My XE had its second-year service this week, (received an eye-watering bill) and I had a 2020 model for a loaner, giving me the first opportunity to check one out. Things being a tad slow right now, with most of the world closed, I thought I'd take the time to share my impressions.

I should stress that these are just "off the cuff" first impressions over a couple of days and maybe 30km.

Overall assembly quality seemed better. The interior quality is definitely superior, though I didn't care too much for the centre stack - some controls were easier to use, some more fiddly. Maybe just not used to it. I didn't much like the digital dash either, with its rather weird (in my opinion) representation of a 1950's analogue dial. Why not just go fully digital?

I felt the gear shift to be a big improvement over my increasingly annoying hockey puck, and I preferred the tap-left feature to use Sport mode, rather than the paddles on mine. The gear shifting seems more intuitive, nearer to a manual box.

I played around with the Clearsight rear mirror. The camera picture is much brighter, with a wider angle of vision, but took maybe half a second to come into focus every time I checked it. Perhaps because I wear glasses?
.
Getting back into my 35T, it seemed a little lacking in interior flair. Then I goosed the V6. Lovely sounds and performance - not trading for a four!

At its 2 year anniversary, the XE has been flawless. Nothing broken. No electrical gizmos have quit and it is pretty rattle-free. Apart from a couple of initial assembly niggles, it has surprised me, somewhat, as being a great car. I expected handling, performance and style, but not reliability from a Jaguar! So, well pleased.

 

What kind of ballpark figure is a 2nd year service?

 

Just over 585 sterling. But I did get a wash and valet and a very nice expresso!!

 

Do you know what they did exactly for that sum of money?

 

Changed the oil, replaced oil and cabin filters, downloaded something to update some pollution device. Used or added something to reduce carbon build-up, due to the direct injection. The tech probably had a couple of cigarettes, kicked the tires, and scratched his **** - otherwise known as “carrying out systems checks”.



On a 3 page invoice nothing was really outrageous, the regular price for oil, list price for the filters and 2.5 hours for labour, tax, environmental waste disposal. It all adds up.

The first year service was paid by JLR

Cheers

 

Looks like I got a bargain when I took out a 2 year service plan then ! This was £600, but includes Adblue topups. I've already had the first service, which was actually the first service for the car, being it was just under 2 years old, and servicing is every 2 years or 21k miles.

 

Having gone from the 2015 model to the 2020, comments I would make are:

Dash - you can play around with one dial or two, full nav, info screen/media screen etc, ultimately if you have a HUD the dials are redundant anyway. I quite like the digital dash, but we have left it in standard 2 dial configuration with media info between;
Centre stack - I far prefer it actually, I really think it is a massive improvement over the fiddly little buttons in the previous. It takes a bit to get used to the different functions though;
Shifter - agreed it is better, the puck was bigger ion the first XF and XK, the smaller one used in the XE and new XF is not as easy to use. That said I think the paddles in the previous are better, with faster responses. That is probably the biggest let down in the new car IMO;
Clearsight - we optioned it but I dont use it unless someone is sitting in the middle of the back, or I cant see out the back window. Remember it is like looking at a screen a foot away, rather than at a reflection 10 feet plus away. So it doesnt work very well with those of use who wear glasses;
Driving - I think the P300 is as good to drive as the 340hp 6 (not wanting to offend, that is my genuine opinion). It is very linear in acceleration and keeps piling it on way past legal speeds. The twin turbo is excellent. With sound, you get a nice, slightly artificial tone in dynamic. I actually like its deep throbbiness, with the turbo whistle, The throb reminds me of my 4.2 V8 XF. I know it is trendy to hate on enhanced noise, but I'd rather have an enhanced good note than a **** real one. Oddly enough even though the front end is lighter it "feels" heavier going into roundabouts, though the harder it is pushed the better it steers. We got the adaptive suspension, really if I had my time over I wouldnt have bothered as it makes very little difference and I slightly preferred the firmer ride in our previous XE;
Overall I'm really happy with the car, and more importantly my wife (it is her daily) loves it. I pretty much have to beg to take it, and even though my daily is a 450hp F Type I love driving the XE. If I had my way though I would put some forged wheels on it as I think it would make a great driving car even better.

 

I guess it's just US warranty to have 5 years of free standard service? It was one of the selling features for me, after looking at costs for BMW and M-B service. And my dealer throws in a free wash and says to come back any time for another wash.
Right now they are offering to pick up and return your car for service, if you don't want to go in. Also if you want to test drive something, they will bring it to your house.

 

The free service was a selling point for me as well. Especially leasing the car where I don't want to spend a penny more maintaining it than I need to. I wouldn't let my local JLR dealership wash my car if I can help it. They're brutes who don't care much if it gets a nick.