Friyay: a weekend with the Jaguar XE 25T

Friyay: a weekend with the Jaguar XE 25T

In a world where test cars are available for hours, not days, one man chose to taken on the weekend

The nice car you see on your screen is the Jaguar XE 25T — one of the ‘new’ breed of the Brit sport/luxury line that uses Jaguar’s new ‘Ingenium’ line of efficient engines. This one uses a two litre inline-four turbo-petrol motor, much like you’d see in much more pedestrian automobiles. No sixes, eights or twelves for this particular line of Jags in India.

The XE is also ‘new’ in that it literally is quite recent, having been launched in 2015. It’s very modern in its use of Alimunium in the body and suspension, which means it’s relatively light weight for this class of car. That class being the one made up of European luxury vehicles such as the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes C Class and The Audi A4, among others. Jaguar didn’t have a competitior in this segment until the XE, but it’s here now and it’s slick.

The setup

The colleague who drove this car before me had a precious few hours with it, before it was whisked back to the batcave in Worli. We had better luck — having picked up the car just before the weekend and dropping it back just after — getting a solid five days of driving in. We don’t know what we did right, but thanks a bunch Jaguar!

This gave us plenty of time and kilometres to put the littlest Jaguar sedan through it’s paces. We did plenty of city commuting, some fast highway work and a particularly unusual trek to the interiors of Kolad on the NH17, where the road ended but the progress didn’t. We came back impressed, with some caveats.

The outside

The XE is a really good-looking car. It looks like a clean-sheet design while still maintaining the family vibe. In fact, as far as European luxury sedans go, the Jaguars are the most diverse in their design, with the XE, XF and XJ maintaining some differentiation, unlike the three-bears design method of the German competition. You still get the bulbous hood, feline headlamps and F-Type-inspired tail lamps, but all three sizes in the Jaguar sedan range look like they were penned without considering what was to fit below or above.

LEDs are present and accounted for, our model had a generous — though not panoramic — sunroof, and the wheels fill the wells nicely. They’re not as rakishly low-profile as some of the international XE variants, but the relatively tall tyres do pay dividends.

For India, we get an inline-four diesel motor making 177hp/430Nm and a petrol making 197hp/320Nm or 237hp/340Nm if you get the range-topper. We sampled the TURBO petrol ‘Portfolio’ top-end variant. The capital letters will be explained if you read on.

There isn’t too much else going on with the XE, even in our range-topping variant. No fancy active suspension, four driving modes and a front-engine, rear-drive format. Much of the masala is on the inside.

The inside

The interior of the XE is very impressive, even compared to some more expensive cars we’ve seen lately. The design decisions all add to a very premium feel. The deep — almost chocolate — tan perforated leather seats look very posh, all the surfaces apart from the top of the driver’s binnacle are soft to the touch and even the piano black treatment — a cherised pet peeve for this author — looks rich.

Controls are logical and understated, never overwhelming the driver. The modest touchscreen is flanked by eight quick access buttons, and steering controls are also well designed, with ridges and reliefs to find them by touch. Of course, there’s the essential Jaguar drama with the gear selector dial rising out of the centre console once the car is fired up. I find the jog dial method of selecting drive mode quite quick and efficient, and less prone to overshooting, but this is a personal preference.

The entire dashboard is laid out in a wide arc, which surrounds the passengers and gives a sense of space. The texture used on the wall of this arc gives the impression of a giant metal speaker grille. It looks quite nice. You do tend to sit very low in the XE. I found myself jacking the power-adjustable seat up quite high to have a comfortable view of the road ahead. This was true even of my 6'4" passenger, who preferred being a mere inch away from the roof than stare at the rear of the bulging bonnet.

After the sun sets, you’re treated to some very elegant and sporty mood lighting. Just the right touches illuminating the armrests make for a very nice effect. This is in contrast to some recent vehicles we’ve driven that use such bright ambient lighting as to distract from the road at night. Even Jaguar’s own XJ is more overt in it’s use of this accoutrement. I like the package. It feels expensive.

Space is at a premium in the XE. Rear legroom is acceptable, but not great. The seats are well-bolstered and comfortable, and you generally feel ensconed in the car. The rear-wheel drive means there’s a transmission tunnel down the middle, effectively making the middle of the rear bench for the person who lost the bet. The boot is also okay, but at 455 litres, not comparable to the competition. It’s also oddly-shaped, with the wheel wells and boot hinges intruding into the cargo area.

