Jaguar XE - a good buy in 2026? Which one?
Discussion
Hi all,
I've noticed these have become temptingly cheap in the classifieds and I am looking for an alternative to the default BMW/Audi. They look like a lot of car for the money.
I see there have been a few threads on it over the years, but none recent. What are they like as a used buy in 2026? I see they can have electrical glitches and the diesels seem to be hideously unreliable, if you believe the Internet. Are they unreliable? The reviews seem to be mixed, but negativity seems to be mostly because its not a BMW.
.
I'd be interested in owners experiences. I am looking at the 2.0T petrol, with auto box. I quite like the R Sport looks, but I'm easy on specs etc.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I've noticed these have become temptingly cheap in the classifieds and I am looking for an alternative to the default BMW/Audi. They look like a lot of car for the money.
I see there have been a few threads on it over the years, but none recent. What are they like as a used buy in 2026? I see they can have electrical glitches and the diesels seem to be hideously unreliable, if you believe the Internet. Are they unreliable? The reviews seem to be mixed, but negativity seems to be mostly because its not a BMW.
. I'd be interested in owners experiences. I am looking at the 2.0T petrol, with auto box. I quite like the R Sport looks, but I'm easy on specs etc.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I picked up a 2018 R Sport (Black edition so I look like a drug dealer) in Spring 2019 with 5k on it. It now has nearly 60k and this week had it's 8th service.
Only problem was a EML just before a Euro trip a couple of years ago, but it didn't affect the drive and turned out to be a VVT Solenoid which is a known issue and took me 15 minutes to replace. I DIY'd brakes and discs a couple of weeks ago, they were still on the originals, and it had a new battery fitted (again, on the original) at the recent service. Other than that, it's just had tyres/servicing.
My one bug bear is I wish I'd got one with the folding rear seats, the boot space is a pain in the backside (more used to hatchbacks or estates). I also have an additional lumbar cushion, but that's par for the course for me and not really a reflection of the seat being particularly bad.
I wouldn't touch a diesel, I've watched too many YouTube rebuilds.
Only problem was a EML just before a Euro trip a couple of years ago, but it didn't affect the drive and turned out to be a VVT Solenoid which is a known issue and took me 15 minutes to replace. I DIY'd brakes and discs a couple of weeks ago, they were still on the originals, and it had a new battery fitted (again, on the original) at the recent service. Other than that, it's just had tyres/servicing.
My one bug bear is I wish I'd got one with the folding rear seats, the boot space is a pain in the backside (more used to hatchbacks or estates). I also have an additional lumbar cushion, but that's par for the course for me and not really a reflection of the seat being particularly bad.
I wouldn't touch a diesel, I've watched too many YouTube rebuilds.
Sorry - bit late to the party. Bought a 68 plate 20T R Sport with 60k on it about 18 months ago. Love the car. Ride is OK, handling is great, quick enough, economical enough, good looking in the right colour. Don't like to jinx it, but relable so far. Cons are weird shaped boot, not great to be in the back seats for too long. Was much better value than equivalent spec Merc, Audi, BMW or Alpha, and much better looking than all bar the Alpha. The gearbox is dimwitted in normal mode. Putting it in Sport sorts that and changes the character of the car significantly, but I only find it a workable option if I'm having fun on a decent road.
Edited by TKWC72 on Monday 23 March 18:40
I've had my 65 plate 180hp diesel rsport for almost three years now. I would have preferred a petrol but the diesel was £3k cheaper so it's allowed to inflict quite a bit of inconvenience on me before I consider it to be the wrong choice.
There's a lot of moaning online about engine reliability and fiddlyness of the emission control bits and bobs. This comes from a few things so far as I can see;
If something breaks people moan loudly, if it works perfectly they never mention it.
