April 16--Jaguar is showing off its all-new XE compact sedan with laps around a makeshift track at Vertiport Chicago this weekend.
The Art of Performance Tour is an experiential national promotion in which participants are stars in a digital short, then take the XE on the street and for three quick autocross laps. The tour is aimed at introducing the XE "to millennial consumers across the U.S."
We didn't see many millennials there on Friday beyond the marketing agency staffing the fun event.
The 2017 XE compact sedan shares a platform with the all-new 2017 F-Pace sport crossover, two firsts for the British automaker. The new models demonstrate rejuvenated health under parent company Tata Motors, India's largest automaker, which bought the flagging heritage brand from Ford in 2008.
While the two new models are late to the game in competing with Audi, BMW and other luxury makes with a richer portfolio of sedans and crossovers, the twin launches grow Jaguar's lineup from three models to five to bring in new, younger buyers.
The XE is the entry-level Jaguar competing against the Audi A3 and BMW 3-Series at a starting price of $34,900 for the base level 25t, which has a 2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder making 240 horsepower and 251 pound-feet of torque. That same engine comes in a diesel as well, which has been a dirty word lately thanks to the Volkswagen emissions scandal, but the XE diesel deserves a look for $36,400: It makes 180 horsepower but a whopping 318 pound-feet of torque with a highway fuel economy expected to tip 40 mpg, pending testing by the Environmental Protection Agency.
We tested the top-of-the-line 35t, a 3-liter supercharged V-6 engine generating 340 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque, same as in the XJ midsize sedan.
It starts at $41,700. It comes in rear-wheel drive and hits 60 mph in 5.1 seconds, according to Jaguar. The all-wheel-drive variant does it a click faster at 5.0 seconds. Jaguar used nearly all aluminum construction on the XE to lighten the load and increase performance, but it still has a curb weight in the 3,500-pound range, similar to the competitors.
All engines come with direct injection and variable valve timing and are paired to an 8-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters. Like most performance cars, the computer shifts faster and optimally better than most drivers, but the paddles are there to redline to your heart's content. There is no dummy control if you forget that you are in manual; some cars revert to automatic once the gear reaches its rev limiter. We heard the XE whir and pop on the track from people who neglected a shift.
