans inside
Loss leader
The cabin has plenty of toys such as in-dash apps that migrate from your smartphone and other gizmos, but we'd say the quality of the dash was the one let-down from our static test - after an initial poke it certainly didn't feel up to Audi A4 levels of quality for example, and that car's getting on a bit now. Safety gadgets include automatic emergency braking and a low-speed cruise control that lets the car decide throttle inputs on slippery surfaces like snow for better grip.

As an ownership proposition the Jaguar looks pretty good. Service intervals for the diesel are an impressive (or scary, depending on whether you're leasing or buying) 21,000 miles. Jaguar is trying mollify those for whom owning an aluminium-bodied car sounds potentially cash-munching if it gets hurt, principally by making the bumpers and the first bit of chassis they attach to removable. In a light bump that tacked-on crash structure soaks up the impact and the whole lot can be replaced. Actually, we discovered in a separate bit of research that aluminium suspension parts for the X350, the first Jaguar to go big on the lightweight metal, are coming down in price, with arms dropping from £420 to £195, according to one Jaguar specialist we spoke to.

It's still expensive to build in it though, and financial analysts who pore over JLR's spending reckon that the saloon XE in its most popular diesel form won't be profitable - it'll be the other, more expensive models like the SUV using the same architecture that'll make the £1.5 billion investment pay off. Which means anyone splashing out on the £27K on the entry model will theoretically be riding around in a far more expensive motor. Which should mean it'll drive like one too - fingers crossed.











 

Author
Discussion

Rick1.8t

Original Poster:

1,463 posts

178 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
Great news, a 3 series competitor - It will be nice to see a bigger variety of Jags on the road and its a welcome re-invention of the image.

Lets just hope the swag/white car black wheels/snapback cap/ guys dont get all wet over it like they do the bmw....

4lf4-155

700 posts

242 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
One word - bland.

With the recent good run from jag I had such high hopes but I am dissapointed

daytona365

1,773 posts

163 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
I'm sure it's a very capable car, but I'm sorry it looks as dull as ditchwater maybe even more so, to me anyway !

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
Cover up the grill and i get this:




Still, imitation is the finest form of flattery eh!

Riyazc

1,068 posts

241 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
That looks pretty awesome.

Would love to see some more pics, but can see this being a real credible alternative to ze germans.

Well played Jaguar ... some more new on the coupe form of this car wouldn't go amiss either!

daytona365

1,773 posts

163 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
''Lets just hope the swag/white car black wheels/snapback cap/ guys dont get all wet over it like they do the bmw''.........Don't worry, they won't.

LaurasOtherHalf

21,429 posts

195 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
Well I for one think that looks just great. Well done JLR thumbup

The Vambo

6,643 posts

140 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
Max_Torque said:
Cover up the grill and i get this:




Still, imitation is the finest form of flattery eh!
Best you stick to the engineering and leave the styling to the black polo necks, apart from the four round black bits they look nothing alike.

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
Max_Torque said:
Cover up the grill and i get this:




Still, imitation is the finest form of flattery eh!
I'm afraid you might have st in your eyes on that one....

Kong

1,503 posts

170 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
This is the opposite of most British cars which look superb but lag behind the Germans in engineering, this one has the specs to rival the Germans but looks a bit boring.

That low Co2 is a major plus, expect a lot of these on fleet.

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
dme123 said:
Max_Torque said:
Cover up the grill and i get this:




Still, imitation is the finest form of flattery eh!
I'm afraid you might have st in your eyes on that one....
Look at the window aperture, the black highline, the way the rear wheels sit in the arches, the short high tail, the 1.5deg nose down rake, all classic M3 signatures that JLR have sensibly copied for their car!



toohuge

3,430 posts

215 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
The rear end, with that wheel combo does have a whiff of Citroen about it....

I am pleased to see that this has very low CO2 emissions - that should help fleet buyers.

I am sure it will be a very acceptable car when released to the public and if good on spec, should do well for the rep mobile position.

Chris

Bodo

12,368 posts

265 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
Good job on weight saving - I'm curious how much better they are than their competitors. As for looks, it's as bland as any other that size. I wonder why we have so high expectations on Jaguar? Is it that we can't get the Mondeo image of the X-type out of our heads?
Or do we expect Jaguars to stand out like every single Jaguar until the X300 did?

Janesy B

2,625 posts

185 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
Max_Torque said:
Look at the window aperture, the black highline, the way the rear wheels sit in the arches, the short high tail, the 1.5deg nose down rake, all classic M3 signatures that JLR have sensibly copied for their car!


It's even got wheels too, the sly bds!

Theallotmentman

140 posts

203 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all

Should have gone to Specsavers old chap....

Max_Torque said:
dme123 said:
Max_Torque said:
Cover up the grill and i get this:




Still, imitation is the finest form of flattery eh!
I'm afraid you might have st in your eyes on that one....
Look at the window aperture, the black highline, the way the rear wheels sit in the arches, the short high tail, the 1.5deg nose down rake, all classic M3 signatures that JLR have sensibly copied for their car!


Deerfoot

4,897 posts

183 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
That looks great in that spec. It'll be interesting to see what the base spec cars look like....


Amirhussain

11,486 posts

162 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
And people on PH say German cars look the same?

okie592

2,711 posts

166 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all



dazwalsh

6,095 posts

140 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
I think that looks very smart, a bit audi A5 from the arse end but overall very nice indeed! Not so set on those wheels mind.

P4ROT

1,219 posts

192 months

Monday 8th September 2014
quotequote all
It looks cool and I'm sure it will be to drive/own, but how can it ever live up to the amount of hype that has been lavished upon it. For God's sake, it's a small executive saloon not a mini Veyron!