The chain on the early ones isn't as good as it could be
The chain tensioner on the early ones isn't as good as it could be
The official service interval is a VERY long time, if you drive it once a week to the other end of the country then that's great, if you do loads of short trips then you're going to be getting worried about oil dilution from turning it off when it's trying to do a dpf clean, low oil due to it burning a bit and then problems caused by the above.
it's actually got a functioning euro6 emissions setup on it not a "we'll just lie on the tests and it'll be fine" VW style one.
Much like any BMW I've ever looked at it doesn't bother to tell you that there's stuff wrong with it and assumes that someone will be plugging a laptop into it regularly.
The biggest issue with the chains isn't so much that they need replacing far sooner than would be expected but that some idiot designed the engine as if that definitely weren't the case and you have to take the whole thing to pieces to get at them making it time consuming and expensive.
Problems I've had with mine in 3 years and 25k miles (it was on about 70k when I bought it)
Turbo bearings started sounding very unhappy, new turbo isn't the cheapest thing ever.
Low pressure EGR cooler filter clogs up sometimes, this does suggest that the DPF is letting more soot through than it's supposed to but it's an easy thing to fix and a new filter is about £15.
DEF injector clogged up, easy to sort out, just involves cleaning it and resetting the error.
Engine wiring loom wore through where it goes through the bulkhead to get to the ECU, shorted the oil pressure sensor to the turbo control wiring and confused the car quite a lot.
People keep driving into it.
Gearbox could do with a service and I'm probably going to have to get the chains done in a year or so, so not the cheapest thing in the whole world to run. But not horrendously unreliable for a nearly 10 year old car full of modernish electronics.
It does do 40mpg on the Isle of Wight though and 60ish on a motorway.
It does what I need it to, it's comfy, not unbearably slow, handles like my mk4 supra did.
I can't say I'd particularly recommend a diesel one but I'd not necessarily run away either if it's appropriately cheaper than a petrol and you're going to do the sort of driving it prefers.
There's a lot of moaning online about engine reliability and fiddlyness of the emission control bits and bobs. This comes from a few things so far as I can see;
If something breaks people moan loudly, if it works perfectly they never mention it.
The chain on the early ones isn't as good as it could be
The chain tensioner on the early ones isn't as good as it could be
The official service interval is a VERY long time, if you drive it once a week to the other end of the country then that's great, if you do loads of short trips then you're going to be getting worried about oil dilution from turning it off when it's trying to do a dpf clean, low oil due to it burning a bit and then problems caused by the above.
it's actually got a functioning euro6 emissions setup on it not a "we'll just lie on the tests and it'll be fine" VW style one.
Much like any BMW I've ever looked at it doesn't bother to tell you that there's stuff wrong with it and assumes that someone will be plugging a laptop into it regularly.
The biggest issue with the chains isn't so much that they need replacing far sooner than would be expected but that some idiot designed the engine as if that definitely weren't the case and you have to take the whole thing to pieces to get at them making it time consuming and expensive.
Problems I've had with mine in 3 years and 25k miles (it was on about 70k when I bought it)
Turbo bearings started sounding very unhappy, new turbo isn't the cheapest thing ever.
Low pressure EGR cooler filter clogs up sometimes, this does suggest that the DPF is letting more soot through than it's supposed to but it's an easy thing to fix and a new filter is about £15.
DEF injector clogged up, easy to sort out, just involves cleaning it and resetting the error.
Engine wiring loom wore through where it goes through the bulkhead to get to the ECU, shorted the oil pressure sensor to the turbo control wiring and confused the car quite a lot.
People keep driving into it.
Gearbox could do with a service and I'm probably going to have to get the chains done in a year or so, so not the cheapest thing in the whole world to run. But not horrendously unreliable for a nearly 10 year old car full of modernish electronics.
It does do 40mpg on the Isle of Wight though and 60ish on a motorway.
It does what I need it to, it's comfy, not unbearably slow, handles like my mk4 supra did.
I can't say I'd particularly recommend a diesel one but I'd not necessarily run away either if it's appropriately cheaper than a petrol and you're going to do the sort of driving it prefers.
Gassing Station | Jaguar | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff