Ah, Jaguar.  It’s always nice to have a new Jag to review.  All Jags, by definition, have that soul-stirring quality that tend to bring out my inner poet.  It is only too easy to wax lyrical about the Jaguar ethos and style.  One could go into rhapsodies about the design features inside and out, using colourful metaphors and imagery that goes on and on.  And at the end of it all, you would be left going “What the heck?” having learned next to nothing about the car itself.

So with the new Jaguar XE Petrol models that have just come out, I’m going to try to stick to the basic facts.  After all, even the basic facts are enough to conjure a picture of power, performance and opulence… there I go getting poetical again.

We shall have to start at the most important part of any Jaguar: the engines.  Firstly, you have the 2.0-litre i4 turbocharged petrol engine, available in the Pure, Prestige and R-Sport variants. This is capable of gunning the Jaguar XE Petrol from a standstill to the ton in 7.7 seconds with a top speed of 237 km/h. In this unit, the power curve peaks at 147 kW when the needle hits the 5500 mark, while the torque reaches its maximum at 280 Nm throughout the 1750–4000 rpm range.  This may be the smallest of the engines available inside the Jaguar XE Petrol but it’s still enough to get the pulse racing as you press down the accelerator pedal and let the big cat roar…. [getting poetical again –stop it!].

Like Goldilocks’s three bears, there are three types of engine that you can find inside the Jaguar XE Petrol. We’ve already dealt with the little one, so now comes the middle-sized Mama Bear engine.  It’s a hot mama, too: although it’s a 2.0-litre turbocharged unit, it’s been tuned so that it delivers 177 kW of power when you need it, with the torque also leaping to 340 Nm in the 1750–4000 range.  The top speed in this version of the Jaguar XE Petrol is 250 km/h (I suspect that it may have been speed limited) and it romps through the 0–100 km/h sprint in 6.8 scintillating seconds.  You’ll find this unit in the Prestige, Portfolio and R Sport variants.

And last of all, you have the biggest one of all: the 3-litre V6 unit found only inside the XE-S.  Press the pedal down and let the 8-speed automatic transmission gently roll through its shifts and you’ll hear the big cat roar as it speeds to 100 km/h in a mere 5.1 seconds.  The power in this unit tops out at 250 kW at 6500 rpm; torque, on the other hand, peaks at 450 Nm at 4500 rpm and doesn’t have the flat curve (can you describe a curve as flat???) of the smaller variants.  The top speed again is 250 km/h and the suspicion of limited speed is a lot stronger.  I guess the makers don’t want anybody getting airborne inside the Jaguar XE Petrol, after all.

In fact, one of the standard design features in all variants of the Jaguar XE Petrol looks like it will be excellent for preventing loss of control behind the wheel – rather necessary with such a powerful and dynamic beast.  Here, I’m not merely talking about the sophisticated dynamic stability control, the hill launch assist, the roll stability control or even the autonomous emergency braking (which the Jaguar XE Petrol has got). I am, however, talking about the All Surface Progress Control, which is a special sort of cruise control that is designed to cope with low traction conditions: ice, wet grass or snowy driveways.  This feature kicks in at lower speeds; at the other end of the range, the Jaguar XE Petrol is fitted with Torque Vectoring By Braking, a feature that comes into its own during tight cornering, selectively applying more brake force to the inside wheels and less to the outer ones.  With these features, the Jaguar XE Petrol will swoop like a swallow on the wing [no more poetry!].  Other driver convenience features that set the Jaguar XE Petrol apart include the mode selector (Eco, Standard, Dynamic and Winter being the different modes), the adaptive dynamics and the next-gen electric assisted power steering.  Another one that I particularly like is the next-gen braking system, which uses air deflectors fitted to the front suspension to keep the brakes cool plus some other technology that increases brake disk life and keeps the wheels looking their hottest.  You can trust a cat to keep its paws clean…

To describe the interior of the Jaguar XE Petrol would be to venture into the realms of poetry again.  It’s enough to say that it’s very, very comfortable and very, very luxurious.  A range of veneers and finishes have been made available for the interior, with the ash burl being my favourite.  On the technological side of things, the control panel of the Jaguar XE Petrol is like your favourite phone but on steroids with the 8-inch touch-sensitive display screen for controlling the sat-nav, the dual-zone climate control, audio and phone.  The graphical interface has been redesigned to make it look and feel like a phone or tablet, complete with scrolling and stretching… and a hands-free option for phone, navigation and audio. (Note – if you’re into wearing driving gloves when at the wheel, you’ll have to leave them off if you want to control the screen – but the interior of the Jaguar XE Petrol already has enough leather to keep anybody happy).  This screen also displays what gets picked up by the rear view camera and the front and rear parking sensors. Various active safety features linked to these sensors also flash all over the place: the autonomous emergency brake warning flashes up as a head-up display on the windscreen.  The lane departure warning makes the steering wheel vibrate if you start drifting, and the blind spot monitoring flashes up a warning in your wing mirrors. It’ll leave you thinking “What will they think of next?”

How do the different variants of Jaguar XE Petrol differ from each other? The Pure variant is the baby of the family, with the smallest engine and 17-inch wheels.  The Prestige takes the interior luxury level up a tad and puts the whole lot on 18-inch wheels.  The Portfolio is the ultimate in luxurious interiors and exteriors, with the 18-inch wheels leaving the whole package sitting pretty.  The R-Sport gets a bit sporty with the styling, with sports seats and a rear spoiler being just the start of it.  Last but very definitely not least, you have the XE S, which has it all and is just one very small step away from the ultra-sports luxury F-type cousin.  And the sound of that V6 engine will do away with any need for poetry… it is a poem in itself.

Current model series include:

• Jaguar XE Petrol Pure
• Jaguar XE Petrol Prestige
• Jaguar XE Petrol Portfolio
• Jaguar XE Petrol R-Sport
• Jaguar XE S

For any more information on the Jaguar XE Petrol, or for that matter any other new car, contact one of our friendly consultants on 1300 303 181. If you’d like some fleet discount pricing (yes even for private buyers!), we can submit vehicle quotes requests out to our national network of Jaguar dealers and come back with pricing within 24 hours. Private Fleet – car buying made easy!