Jaguar XE 2.0d (180bhp) R-Sport 4d Owner Review

Beautiful and stylish were the reasons I bought it. The XEs competitors are all well established and well built but I find them boring in comparison. Sure the 3 series is a joy to drive and a lovely place to sit, but the interior is ugly and they externally don't turn heads. The C class has an extremely luxurious interior and is like driving your living room. Pretty decent looker too but dull to drive. Then the fantastically engineered A4, with its superb diesel engines. A great all rounder but it seems like everyone has one and I can't help looking at them and seeing a VW with makeup on. Of course this is subjective, but the XE is gorgeous to look at and doesn't just blend in like it's German competitors. It's a fantastic looking car, best in its class by far for me. British built too. It's great to drive if you like sporty cars too, flat round corners, fun and engaging. The R Sport isn't as luxurious as it's competitors but hardly slumming it. It's quiet and comfortable enough, which I personally don't mind the trade off for the way it drives. There's a great low driving position and it's great to sit in it's comfortable seats grasping the wheel. But all this comes with drawbacks. It's good looking inside, has fantastic leather seats front and back and a lovely leather dash with a swoop line that wraps around you. A comfortable steering wheel and all the mod cons you'd expect in a car of its class. Don't listen to nonsense about the lack of rear space, it's a very comfortable car to sit in as a passenger and if you want a more practical saloon then you shouldn't be looking at a car of its size anyway. But that's where the praise ends inside. The infotainment is slow and unresponsive. The central control panels are mid market in quality at best. The interior door panels are cheap and uncomfortable. So are many of the other interior plastics. It's like they designed the seats and the dash then gave up with the rest. I bought a manual, something which I now regret. Gear changes are uninspiring, the gear stick is uncomfortable and boring. The 180d is a decent performing engine. It strikes the right balance between power and economy. I have to say the fuel economy is superb. Drive it carefully and you'll get nearly 70mpg on long journeys. Sometimes more. Even if you don't drive it carefully you'll clear 50 with ease in sport mode on journeys of half an hour plus. However it's far less refined than it's competitors. It clatters and rattles on start ups. It takes a good hour to smooth down. Perfectly acceptable when it does but it's a noisy shaky unit for the most part. I know it's competitors are using well proven designs and this engine was only first developed a few years ago but this is a company that builds luxury saloons and Range Rovers. You'd get better refinement out of any Volkswagen group TDI built within that last 20 years. I know because I regularly drive a 2003 TDI golf that is far more refined engine wise. Then you have the reliability. Between 50000 and 80000 miles I've had to replace the battery at nearly 400 quid and burned through the clutch. Even if the previous owner was a clutch rider, it's simply unacceptable to be replacing a clutch in a luxury saloon after only 80000 miles. The repair bills, as you would expect being Jaguar, are shocking. I've had a few issues with startups too. Sometimes it splutters to a start, something you just shouldn't have a problem with in a well maintained modern common rail diesel. Don't believe them that it needs servicing so little either. If you wait for the service indicator, it becomes so rough you just have to book it in. I service every 10000 miles regardless, don't wait for it to tell you. This car was clearly designed to put a smile on the drivers face and for it's gorgeous looks. I love the swooping roofline, the large bulging bonnet, the distinctive grill and gorgeous headlights. It's a great sporty drive and comfortable to sit in. Other than the lashings of leather, it's nothing like a traditional Jag. It's obviously meant to be more sports saloon that luxury cruiser and I knew that when I bought it. If you want abolute luxury, go for the C Class. I'd go for the A4 for a fantastic engine and the 3 series for a balance between sport , comfort and tech. But, despite the XEs many, sometimes unacceptable issues, it just does something to you. It's the most interesting car in its class. One half of me says to never buy a Jag again and just grab a Mercedes instead. But now I'm looking at something new, something just keeps drawing me back to Jags after this experience and I can't put my finger on it. It's certainly not the repair bills and cheap plastics, but am I being too forgiving by still being lured by this cars many plus points? The new XE is out now and it looks like many of the issues have now been sorted as the car has evolved. I really am torn between taking my wallet and running a mile or going back for more of the good stuff, trusting that this first iteration of the XE was just teething problems. It's main competitors have had decades to evolve after all and they just don't make you feel as excited as this machine. Beautiful, comfortable, classy, sporty and very economical with fuel. But let down by cheap plastics, a noisy juddery engine, questionable reliability and expensive repair bills.