This past Thursday our local dealer put on a little event showcasing the new F-pace and XE! Here is some footage from our test drive of the XE! What a car!

 

Which engine?

 

3.0L 340hp

 

I like that, no faffing about - straight into 'S' and whoosh!

 

Did they let you know when their first order of XE's would arrive at the showroom for sale?
Lawrence

 

A few months ago a red, really red Mexican-specification XE was brought to dealers across Canada and then the US before actually going to Mexico. I drove this car at the dealership here and was, to be honest, unimpressed with it in general. The interior felt "low rent"' although the performance was good - but getting into my X-Type afterwards was not a disappointment in any way.
Ah...but this past week the first batch of saleable XE cars were in the showroom. One was a high-level full leather interior car in black with black leather and it was GORGEOUS! The interior was transformed by the monochrome black ( instead of the garish red/black part leather of the test car). If I were in the market for yet another Jag I would have bought it on the spot (340 hp supercharged V6) but my garage is full and I want to stay married.
At the same time there was another XE in the showroom, this one in white with the black ever-brake-dust-encoated wheels that some seem to like. Uh...hmmm....reaction: meh...in fact: ugh. Ordinary looking in every way.
Colour makes a HUGE difference to the impact these cars have. The black car with silver wheels was elegant, powerful-looking and very much a Jaguar. The red one and the white one looked utterly uninteresting and vaguely generic. And yes, I do recognize that taste is in the eyes of the beholder but I think a very careful selection of colour, wheels and interior trim can make all the difference with this model.

 

I know exactly what you mean, without the full leather trimmed interior package, the interior is a little bit disappointing, but once so equipped, it really is a pleasure to sit in and admire.

Ditto on the red/black interior color schemes, I really don't feel the red interior appointments do much for this car, but its certainly a sporty looking offering...

Exterior color is certainly a personal matter, but I think Red and White both look good on the XE, but I would certainly prefer a (metallic) green, or a purple like that on the XF or XJ...

Please feel free to join our page Gregory, I think with your long line-up of Jag's in the garage you would make a great contribution to our club

www.jaguardrivers.ca

 

Thanks for this. I have owned 31 Jaguars, many V12 XJ cars, XJS, XJ40, X300, X350, X-Types. Mk 2, and XK (not a boast but a confession of an obsession - this is the disease for which you want no cure...the more you know about Jaguars and how they are built, the more you appreciate them, the more you appreciate them, the more of them you want to experience - and they are all different). So I have a good understanding of what "Jaguarness" is, I think. The XE certainly has all the DNA of a Jaguar in both performance and design but my impression is that colour and trim make more of a difference on this model than on any other Jaguar offering. An XE in a dark colour with silver wheels, full leather, ...now that would suit me fine.
My XK currently satisfies the desire for attention from the RCMP, and its looks are simply classic.

 

Our XE test drive video now in HD video quality available here: