Thursday 24th September 2015

Jaguar XE S: Delivery Miles

Until the arrival of the Audi S4 and Merc C450 AMG, the Jaguar XE S reigns supreme among sub-£50K sports saloons

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Strains of Deutschland uber Alles have been reverberating for so long in the junior sports saloon market that I really can't recall the last time anyone else offered a truly credible rival to the Germans. Maybe 30 years ago, with the Alfa 75 V6...

XE has delivered on the promise

Well, suddenly it's happened. Jaguar's new XE is not only credible, I'd argue it's the undisputed Best Car in Class. I'm thinking of a very specific niche here: no, not the 99g/km 2.0 diesel - impressive though that is - but the 3.0 V6 S.

Any serious prestige contender has to have a forced-induction six in its range. Arguably such fuel-hungry beasts only make sense in countries with cheap petrol but, luckily for PistonHeads, we get them in the UK too.

And the new champion in this niche is unquestionably the Jaguar XE S. With its 340hp supercharged V6 engine, it's properly quick (0-62 in 5.1sec). In fact, it's actually quicker than the F-Type from which it's purloined the engine, because it's lighter than the 'F' (although still no lightweight at 1,665kg).

More significantly, the XE S is a class-leading handler, as I discovered recently on some damp B-roads. Seldom has a traction control light been such a constant companion on a journey, and seldom has switching the ESP off produced such entertainment. The electric steering is fast-acting and light in feel, communicating superbly with a chassis that has an innately balanced feel, the torque vectoring rear end working hard to rein in your inevitable excesses. All the while, the XE's ride comfort remains way better than its German rivals.

Colours other than red available. Maybe

Wot, no Germans?
Ah yes, the Germans - where are they? Answer: they're currently pretty much absent from the 350hp sports saloon arena. The talented new BMW 340i may be cheaper than the Jag (£38,125) but it certainly lacks the Jag's steering feel, cabin ambience, snorting soundtrack and sheer sense of occasion.

Audi? The old S4 is dead (although you might still find one in the dealer network at around the £40K mark). The new one does have the edge on the XE S on paper (354hp, 4.7sec to 62mph) but will it drive as nicely? We don't know yet - and you won't get a chance to find out until 2016, when it goes on sale.

Same story for the Merc C450 AMG, whose 3.0 V6 turbo lump delivers fully 367hp and gets to 62mph in 4.9sec - but there's still no news on UK pricing, and it's not launched here till 2016.

£50K with 5,000 miles? Hmm...

Yours for...?
So for now, the XE S is the best petrol-engined compact prestige saloon, this side of the RS4, M3 and C63 AMG (Jaguar's V8-powered XE R can't come soon enough).

List price for an XE S is £44,865, which is certainly on the expensive side. Nearly-new XEs are now arriving on the market, and the lowest price I could find for any XE is a 2249-mile 2.0d Prestige diesel at £28,850, about £4K under list.

But come on, you don't want the diesel, you want the 'S' - but at what price? A fairly standard example in Italian Racing Red with 1,288 miles on the odo will cost you £44,000. That's a meagre £2K off the list price with options added, but it's the cheapest 'S' in the classifieds.

Higher-specced ones are currently nudging the £50K mark, which is worryingly close to the £55K BMW charges for the M3. For instance, an XE S in the same Italian Racing Red with very fetching red-and-black leather, 20in alloys, black pack, parking assist, panoramic roof and a few other goodies will cost you £49,990. And it has over 5,000 miles on the clock already...

[Roma101]

Interesting. You are the first journo that I have come across to imply that the Jag engine is overall better than the 40i BMW engine. I have heard it is more 'soulful', but not that it is as driveable and strong.

Edited by Roma101 on Thursday 24th September 09:34

[hornetrider]

Why oh why oh why is there no wagon?

[kambites]

Roma101 said:

Interesting. You are the first journo that I have come across to say that the Jag engine is overall better than the 40i BMW engine. I have heard it is more 'soulful', but not that it is as drive able and strong.

I suspect that's probably a question of whether the journalist in question prefers the delivery of a supercharged or turbocharged engine. The BMW turbocharged-6 is a very relaxing engine to waft with because it has so much torque but, at least in the older iterations that I've driven, it feels rather flat at the top end and hence rather disappointing to drive hard.

It's good to hear that someone other than Porsche has managed to get some feel out of an EPAS system. BMW's is pretty woeful. Hopefully now some manufacturers seem to have proven that EPAS doesn't have to be completely awful, others will work on improving their systems to at least the levels of feel of the hydraulic systems they replaced.

Here's hoping that the XE S has truly shocking residuals and is at some point released with a manual gearbox.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 24th September 09:40

[Frimley111R]

hornetrider said:

Why oh why oh why is there no wagon?

Give them a chance! They've only just launched the car.

[hornetrider]

Frimley111R said:

hornetrider said:

Why oh why oh why is there no wagon?

Give them a chance! They've only just launched the car.

Should have launched both at the same time - there's no real reason not to.

[kambites]

hornetrider said:

Should have launched both at the same time - there's no real reason not to.

Well it would have pushed the release date of the saloon out significantly, which given that it's a new market for them (or at least one they haven't been in for a while) would probably have cost them significant numbers of sales, overall.

I'm guessing the estate will need a complete rear suspension design (the saloon's suspension isn't small), so it's not just a question of extending the glass-house.

[cvega]

looks like an A5 from the back. No like.

[GTEYE]

kambites said:

hornetrider said:

Should have launched both at the same time - there's no real reason not to.

Well it would have pushed the release date of the saloon out significantly, which given that it's a new market for them (or at least one they haven't been in for a while) would probably have cost them significant numbers of sales, overall.

Perhaps we shouldn't have expected them to have launched it at the same time, but we would feel better if there was evidence that it would follow along with coupe and cabrio variants over the next 12-24 months as per the industry norm.

But sadly, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that they are working on those variants.

Jag - Please don't make the same mistake as the original XF, the estate arrived way too late...

[Frimley111R]

GTEYE said:

kambites said:

hornetrider said:

Should have launched both at the same time - there's no real reason not to.

Well it would have pushed the release date of the saloon out significantly, which given that it's a new market for them (or at least one they haven't been in for a while) would probably have cost them significant numbers of sales, overall.

Perhaps we shouldn't have expected them to have launched it at the same time, but we would feel better if there was evidence that it would follow along with coupe and cabrio over the next 12-24 months as per the industry norm.

But sadly, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that they are working on those variants.

Jag - Please don't make the same mistake as the original XF, the estate arrived way too late...

Launching an estate later on means a 'relaunch' to boost the range, same fo XE-R model etc. It works for engineering and marketing.

[hornetrider]

As far as I'm aware the other manufacturers Jaguar are targetting don't stagger the launch of body styles significantly in this way - BM, Audi, Merc for example.

[court]

I really like the XE S but does anyone else think that a small saloon boot is useless to put any meaningful amount of stuff in?

Even with optional fold down seats it's a struggle in my situation. Hopefully Jag will do an estate.

Although, can you still buy an S5 Sportback? I think top of the list will have to be a 440i Gran Coupe when they update the engines from the LCI 3er.

[burningdinos]

I'd like to see an estate too; trouble is, not only Jaguar lacks the experience in the segment (X-type not counting for the obvious reasons), but it's basically only us europeans who demand it. The saloon configuration is still more desirable in big markets as the US and China, so it's only natural they focused on the saloon first.

Edited by burningdinos on Thursday 24th September 10:57

[ghibbett]

Regarding the C450 AMG, I was asking my local dealership just last week about launch dates and prices. The dealer said they would be getting demonstrators from July 2016 with first deliveries to follow shortly after.

When asked about price, the sales person said it would be between £45k - £50k, estimated at the £48k mark. Not cheap!

[Roma101]

kambites said:

I suspect that's probably a question of whether the journalist in question prefers the delivery of a supercharged or turbocharged engine. The BMW turbocharged-6 is a very relaxing engine to waft with because it has so much torque but, at least in the older iterations that I've driven, it feels rather flat at the top end and hence rather disappointing to drive hard.

It's good to hear that someone other than Porsche has managed to get some feel out of an EPAS system. BMW's is pretty woeful. Hopefully now some manufacturers seem to have proven that EPAS doesn't have to be completely awful, others will work on improving their systems to at least the levels of feel of the hydraulic systems they replaced.

Here's hoping that the XE S has truly shocking residuals and is at some point released with a manual gearbox.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 24th September 09:40

I hear that the 40i engine has been much improved over the 35i. Including from PH's own review:

"Even more non-turbo in feel than the M3, lag is minimal, torque delivery is beautifully linear and you can drive it on the throttle with more control than any forced induction BMW to date. With so much power and low-down grunt, it's very effective and sounds suitably straight six-ey at higher revs as well"

[oldtimer2]

kambites said:

hornetrider said:

Should have launched both at the same time - there's no real reason not to.

Well it would have pushed the release date of the saloon out significantly, which given that it's a new market for them (or at least one they haven't been in for a while) would probably have cost them significant numbers of sales, overall.

I'm guessing the estate will need a complete rear suspension design (the saloon's suspension isn't small), so it's not just a question of extending the glass-house.

I suspect the nearest you will get to an estate will be the F-Pace SUV which is due around March next year - it shares a lot of the same technology. No doubt, after launching the XE, the XF and the F-Pace in short order, JLR will want to see if this is enough to grow Jaguar volumes to a sustainable level (they only sold c85,000 units across all models last year - Audi sold c1.5 million!).

[RobGT81]

oldtimer2 said:

I suspect the nearest you will get to an estate will be the F-Pace SUV which is due around March next year - it shares a lot of the same technology. No doubt, after launching the XE, the XF and the F-Pace in short order, JLR will want to see if this is enough to grow Jaguar volumes to a sustainable level (they only sold c85,000 units across all models last year - Audi sold c1.5 million!).

Yup, you won't see an XE or XF Sportbrake/estate.

[edinph]

I've seen three XE's on the road now and I must say, it's a handsome beast. It sits very nicely and is much more impressive looking than any pictures suggested.
Now that people are waking up to the fact that diesels are NOT the way ahead, perhaps more petrol Jaguars will appear. It's STILL not possible to spec an XF Wagon without a diesel unless you go all the way to a 5L V8 version. Crazy!
And of course there will be an Estate version. The number of BMW and Mercedes wagons on the roads proves the market is stong. Hopefully the XE Wagon will have a petrol option!

Edited by edinph on Thursday 24th September 11:39

[kambites]

I wonder if at some point we'll see a hatchback version as with BMW and Audi's products?

[pti]

RobGT81 said:

Yup, you won't see an XE or XF Sportbrake/estate.

How do you know?

[sideways sid]

Still can't get my head around the XE weighing less than the F-Type!