1/29/20 UPDATE: This review has been updated with test results for a P300 R-Dynamic S AWD model.
Small sedans have never been Jaguar’s thing. Sure, sedans—saloons, as the British call them—have buttered the bread in Coventry for most of Jaguar’s 85-year history. But the only other Jaguar four-door built in size Small was the X-type (2001-2009), which we chiefly remember for its matronly styling and new-Ford smell. Jaguar’s current XE compact luxury sedan, however, has done well to largely vanquish the X-type’s wart from our memory, and its revisions for 2020 bring it closer in line with the refinements found throughout the rest of Jaguar’s lineup.
For the new model year, the XE comes only in newly christened P250 and P300 guises with gasoline four-cylinder engines. (The previous V-6 models that debuted with the car for 2017 are dead.) Along with our initial time behind the wheel in southern France, we’ve also driven and tested an all-wheel-drive P300 R-Dynamic S model around our home base in Michigan. While we can characterize some of the latest XE’s numerous changes as subtle, others, particularly in the interior, are comprehensive and effective. More importantly, it finally feels like the sports sedan that Jaguar needs.
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Arguably, the most subtle changes were made to the car’s skin. Since its debut, the XE has always been a smaller clone of Jaguar’s mid-size XF, and the 2020 updates bring it even closer to its bigger brother. Squintier LED headlamps with “J blade” running lights impart a bit more character to the XE’s snout, while wider grilles with some internal curvature evoke Jaguar’s I-Pace EV. All versions feature updated rear bumpers with separated chrome exhaust tips, while the more aggressively styled R-Dynamic models add black mesh trim front and rear. The R-Dynamic also brings black exterior trim in place of chrome, a rear lip spoiler, and sportier wheels up to 21 inches in diameter.
Classier Confines
However prolific Jaguar may try to become, no one will accept a Jaguar that doesn’t exhibit one of its most longstanding core competencies: luxury. That’s where the initial XE fell short. The company deserves credit for quickly mobilizing in response, making upgrades each year to phase in improved cabin materials, a new screen-based gauge cluster, and an improved infotainment system, among other tweaks. Taking tech to the next level, the 2020 XE adopts the steering wheel and Jaguar Land Rover’s InControl Touch Pro Duo interface from the I-Pace, both of which serve to reduce what few physical buttons the XE had left. Even the rotary knobs for the climate system have multiple functions and incorporate tiny screens.
As with any new screen-based interface, the menu paths and hidden functions take some time to learn and operate smoothly, but nothing stands out as grossly ergonomically weird. Though the system remains a bit slower to boot up than the setups you’ll find in an Audi, BMW, or Mercedes. Also among the XE’s new-for-2020 componentry is a conventional pistol-style shift lever that both replaces the previous model’s quirky rotary shifter and facilitates manual gear selection—push forward for downshifts, pull back for upshifts, as God intended. A digital rearview mirror is newly optional, as is an inductive charging pad for devices. Jaguar’s latest head-up display is useful and informative, specifically its display of ever-changing speed limits.
Beyond the XE’s new glass screens and tech features are furnishings that Jaguar characterizes as all new. While the upper dash and door panels appear similar to before, the 2020 model does incorporate plenty of soft-touch materials while integrating added functionality, mostly below elbow level. The newly designed door panels fit one-liter water bottles, for example, and the center tunnel and rear door panels are better finished and provide more cover for discreet ambient lighting. R-Dynamic models add steering-wheel-mounted shift paddles and contrast stitching, plus updated sport seats that, as with the similarly new standard thrones, are much more comfortable than before.
Eager Handling Remains
While the XE retains its rather tight rear-seat quarters, the cabin upgrades make it easier to focus on its driving dynamics, which remain quite good. It steers with laser precision, and the body stays wonderfully flat in corners. The newly optional $1315 Dynamic Handling package on our R-Dynamic test car brings adaptive dampers and upgraded brake hardware, plus a configurable setting among the standard drive-mode selections (Comfort, Eco, Rain/Ice/Snow, and Dynamic) that allows for the fine-tuning of the steering, engine, and transmission responsiveness, though the breadth of actual adjustment isn’t very large. In no mode do the dampers destroy the ride or allow the car to flop over in corners; nor does the steering liven or dilute when adjusting the settings one way or another.
Our 3964-pound test car rode on optional 20-inch wheels and, fortunately, did not suffer any tire-related issues from traversing Michigan’s torturously pockmarked pavement, unlike our slightly heavier long-term 2017 XE V-6 that also was equipped with 20s and all-wheel drive. With its grippy Pirelli P Zero summer tires, sized 235/35R-20 in front and 265/30R-20 in back, the new XE circled the skidpad with 0.95 g’s of grip and recorded a 152-foot stop from 70 mph—solid figures for its class and comparable to our long-termer’s results when new. Interestingly, our P300 test car’s 52.1/47.9-percent front-to-rear weight distribution actually placed a smidge more weight over its front tires than did the previous all-wheel-drive V-6 model.
Four Is the New Six
Sadly, the uninspired sound of a four-banger is all you’re going to get in the 2020 XE, as the old and occasionally raucous 340- or 380-hp supercharged V-6 is gone. Our pick of the new lineup is the 296-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four found in the P300 model, which now represents the XE’s most powerful setup. At $47,290 to start, the P300 comes standard with all-wheel drive that primarily drives the rear axle until detected slippage prompts the front axle to step in.
Also gone is the 180-hp turbocharged inline-four diesel model, leaving the P250’s 247-hp version of the gasoline four as the more miserly choice. That engine comes standard with rear-wheel drive and a lower starting price of $40,895, with all-wheel drive available for $2000. Both engines and their attendant ZF eight-speed automatic transmission are nicely matched to this Jaguar’s size and weight, even though the boosted four-cylinder exhibits a rather lumpy power delivery that, regardless of the selected drive mode, saps some of the enthusiasm from the XE’s driving behavior. Given our well-optioned P300 test car’s $62,825 as-tested price, we’d like a little more substance from its performance.
At the test track, the all-wheel-drive P300 R-Dynamic model ran from zero to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds and covered the quarter-mile in 14.2 seconds at 99 mph, with its test driver noting that the quickest times were recorded when manually upshifting the transmission at 6000 rpm, or 500 revs before redline. Both of those measurements are nearly a second slower than the previous all-wheel-drive car with the 340-hp V-6, although they are fairly competitive with most of the XE’s four-cylinder peers that we rounded up for our latest comparison test of the segment. Just don’t try to race an Alfa Romeo Giulia or a BMW 330i, because both will show their taillights to the Jaguar.
Our heavy-footed driving styles should make it easy for most buyers to better our test car’s 20-mpg average fuel economy, which is a significant 5 mpg less than its EPA combined estimate. Yet, the XE P300 only managed 27 mpg on our 75-mph highway test, or 3 mpg less than its federal rating. For reference, we’ve recorded highway numbers in excess of 30 mpg for comparable all-wheel-drive versions of both the BMW 3-series and Mercedes-Benz C-class, with a 2019 BMW 330i xDrive posting an impressive 38 mpg in our testing.
Keeping the best parts of a car while fixing the bits that aren’t up to snuff is what mid-cycle updates are for. With its nicely freshened interior, the XE now feels better suited to fulfill its luxury sports-sedan mission, although it lacks an appropriately powerful upgrade engine that nearly all of its peers offer. Jaguar definitely still has work to do before drivers hold the XE in the same regard as the class stalwarts, namely those from Germany, but the XE’s latest revisions are meaningful and make Jaguar’s small sedan far more worthy of consideration.
Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com
