2023 Jaguar XE

The boot measures at 410L.

The 2023 Jaguar XE has a five-star ANCAP safety rating, based on testing conducted by EuroNCAP in 2015.

It scored 92 per cent for adult occupant protection, 82 per cent for child occupant protection, 81 per cent for pedestrian protection, and 82 per cent for safety assist.

The 2023 Jaguar XE 300 Sport comes standard with the following safety equipment:

• Front, front-side and curtain airbags
• Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with low-speed manoeuvre assist, and vehicle and pedestrian detection
• Blind-spot assist
• Lane-keep assist
• Lane-departure warning
• Rear cross-traffic alert
• Adaptive cruise control
• Traffic sign recognition
• Adaptive speed limiter
• Driver attention monitoring
• Reversing camera
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Tyre pressure monitoring

Official fuel consumption is 6.7L/100km on the combined cycle, but we saw around 10L/100km in a week skewed towards city driving. 

Power in the XE comes from a four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine making 221kW of power and 400Nm of torque. It’s dubbed P300, because 221kW is 300hp – naturally. 

Power is put to the rear wheels through an eight-speed ZF automatic transmission.

The XE has always had an ace up its sleeve. Jaguar spared no expense developing its chassis, from its aluminium-intensive architecture to the complex rear suspension. 

Nothing has changed in the facelift. The Jaguar XE is still an absolute honey. 

Motoring writers love to wax lyrical about balanced rear-wheel drive sports sedans, the sort BMW used to make. A comparison with the Alfa Romeo Giulia is required to confirm, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the XE is the driver’s choice in the mid-sized sedan world. 

That’s not to say it’s a sports sedan first, commuter second. The ride is well-judged in town, isolating the driver from both big and small imperfections. Body control is tight, so it doesn’t wobble around over speed bumps, and roll is well contained. 

Give it a healthy dose of throttle coming out of a roundabout or tight corner and the rear will come gracefully into play, while the well-weighted steering makes correcting these little slides effortless. Or so we’ve heard. 

You can find more details on all the options and inclusions across the Jaguar XE variants on the official website, and within the official Jaguar XE specifications page.

The 2023 Jaguar XE 300 Sport is available in the following exterior paint colours:

• Fuji White
• Caldera Red
• Santorini Black metallic
• Firenze Red metallic
• Bluefire Blue metallic
• Eiger Grey metallic
• Portofino Blue metallic
• Hakuba Silver metallic
• Ostuni Pearl White metallic
• Carpathian Grey premium metallic (+$1300)
• Silicon Silver premium metallic (+$1300)

What is the warranty on a Jaguar XE?

The Jaguar XE offers a 5 year unlimited kilometre warranty. This is separate to the warranty on offer under Australian Consumer Law which can be greater for certain parts based on what is deemed as a reasonable period of time.

The Jaguar XE is a real grower, no doubt about it. 

It drives brilliantly, the updated interior is finally up to scratch, and the four-cylinder engine packs more than enough punch. 

There’s no getting around the tiny rear seats, nor the small boot. But for the most part, the XE finally has the tools to take on the BMW 3 Series. 

Would I buy one? Yes, although I’d make sure it was optioned with the fancy dual-screen Touch Pro Duo climate control system as well.

It’s hard to look past the 3 Series, Audi A4, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. Each is crushingly competent, and the Jaguar can’t match them for practicality. It also doesn’t come close on the technology front. 

But the XE makes you feel good in a way the Germans arguably can’t – and I’d have one over a non-QV Alfa Romeo Giulia in a heartbeat. 

Good job Jaguar. Now it’s time to apply some of that magic to the E-Pace.