Introduction
Much like finely-grained English willow known for its sweet sound and superior build quality, the XE is built using every trick Jaguar have learnt over the years, to take on the Germans at a game they play so very well.
All New?
It’s Jaguar’s latest and most affordable car. Internationally you can have the XE with both petrol and diesel engines in power outputs ranging from 161bhp to 335bhp. For now, in India, you get two versions of the 2-litre turbocharged petrol – Pure producing 197bhp and Portfolio packing 237 horses. It has a first in class all-aluminium body structure, design elements borrowed from its siblings but a identity of its own.
How Quick?
The turbo-petrol delivers smooth and linear acceleration that is relentless till 5,500rpm, and you will rarely be in a position when you’d need more. It’s not blisteringly fast, obviously, with a 0-100kmph claimed time of 6.8 seconds and a top speed of 250kmph but all the bottom-end torque, plus the responsiveness of the motor, makes it feel really quick. The ease with which you can call the tail into play has a lot to do with the 340Nm that peaks in at just 1500rpm and also the (lack of) weight of the aluminium chassis.
Fun to drive?
Slip into the perforated tan-leather seats, thumb the pulsing starter button on the centre console, watch the cylindrical gear knob whirring up and give it a prod. The 237bhp petrol is wonderfully silent at idle and requires a blip of the throttle to confirm it has indeed cranked up. You instinctively know it will be a comfy mile-muncher but there are enough hints that it will be a fast one too. Driving around town is easier than I’d imagined. Twist the selector in Sport as you head to the hills, choose the dynamic drive mode and barrel into a corner with a little extra speed. Brake hard and turn in, keep the revs up and blast out. A corner or two is enough to know you’ve got your leash around the XE’s neck held tight. It might be smooth and comfortable in the city but this is a sharp little kitty.
What else?
I love the speed boat-like arc on the top of the dash, first seen on the XJ, that flows into the front doors and makes for a relatively high sill. The dash itself is elegantly designed and it has that neat trick where the dials on the instrument cluster glow red in dynamic mode. There’s no shiny bit of metal or bright colour craving for attention, and I like that.
I had been driving around town for a while and hadn’t got a good enough look at it from the outside yet. Now you buy a Jaguar because of the way it looks, Ian Callum’s work has that effect on you. The man’s a genius when it comes to design and the F-Type is a testament to that fact. So I step out and take one quick walk around the ‘Bluefire’ XE. Jaguars in the past have looked rather unique; flamboyant for sure but maybe lacking the brand identity that ties in the cars from the big German three. Callum has now weaved in a family look so the front end will remind you of the XF and XJ, as will the bulging bonnet that tapers into the rounded chrome-lined grille. Aggressive gills on the side are another Jaguar signature and at the back, the LED graphic in the taillights is straight from the F-Type.
Competition check?
Sports sedans as these premium luxury sedans are called in Europe are a careful mix of proportions, a rear-drive chassis, not too flashy styling and a cabin brimming with tech filtered down from their big brothers. When you get the ingredients just right, the result is a Mercedes C-Class. It’s the benchmark, at least for this generation, and it’s the car Jaguar has to match, if not better. The XE, at least on the petrol engine front, already has the upper hand as the C200 is a good 16bhp short on the Pure variant, forget the 56bhp deficit to the Portfolio.
Good value?
The XE might be Jaguar’s first proper attempt at the luxury mass-market, but it’s a very well-conceived one that also sets the benchmark for performance. That being said what people buy, despite the ban in force in the NCR, are diesel motors so we will have to see how the new Ingenium diesel performs against its rivals. Till then this attractive little kitty seems like a near-perfect stroke straight from the sweet spot. And going by my experience with the XE 25t Portfolio, I think the XE S, R and SVR have a very promising base to build on.