One of the definite missed opportunities in the XE — particularly considering it’s such a recent model — is the infotainment system. There’s no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto support, and the iPod connectivity simply refused to work, hanging in some limbo state until the car was turned off and rested for a while. A quick Google search threw up many such complaints on various car fora. This will also effectively disable your capability to stream music via Bluetooth. The only option is to never use a cable to connect your iPhone to the car. This should be rectifiable via a software update, but our tester didn’t appear to have it installed. Bluetooth works fine otherwise, and the microphone quality is good enough to use Siri — a trial by fire, if there ever was one.

There is, however, onboard navigation, supplied on an SD card that plugs into a slot within the armrest storage. The navigation experience, however, is typical of systems of old — it’s slow, dragging is delayed to the point of being useless, and input of addresses is a chore. I relied on Google Maps on my phone, cradled in one of the two cup holders in the center console. Speaking of, storage areas are adequate, but the door bins won’t take full-sized water bottles. We had to make do with little hipster juice bottles on their sides.

The drive

The Jaguar XE has the feel of a burly motor, while maintaining a modest two-litre capacity. This does not come without compromise, however. The ‘Portfolio’ trim variant that we drove comes with a 237HP version of this motor (the lower variants get 197hp), and it takes some getting used to.

On the go, there’s very little happening below 2500 rpm. I must make a kitten reference here; I apologise. This sedate environment very quickly becomes raucous once you cross this rev threshold. The turbo boost seems to come in all at once and you get a proper shove backwards into your seat. The smooth 8-speed ZF — a personal favourite — tries its best to keep things smooth, but driving in daily traffic takes some adjustment. You can’t just point and squirt with the XE. You need to spool up, or leave the transmission/driving mode in Sport to keep revs high. This can be tedious.

The car is certainly capable of parliamentary behaviour, but it seems to require a level of engagement that’s more sports car than luxury sedan

The result of this nature of motor is that one never feels like one can just sit back and relax. The car is certainly capable of parliamentary behaviour, but it seems to require a level of engagement that’s more sports car than luxury sedan. You may or may not like this characteristic. Putting the car into ‘Dynamic’ mode further sharpens throttle and steering response, and makes the car feel more responsive, keeping revs up where there’s instant shove.

For my style of driving, I found the paddle shifters to be very useful — snatching a low ratio for a quick maneouver before settling into a higher gear. The Normal or Eco modes will keep revs low and Dynamic was overkill most times. The paddles feel good, but I’d have preferred metal instead of plastic. Having more sense than skill, I can’t tell you what the car is like with the nannies off and going sideways. The XE does have torque vectoring though, perhaps explaining it’s urgency in changing direction. The electronically-assisted steering does weigh up when required, and felt natural. There was some feedback, but it errs on the side of luxury.

The suspension setup is where the XE really shines. In our days of testing, we found our way to tiny village roads that didn’t quite exist, and the Jag took it all in without complaint. I’m still surprised that I didn’t scrape the underbody in all the driving I did over poor surfaces. Comfort is excellent, despite the suspension being firmly damped. This means that the car remains level and settled under all conditions. It can feel harsh under some conditions — usually sharp bumps and joints, but the agile feel of this two tonne sedan is well worth it. Definitely one of the better purely mechanical suspensions we’ve driven.

Should you buy it?

The Jaguar XE will appeal to a very specific sort of buyer — one that’s likely harder to find, judging from the precious few we’ve seen on the roads. It has a great deal of snob value, is certainly exclusive and is one of the most powerful sedans in the segment, outdone only by the BMW 3-series M Sport package. And it’s still the quickest.

It’s also got it’s quirks — the ‘character’ that seems so hard to define. But in most other ways, it’s very solidly in the ballpark of the competition. Similar prices, similar specs, but somehow feeling a bit more special. It’s the sort of vehicle I’d buy and often complain disingenuously about it’s quirks, secretly enjoying the incredulity on the faces of my audience. At ₹42.47 lac ex-showroom (as tested), the Jaguar XE has a good deal of equipment, performance and luxury to be a solid contender.