There’s real drama at the front, but it’s strangely reminiscent of Volvo’s old S40 from other angles, and what is it with Jag’s wheel designs? The base XE seems to be wearing a set of 1970s Appliance Turbo Vec alloys normally found on porthole-festooned custom vans, and the R-Sport test car’s looked like a set of ancient GKNs you might have picked up from a Ripspeed catalogue around the same period. The Jag’s dowdy dark blue is less flattering but brighter light and brighter hues reveal handsome, if perhaps disappointingly conservative lines that success in China and North America demands. But the three-quarter angles are gorgeous and this car’s diamond silver paint highlights every single nuance of the design, the coving in the doors and contours of the AMG Line bumpers with their faux mesh inserts, and entirely fake twin tailpipes (the real pipe is a limp, downturned single skulking under the boot floor). The rear looks a little droopy and the profile, with the interior shifted so far backwards it makes a Bugatti Royale look like a 1990s cab-forward Chrysler concept car, is plain odd. Ironically, it’s the least expensive car that really oozes that premium feel. Its opposite number from Mercedes is the £34,770 168bhp C220 BlueTEC in AMG Line trim, while BMW has fielded the 420d M Sport, which delivers 187bhp for £37,185 – a steep £3720 more than you’d pay for the mechanically equivalent, if more spartan 3-series saloon. XEs start at less than £27,000, but mating the quicker diesel with the auto ’box and racey-looking R-Sport trim bumps that to £34,775.
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When picking an XE that means a choice between 161bhp and 178bhp versions of Jag’s new Ingenium engine family, and six-speed manual or eight-speed ZF auto transmissions. Jaguar has been surprised by early demand for the 197bhp and 237bhp 2.0 petrols (there’s a punchy 335bhp 3.0 supercharged V6 from the F-type available too), but although there’s uncertainty over the future of oil burners in the UK’s new NOx-conscious climate, diesel, and the low CO2 numbers it allows, is still king. XE vs 3-series vs C-class: the diesel heartland Fractionally sharper in style and dynamic terms, its lift-back boot gives it a practical advantage over the 3-series, but most of what we’ll be talking about here applies to the 3-series too.
For this test though, we picked its 4-series Gran Coupe brother. A sales titan, it’s got every angle covered, but always with an eye on handling over luxury. A proper junior S-class, it’s the only car in the class to offer air-sprung suspension. Mercedes’ new C-class has completely shaken the sector up by refocusing on comfort and luxury. But even with an arsenal like that the new Jaguar XE has got its work cut out, both in the showroom and up here in the mountainous Basque region of northern Spain.
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