Jaguar XE Review - UK Drive EXCLUSIVE

"carwitter" (carwitter) 05/30/2015 at 13:07 • Filed to: jaguar, jaguar xe, review, uk, first drive, exclusive

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But now for the real test.

What does it ride like?

Well, all the other reviews to date have only driven this in Spain, on pristine toll roads and around a race track…yes really…a race track?!

Taking it down some heavily rutted, pitted and pot holed B roads the XE doesn’t disappoint.

Even with our XE’s ‘Sport Suspension’ everything beneath you is pretty much ironed out, you get a dull thud over broken sections of road and when the going gets a little tougher you can feel the jolts slightly in the cabin, it’s not at all crashy but you can tell this is a sportier car than your run of the mill saloon.

Once on some dual carriageways the ride becomes effortlessly smooth.

Throw the XE a little bit quickly at some corners, and you start to notice just how well this chassis is set up.

Borrowing the front double wishbone suspension from the F-Type it’s no wonder it’s good.

Turn in is spot on. You can really place the XE with pin sharp accuracy. Although we do have to say the electric steering gives you just a smidgen of feedback…but that’s a given these days anyway.

There is barely any body roll, and even under swift changes in direction everything stays well controlled.

Weight balance - believe it or not - is 50:50. Jaguar could have made the XE even lighter, but seeing as it had already hit that magic 99g/km of CO2 (in the entry level manual diesel) there was no need.

For example the rear boot floors and lid are made of steel to help achieve that balance.

Lift up the boot carpet and instead of a spare wheel you find the battery sat as low down as possible, this is race car kind of stuff right here!

Full review can be found here on carwitter.com

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Justin T. Westbrook > carwitter 05/30/2015 at 13:20

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I’m feeling pretty set on getting a CPO or Used one of these once I’m out of school in two years (depending on work, of course, but I’m confident.) This blue would be especially nice. But we’ll see, there may be an Alfa in US stores by then..

AM > carwitter 05/30/2015 at 14:55

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I might be the only one but I really don’t like the front fascia of this car. Same can be said for the upcoming XF: