ok all you owners of an XE. Tell us what they are like!

[poprivet]

As a prospective future owner of an XE, I am genuinely interested in the views of members who have one, good or bad.

I'm sort of dissapointed that the 2.0 petrol ingenium has yet to make an appearance as has the estate version (seperate thread running for that!). Personally if I had one it would have to be a petrol and I'm not convinced about the current Ford engine, however I may be talked into a V petrol.

So, over to you...

[raysearles]

According to Ian Callum there will be no estate version. Estates are dead in sales terms like luxury barges, its all SUVs and XUVs, more likely is a small F Pace apparently....

[poprivet]

Six weeks or so after my initial post, (except for one reply about estates that I had already said was being discussed elsewhere), no owners could be bothered it seems, to defend their XE!

No wonder it seems to be heading the same way as the X Type. Personally I have lost all interest in buying one.

[Atlantean]

I have had my XE 240P Portfolio for over a year now. At first I was disappointed to learn that it came with a Ford petrol engine and not a new Ingenuim (as advertised) It appears the new Ingenuim engine is only in diesel form. So not an all new Jaguar as Jaguar would have you believe. I have to say the performance on this car is quite amazing. I am very pleased with that.
I did find it took me quite a while to warm to the car after having a brilliant XF for 4 years. The car certainly behaves well in all modes and drives very well. Like I say good performance and excellent road holding. I did think on the exterior side of things that the rear end needed some enhancement. With that in mind I have put some chrome exhaust finishers on which really make a difference and make the rear end look more Jaguar and less BMW. At a cost of £25 I cannot understand why Jaguar did not put them on in the first place. Inside I would like to see more wood effect and less plastic. Also I don't really like the open cup holders. I prefer the way they were on the XF. Why didn't Jaguar do the same on the XE ? These are minor design niggles but for a few quid extra Jaguar could have finished the car off a little better. Made it look more Jaguar and less Ford Mondeo (inside at least). Not had any problems with the much slated Nav system, but to be fair I have not used it very much so time will tell. Also I am not keen on not having a CD player. Having to transfer all your music onto a USB stick or plug your phone in is a pain. I would much rather just bung a CD in . I see that you can now pay over £600 extra to have a CD player , this optioin not available when I bought my car. £600 seems an awful lot for a CD player. Also you have a USB stick in the cubby which can get damaged if you are not careful when placing items to be stored in there with it plugged in.
Just have to listen to the radio I suppose. Not that I do that much.

I also do not like the start/stop which I switch off every trip. Why Jaguar programmed it to reset to " on " everytime you shut down is beyond me. I would like it to stay off permanently . On the odd occasion I forget to switch it off and the engine cuts out it is quite disconcerting.
One problem that I also had on the XF is that of road rash. Where the rear sill flairs out, it picks up all the grit thrown up by the front wheels which has the effect of sandblasting that part of the sill. The rear exterior sides do tend to pick up the dirt quite easily and also in the rear door jam.

If there is standing water on the roof when you open the rear doors it all runs off onto the rear seats. Again another design niggle. This one being down to the shape of the roofline.

Everybody asks about fuel consumption. The highest I have managed is 34.3 MPG. that is in Drive mode and not being too heavy with the right foot. One thing you have to bear in mind is that Jaguar build performance sports saloons so fuel economy is always going to be an issue. With the performance this car gives I am quite happy with 34.3 MPG. I could probably improve it if I used the dreaded Stop/Start and drove in ECO mode., but where's the fun in that ?
Overall (apart from the few niggles mentioned) it is a very good car.

[mike020150]

Thanks for a good summary of the 4 cylinder petrol version of the XE. I think this type of information is very helpful for those of us sitting on the side lines and wondering how, in the real world, the 'small' Jaguar matches up to the competition and whether it will make a good second hand buy before long. Mike.

[jagmanvaughn]

I don't own one but have a similar view to Atlantean - Jaguar need to start spending a little bit more on design components to give it the Jaguar feel - instead some of the switch gear quality and exterior design doesn't look 'special' enough to warrant the Jaguar badge.

In my opinion, the XE is a good car and a well specced one does look the business and is a genuine competitor for BMW / Mercedes and Audi.

[J44EAG]

I drove a year old XeS with the three litre V6 TVS supercharger the other day.

My initial impression was one of Euro blandness and uniformity designed for a company fleet car park. Entry level nothingness. Visually the car could have been an Audi. It was small, indistinct and to me, rather meaningless. OK it has an XF type grill....big deal. After that it descends to mediocrity. The door entry is small and seats compact. Leg room is adequate. The boot entry is unexpectedly constricted and most of the space is forward of the rear screen. Leaning into the boot, my back muscles locked confirming my initial take that loading this midget motor would be irksome and uncomfortable. Body styling towards the back end was utterly characterless and lacked any interesting visual feature. I felt bored to tears.

