Jaguar XE full price & specs revealed – costs from £26,995 to £44,870

Jaguar XE full price & specs revealed – costs from £26,995 to £44,870

The new Jaguar XE had a glitzy London launch last month, but all we really got was the XE S; the lesser models were kept under wraps until the Paris Motor Show debut. But now that’s upon us we get full UK specs and prices for a car that will be the make or break of Jaguar, certainly in terms of becoming a real challenger to the German triumvirate and moving from niche maker to proper global player in the Premium market.

And Jaguar are obviously feeling pretty bullish about the XE, because instead of offering it at a discount to their main challenger – the BMW 3-Series – they’ve actually come in at a bit of a premium. Perhaps that’s explained by spec differences, but it’s a bold statement of confidence nevertheless.

The entry-level model is the XE 2.0d with the 197bhp petrol at £26,995 which is around £400 more than the BMW 320i, and on the diesel side of things the XE kicks off with the 2.0d SE with 161bhp at £29,775 – around £1,000 more than the BMW.

At this stage there’s nothing to compare with BMW’s more powerful diesels – like the 330d – as the XE has a choice of just two diesels at launch, the 2.0d 163PS and 2.0d 180PS, although the petrol side fares a bit better with a pair of 2.0 litre Ingenium engines with either 200PS or 240PS plus the 3.0 litre V6 supercharged in the range-topping XE S we saw at the London launch.

Trim levels for the XE are SE, Prestige, Portfolio, R-Sport and S, with the SE coming with cloth seats, gloss black door finishers, SatBan, Cruise, 17″ alloys, DAB and multi-function steering wheel, with the Prestige trim adding heated leather seats, contrast stitching, ambient lighting and brushed aluminium finishers.

The Portfolio models – recently the ‘luxury’ Jaguar trim – gets most of the toys in the price (from £0000) with Windsor Leather, contrast stitching, two-colour instrument binnacle, embossed aluminium trim, Meridian Sound, electric front seats, Bi-xenons, LED running lights and 18″ alloy wheels (unless you buy the 163PS model).

The sport side of the XE is taken car of by the R-Sport and S trims (S only available with the 3.0 litre Supercharged engines).

The R-Sport models get heated sports seats with perforated leather, etched aluminium finishers, sports steering wheel, R-Sport branding, rear spoiler, chrome side vents, sports suspension, BI-xenons with LED running lights, gloss black window surrounds and two-tone 18″ alloys (again, unless you opt for the 163PS model).

The range-topping Jaguar XE S with the 3.0 litre supercharged engine gets heated, perforated leather, Dark hex aluminium finishers, ‘S’ logos a body kit with bigger bumpers, side skirts and rear spoiler, red brake callipers, m19″ alloys, Meridian sound, Keyless and a power boot.

The new Jaguar XE full range (for now) will debut this week and start to arrive in Jaguar’s UK showrooms in 2015.

It looks promising.

By Cars UK