Road and Track: First Drive: 2017 Jaguar XE

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'The 3 Series we've missed is back, but it has a British accent and a supercharged six.' Most groups of vehicles are lucky enough to contain one car that's so far ahead of every other that it defines the class. The Germans are perhaps better than we are at calling out the obvious—what we call "small hatchbacks," they more simply call the Golfklasse, or "Golf Class," named after the Volkswagen Golf. We don't have a name for the class of cars that the BMW 3-Series invented. "Compact, premium, predominantly rear-drive sedans with luxurious appointments and sporting pretense" doesn't exactly flow off the tongue. But we know this group of cars well. It contains the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series, Cadillac ATS, Infiniti Q60, Lexus IS, and Mercedes C-Class. And now, the Jaguar XE. It'll be about a year before this sedan makes its way onto our roads, which is convenient. It gives you plenty of time to finish out the lease on your current car and start saving money for a down payment on an XE. It's been a long time since a car so unceremoniously tromped the competition in driving dynamics the way the 3 Series used to do, but the Jaguar XE does just that. The reigning driver's-car champs—Cadillac ATS and Lexus IS 350 F Sport—are in big trouble when the Jaguar arrives. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. The Jaguar XE is an all-new, aluminum-chassis sedan. The 3.0-liter supercharged V6 engine, the only one available at launch, carries over from the brand's other cars, but the rest of the five-seater is new. It is, in every external measure, within two inches of the current 3 Series. Importantly, it's 1.5 inches wider and 0.6 inch lower, and as a result, it looks far more sporting on the road. The aluminum construction doesn't seem to actually save any weight. Jaguar claims a base curb weight of 3671 pounds in Euro trim, which means we can likely expect the rear-drive sedan to weigh 3750 pounds by the time it arrives here. That's a good 150 pounds more than the steel 3 Series. Though the XE is dimensionally similar outside, it feels a half-size smaller inside, especially in the back seat. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, since the 3 Series has gotten rather large. The XE's front seats are wonderfully comfortable; the rears are somewhat narrow, thanks to substantial bolstering that pushes you toward the center. Legroom is at a slight premium back there, and there's enough headroom only for about a six-footer. The trunk is slightly smaller than a 3 Series's, but to complain about any of these things is to forget that this is the compact luxury class. The Jag is the right size, inside and out. The rear-drive XE will go on sale in the spring of 2016 with that supercharged 340-hp V6 mated to a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission. Shortly thereafter, a diesel option will be added—a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with 180 hp. By the end of the year, we should also see a 2.0-liter turbo gas four based on the same new "Ingenium" design as the diesel. All engines will be available with all-wheel drive as an option—and Jaguar promises that a manual transmission will be available on the 2.0-liter gas rear-drive model. More on that later. We drove a prototype XE with both the diesel and the V6. And while this new, in-house diesel is very good, we'll concentrate on the model with six spark plugs. Our test car was fitted with adaptive dampers and 19-inch wheels wearing Dunlop Sport Maxx RT tires developed specially for the XE. The XE uses double-wishbone front suspension and JLR's "Integral Link" rear suspension, which is essentially a multilink setup that decouples vertical and longitudinal forces. According to Jaguar, this allows the use of softer bushings for the vertical plane (for a smoother ride) and harder bushings elsewhere for better wheel control—and therefore, handling. Whatever Jaguar's done, it works like a charm. The XE continues Jaguar's tradition of impeccable ride quality combined with excellent body control in corners. The XE bombs down lumpy, twisty back roads at felony speeds without ever losing its composure or molesting its bump stops. Here's the best part: It's not just capable, it's interactive and fun, too. Jaguar's first use of electric power-steering assist (EPAS) is a slam-dunk. The company claims that it remained with hydraulic steering until it decided that EPAS technology, which it's been working on since 2008, actually provides "better on-center feel and linearity" than hydraulic steering. Bullshit. Not compared with Jaguar's own hydraulic steering, perhaps, but that was an outlier. Compared with most every other EPAS setup on the road, the XE's steering is natural and talkative and, therefore, a huge relief. It might not be quite as good as the old hydro setup, but I'll say one thing: If electric power steering had started out this good, you wouldn't have heard us complain about it, ad nauseam, for the past few years. Kudos to Jag for not implementing EPAS until it was good enough. And bravo to the engineers for making a modern car that's so enjoyable to drive. The ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic is, as always, absolutely transparent in its operation, giving you exactly the gear you want, when you want it, without you ever feeling a shift. The supercharged six is far more refined in this application than elsewhere, and its immediate power delivery is a welcome reminder of how laggy most turbo engines are. Is the XE perfect? Of course not—there is no such thing. First, there's the caveat of Jaguar's legendary reliability history. We experienced no problems with the XE, and the build quality of our preproduction prototype test cars was excellent, though both cars had rattles coming from their driver's-side door seal and a whistle from air passing over the passenger mirror. These are minor issues—the fit and finish was flawless; let's hope this remains true of the production cars. Second, JLR's new touchscreen navigation and infotainment system is far more colorful and somewhat quicker than the outgoing disaster, but it's still difficult to use and painfully slow. It lacks radio presets, requires far too many cumbersome presses to do simple tasks, and the navigation-map zoom is awfully slow. And third: Jaguar USA's product planners need to shift gears, quickly, before our car goes into production. At the moment, the manual transmission is scheduled to appear only on base (rear-drive, four-cylinder) models. It appears JLR still thinks it's 1992, where college professors buy their Toyota Tercels with manuals to save a couple bucks on purchase and fuel. If any models should carry a stick, it's the supercharged V6 and the turbodiesel. Manuals are bought only by enthusiasts these days—not collegiate cheapos. Furthermore, the V6 manual powertrain has already been federalized (it's in the 2016 F-type, which we drove but can't tell you about yet), and it is the proper halo car to suck enthusiasts into Jaguar showrooms. For what purpose, that halo? Whether they buy a manual or sell their soul and grab an automatic, once they drive an XE, it's game over for anything else in the class. You've been warned—start saving now.

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