Door entries are small for a Mr Tubby Tum like me. Just like the X-type rear entry is a squeeze and rear legroom is almost non existent if the front seats are pushed back. The black seats have nice soft Merc type leather and Merc type contrasting red stitching. The dash top is a mass of charcoal grey cloth and the headlining the same. The car had no sunroof which made the internal cabin feel very claustrophobic. The instrument cluster and layout reminded me of a Boys Own rocket console. More black plastic and verbose plastic chrome tipped off with Audi type brushed look stainless panel infills. This car could have been made by any number of manufacturers.

The saving graces are the comfortable seats and a surprisingly good for class suspension which rides in a most controlled fashion in a manner that used to be reserved for large cars.

The engine note offers little to hint that is a V6 and a performance unit to boot. The sound was like a four cylinder and disappointing as traditional Jaguar owners tend to like distinctive sounding cars. Having a TVS supercharger also means the traditional wailing scream of the charger has been eradicated. The engine needs revs to get things moving. It pulls like a tiger but sounds like a four banger, two litre.

I`d like to be kind to this model but it smacks of entry level everything. I can think of no reason why I would buy one. It is certainly no advert for anyone considering up-grading to a larger model. If this is the best Jaguar can do, I suspect they will look elsewhere.

Getting back into my old 04 plate XJR, the contrast was very marked. I drew an audible sigh of relief. Easy entry, more space, a properly styled and restrained ambience, acres of room around my feet and the V8 signature on start up and a shove in the back of acceleration which the Xe couldn`t hope to hold a candle to.

Sorry. Two out of ten for me....but then I`ve got used to XJ motoring. If I were given an Xe as a prize, the thing would go straight on ebay.

Mike K

[pcollard]

Having, as a small boy, relished rides in my father's Jaguars through the '50's, '60's and '70's , plus E-types and Aston's also at the time, I feel the current crop of models brings back some tactile feel to the brand . I want to feel glued to the road, so I have no spare wheel, no cumbersome electric seats which are pretty much half a ton of lead comparatively , I keep the DSC off in Dynamic , let the car writhe around underneath me like on marbles, and feel the engine purr on advancing throttle and turbo effort, a Jaguar purr, even though it is a 25t Ingenium engine. The suspension design is pure Jaguar, absolute stand alone perfection. I have the virtual dashboard dials. I love the E-type retro rev dial in Dynamic in the centre, even though to be honest if it was a normally aspirated engine I would look at it much more, but the power is so linear, where the needle is seems more like accurate guesswork . The only gripe is the G-Force diagram only goes to 1 G cornering , and it seems you can get that merely by sneezing (DSC on) at the wheel.

[mike020150]

Wow, you have some power in that sneeze! Mike.

[pcollard]

Or if brains were dynamite, perhaps I couldn't blow my nose...I know ! My 21 year old Daughter went ''oh, yuh'' from the from passenger's side. (Jaguar, take note)

[colin6377]

Hi All , Simply gobsmacked at some of the negativity within the posts I have read . On a personal take I am more than delighted with my own car , a 200ps petrol R Sport . I have outlined most of my thoughts & experiences in an article published in the club magazine dated March 2018 and stand by my every word within said article ! I think the comparison made to an XJR is not a fair one as we are looking at two completely different animals the XE being a compact sporty saloon & the XJR an aggresive sporting limousine ! That said I take nothing away from the XJR "BUT " they are not "LIKE FOR LIKE " comparisons ! Colin.

[mike020150]

These days, the standard of most new cars is so good that going for a short drive is unlikely to show a really good car at its best. Once you have driven an XE on a challenging cross country route, anyone with motoring soul will understand what it's all about. There are faster cars in its class (not that many) and there are softer riding cars but the XE's ride/handling combination is simply outstanding in, for a Jaguar, what is a reasonably sized package. I really enjoy my XE S! Mike.

[colin6377]

Well said Mike , totally agree on all points you have raised ! One of the best handling cars I have ever owned ! ! !
Tubby tums need not apply !
Colin.

[Zennan101]

The last time my XF was in for service I was given the keys to an XE R Sport. I loved it. The drive and handling were superb and the smaller size appealed as the XF is a big car to fit into most parking bays. It ticked all the boxes for me and will definitely figure on my next car to buy list. All cars move on and personally I think Jaguar are correct to look forward and not back.

Rod

[BrianG]

I have had XE diesels as loan cars form my local main dealer and did not particularly like them. This week I was loaned an XE R-Sport 200ps petrol for 3 days while my XJ Sport Premium was having some work done. This XE is undoubtedly a splendid smaller size Jaguar; the performance and handling is surprisingly good, although the engine is a little raucous at higher rpm. The seats are very comfortable but the adjustment features are basic compared to those we'd got used to on the XJ with its R-Sport seats. The ride is better in some ways than the XJ Sport (although this XE only had 2400 miles under its belt, so it should be as good as new!). The only negative points we agreed on were the low headroom in the front together with lack of space in the rear seats. In our opinion, the rather cheap-looking plastic everywhere (which buzzed at certain rpm or going over some rough road surfaces) although typically modern, lacked 'Jaguarness'.