A machete has been taken to the number of variants offered on the Jaguar XE luxury sedan, with a range rationalisation to coincide with a major facelift arriving shortly in the Australian market.
Last year’s complicated, fifteen-strong XE lineup will be reduced to just two XE R-Dynamic grades for Australia, both packing a high-performance tune of Jaguar’s two-litre turbo four-cylinder engine. Producing 221kW/400Nm, the Ingenium four sees the rear-drive XE sprint from rest to 100km/h in 5.9 seconds.
That engine was already available in the range but it sat between lower tunes of the two-litre turbo petrol. A turbo diesel four-cylinder was also offered, along with a 280kW/480Nm supercharged V6 in ’S’ form, which has disappeared from the lineup.
A subtle facelift improves (in our view) the front and rear-end styling, with slimmer front and rear lighting providing a more elegant look. Considerable changes have been made to the cabin, which received criticism from this outlet and others for feeling a little half-baked. It now steps up with Jaguar-Land Rover’s impressive Touch Pro Duo infotainment system seen on the Range Rover Velar – sadly optional, but standard spec does include a new steering wheel and higher levels of appointment.
The 2019 Jaguar XE range kicks off with the $65,670 R-Dynamic SE trim (driveaway pricing not yet available). The SE sports a single touchscreen with DAB+ digital radio, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, leather seats with electric adjustment for the front pair, 18-inch wheels, and LED headlights and taillights. Low-speed AEB is standard on this spec, and the SE appears to lose the standard Meridian stereo that used to be range-wide. It’s now reserved for the upspec HSE.
It’s a $6,270 upcharge to the R-Dynamic HSE. The HSE picks up the aforementioned Touch Pro Duo twin touchscreen setup, plus additional adjustment for the front seats (18-way) with memory on the driver’s pew. The HSE’s steering column is power-adjustable, and you get the premium Meridian sound system, high speed AEB, adaptive cruise control, and blind spot monitoring.
Jaguar and Land Rover, which are sister brands, have offered enormous options lists in the past but the 2019 XE lineup has seen that customisation limited to five packs, which makes more sense, in our view.
The Premium Interior Pack adds ambient lighting, illuminated treadplates and bright silver pedals. The Convenience Pack adds an electric boot and steering column (on SE), plus “additional power sockets”. It’s not said whether these are 12-volt, household, or USB in variety.
A Technology Pack brings the Touch Pro Duo screens to the SE, and adds a head-up display, digital driver screen, wireless phone charging, a solar shield windscreen and a camera-driven rear view mirror.
Ticking the Dynamic Handling Pack box brings adjustable drive modes, adaptive dampers, beefier brakes with coloured calipers and a spoiler. Finally, the Cold Climate Pack warms the windscreen and steering wheel and adds washers to the LED headlights.
We’ll be driving the updated XE soon.
