WATCH: Car of the week – Jaguar XE Sport

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  • The perfect performer.

    Life in the junior executive fast lane has always been ultra competitive and is a world which has, until recently, been dominated, in an automotive sense, by the Germans with the BMW 3-Series, Mercedes C-Class and the Audi A4 the go-to marques for performance saloons.

    Now there is a new… well, newish, cool cat on the block in the shape of Jaguar’s very tasty XE Sport, a car which has gone head to-head with the Germans in the compact sports saloon sector and, arguably, beaten them at their own game in fine style.

    The XE is basically a smaller version of the Jaguar XF. They call it a junior executive saloon but it has got a very grown-up, aggressive attitude indeed. Design-wise the XE is a very stylish car which stands out from the crowd, perfectly proportioned and its face, with stylish LED headlight, J-Blade Daytime Running Lights, and black grille makes it look like a cat ready to pounce.

    Unlike Jaguars of yesteryear everything about this car is top class from the aesthetics to the drive experience and the build quality.

    The colour of our test car – Quarzite – added even more class to the persona of this car but it’s the way it performs which really makes you sit up and take notice.

    The S, which is top of the XE range, is powered by a 3.0-litre V6 the same engine you will find in the Jaguar F-Type sports car.

    It doesn’t sound quite as raucous as it does in the F-Type but nevertheless makes a pleasant noise when you open the throttle and is pleasingly responsive, pushing out 335bhp and 450nm, of torque to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox and there are paddle shifts. It has got a very respectable 0-100kmh time of a tad over five seconds and a top speed of 250kmh.

    The drive selector is, like all Jaguars, on a dial controller which rises from the centre console when you start the car. You can also select different drive modes on a button next to the dial. I stuck with dynamic mode which gives you the best performance.

    I wouldn’t describe the drive experience as particularly spectacular but because the cabin has a sporty feel and the power of the engine is reasonably impressive you certainly feel as if you are driving a machine a little faster and far more prestigious than the average saloon out there.

    Jaguar-XE-Sport-Side-View

    The interior is particularly pleasing with the dash wrapped in heavy stitched leather, rather than the standard soft touch materials (plastic), supremely comfortable leather seats with suede inlays, and our test car had really nice piano black trims including aluminium mesh and polished metals, although there are eight options available to make the cabin look and feel the way you want it.

    The digital instrument cluster is modern whilst retaining a classic look and although the steering wheel is a bit button heavy it’s not a problem. I really have no liking for a lot of buttons on the steering wheel because I find I keep hitting them accidentally which becomes more than a little annoying.

    There is a good size touchscreen which dominates the dash and the infotainment system and sat-nav is really very good and intuitive to operate. Importantly, in the UAE, the air conditioning system is excellent.

    The XE is packed with cuttingedge technology including Lane Keep Assist, a system that is being used increasingly by manufacturers these days. I can’t imagine why you would drift out of your lane unless you fall asleep or are busy breaking the law by texting while behind the wheel which happens all the time here, but if you do stray the car intervenes and although it doesn’t exactly steer itself, it sort of tugs at the steering wheel to bring you back into your lane.

    It also has the routine assists like blind spot alerts, parking cameras, and intelligent cruise control which keeps you a safe distance from the car in front.

    Interior

    The car is built using Jaguar’s aluminium architecture so it is quite light and with an excellent chassis and suspension system is incredible agile and handles very nicely, making it great fun to drive enthusiastically. This car has already won a number of awards and after driving it for a couple of days its easy to see why.

    It offers good performance, prestige and a striking appearance which means that it gets noticed.

    It is hard to fault but if I had to be picky and complain about something it would be that the cabin is very compact and a tad cramped in the back.

    If you are looking for something a little more spacious then the larger XF or huge XJ are probably the better option. Other than that this is one impressive car, and yet another success story in Jaguar’s revival.

    Jaguar-XE-Sport

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