RE: Jaguar XE 300 Sport: Driven

[Phil Dicky]

Burwood said:

And heated seats aren’t even included. You can spec this car to 60k. A 2L engine. Typical jaguar

Of course Audi and BMW are so generous with options.

[Harry H]

It's a 45 grand thrusting young exec saloon and they put the word "sport" on the headrest. How bloody naff is that.

I could live with it on a fiesta/corsa/500 etc but not a bloody Jag.

Audi- RS
BM- M
Merc - AMG

Jaguar seriously need to come up with something better that "Sport"

[csd19]

Gad-Westy said:

Shiv_P said:

British Beef said:

David87 said:

WTF is the rectangular thing the badge is stuck to on the front grille? It looks appalling.

I believe it has sensors hidden behind it.

How on earth with all Jaguars engineering capability, they could not figure out a more conspicuous way to hide these sensors is beyond me, as like you say it looks totally and utterly sh!te and ruins the front end.

Yep. VW manage to hide the adaptive cruise, auto emergency braking sensors inside the front VW badge. Mercedes have these hideous panels on the S class as well

The Jag version still looks much better than the awful afterthought on the Leon. Terrible.

Earlier version on the mk7 Golf looked as equally aftermarket/ Halfords bodgit spec...

[unpc]

tedman said:

That's a nice looking Mondeo.

That's so original. Great work!

[Krikkit]

British Beef said:

David87 said:

WTF is the rectangular thing the badge is stuck to on the front grille? It looks appalling.

I believe it has sensors hidden behind it.

How on earth with all Jaguars engineering capability, they could not figure out a more conspicuous way to hide these sensors is beyond me, as like you say it looks totally and utterly sh!te and ruins the front end.

Better knock on the door of people like Mercedes, Audi, Ford et al as well. All of them are producing cars with various sensor patches on the front end, none look great!

VW have some models where they integrate them into the bonnet badge, as does Mercedes, but it means a huuuuge badge.

e.g.

[stuart_83]

That's really quite expensive - a standard Giulia Veloce works out at just over £38k - I bought one brand new back in March with a few extras for £32k ... so unless Jag are offering mega discounts that's one hell of a difference.

I don't have the Alfa any more as there doesn't seem to be term in Italian for "Customer Service" but during the brief time I had it (when it wasn't in the garage) it was a great car. Amazing to drive, and you could feel it was incredibly light weight compared to the competition.

[Demonix]

What is it with modern jlr era jags, nice looking front end, reasonably attractive side view and then the design team give up - both the XE, XF and XJ are all gopping from behind - about as appealing as Anne Widecombe in a bikini looking over her shoulder for a cheeky pose... Euuuurgh!

[kambites]

stuart_83 said:

That's really quite expensive - a standard Giulia Veloce works out at just over £38k - I bought one brand new back in March with a few extras for £32k ... so unless Jag are offering mega discounts that's one hell of a difference.

Out of interest, is that a 4WD Alfa or RWD? Personally I'd be quite happy with RWD but there's no denying that 4WD carries a premium in the market (albeit not a £7k one!).

[NJJ]

It should have been braver in its design from the outset: F-Type style rear light clusters, flush door handles, a special interior, like the first Gen XF had originally. Jaguar's rationale at the time was that this is a very conservative sector, but come on Jag, sounds like a bean-counter excuse to me.

Love Jaguar but aside from F-Type, I-Pace and XJ, I do wish they looked and felt more distinctive again.

[Mr_Sukebe]

kambites said:

The BMW is heavier than the Jaguar (assuming you look at the 4wd versions of both). It is a damned slight cheaper though!

I like the XE, in many ways it's my favourite compact exec, but the prices do look decidedly optimistic.

Edited by kambites on Monday 16th July 12:05

Are you sure about that?
Just looked on parkers, who were quoting:
BMW 3 - 1495kg
Jag XE - 1620kg

That's for the 2ltr, 4wd version of each.

[apm142001]

It's ok to look at, but no better than the AMG and definitely not as good as the Giulia (plus earlier comments are absolutely right - that bar around the badge looks like a bit of packaging that they forgot to remove).

Nothing really exciting about this thing at all, even if it is good. Turbo'd fours are so dull and ubiquitous...

[Limpet]

Unless the materials or build quality don't stand closer inspection, I think the interior is infinitely more attractive than that of a 3-series.

Biggest issue for me is the four pot engine. The B58 in the 340i will be far nicer to use.

[jfire]

Been looking at XEs and only the 2 highest trim levels have keyless unlocking and heated seats, among other missing specifications. Fine considering some of those models are 30 grand but not at this sort of price.

[Gecko1978]

Phil Dicky said:

Burwood said:

And heated seats aren’t even included. You can spec this car to 60k. A 2L engine. Typical jaguar

Of course Audi and BMW are so generous with options.

I wonder if anyone pays list and is the Alfa not a better comparison or perhaps a lexus or even the VW or Skoda offerings my guess is most saloon cars of this ilk are leased so it will come down to costs. What is a kia stinger GT for example

[unsprung]

generally quite happy that Jaguar are making positive noises and offering new things

but I'll join others here in a quick moan about kerb weight and engine output

outside the UK, I'd also look at unexpected offerings like the Genesis G70
https://www.topgear.com/car-reviews/genesis/33-tur...

[silentbrown]

Hang on: This "300 sport" thing is just a trim level, surely? You can get exactly the same engine/drivetrain (and I'd expect better dynamic qualities) in the cheaper and more economical XE SE.

It's also probably lighter, In which case this probably isn't even the fastest XE...

[kambites]

Mr_Sukebe said:

Are you sure about that?
Just looked on parkers, who were quoting:
BMW 3 - 1495kg
Jag XE - 1620kg

That's for the 2ltr, 4wd version of each.

Hmm, BMW US quite 3706lbs for the auto four wheel drive 330i, which is 1680kg. Maybe the US cars are really almost 200kg heavier than European ones, but it doesn't sound very likely?

Edited by kambites on Monday 16th July 16:18

[David87]

kambites said:

Hmm, BMW US quite 3706lbs for the auto four wheel drive 330i, which is 1680kg. Maybe the US cars are really almost 200kg heavier than European ones, but it doesn't sound very likely?

Edited by kambites on Monday 16th July 16:18

Maybe they quote the US weights including the average driver?

[southerndriver]

Jaguar may consider themselves a premium (I hate that term) car maker but their current engine range is anything but premium. Meh would be a more accurate description.

[Jim the Sunderer]

It'll be so heavy due to all the sound deadening they need for the bloody diesel version... maybe.

The headrests are a bit naff.