LOS ANGELES: Jaguar recently launched The Art of Performance Tour that invites all visitors to test drive its new XE sport sedan – months in advance before it goes on sales next year, in both on road and on a slalom course.
Visitors on the tour will also appear in a personalized action-packed short film – The Audition, while behind the wheel of the new Jaguar XE.
Jaguar XE (left) and F-PACE
The British coachbuilder will also put on display its full model line-up, which includes the new F-PACE performance SUV and Jaguar C-X75 concept car from the new James Bond movie, Spectre.
The new Jaguar XE is to go on-sale in the United States in early 2016, priced from US$34,900 (RM155,000) and has a wheelbase of 2,835mm, while measuring 4,672mm-long, 2,075mm-wide and 1,416mm tall.
With its kerb weight starting from 1,475kg, the XE gets heavier as the outputs of the two diesel and two petrol turbocharged 2.0-litre engines increases from 160bhp to the range-topping supercharged 3.0-litre V6 engine with 335bhp.
The entry-level Jaguar XE 2.0 turbo-diesel gets mated to a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic gearbox (both from ZF) for its rear-wheel drive system and produces 160bhp at 4,000rpm and 380Nm of torque from 1,750 to 2,500rpm.
The XE Prestige gets 17bhp and 50Nm-more and adds an all-wheel drive system for the automatic transmission.
As for the XE R-Sport’s turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engines performance starts at 197bhp at 5,500rpm and 320Nm of torque from 1,750 to 4,000rpm, while the higher output XE Portfolio gets 40bhp and 20Nm more at 238bhp and 340Nm.
Both variants get paired to an eight-speed automatic gearbox for a rear-wheel drive set up.
Last but not least is the range-topping XE S with a supercharged 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine that gets mated to an eight-speed automatic gearbox and manages power to the rear wheels.
The V6 punches out 335bhp at 6,500rpm and 450Nm of torque at 4,500rpm, launching the XE to 100kph from standstill in 5.1 seconds before reaching a top speed of 250kph.
In terms of features, the XE gets 455 litres of boot space, while its chassis makes use of an Advanced Aluminium Architecture.
Inside, owners gets a 11-speaker 380W or an optional 17-speaker 825W Meridian sound system with has a quad-core processor, a 60GB solid-state drive (SSD) and ethernet capabilities.
The system gets paired with Jaguar’s next-generation InControl Touch infotainment system with an 8.0-inch capacitive touchscreen or an optional 10.2-inch InControl Touh Pro tablet-style touchscreen.
With the larger touchscreen, the on-board navigation system is capable of providing others with the owner’s estimated time of arrival while the Wi-Fi hotspot is able to connect up to eight devices as well as apps for wearable technology.
The XE has a torque on-demand all-wheel drive system along with Configurable Dynamics taken fro the F-Type (allowing drivers to adjust the throttle response and transmission shifts) as well as Adaptive Dynamics that continuously varies the damping system according to the condition of the road.
Furthermore, there’s Adaptive Surface Response (AdSR) and All Surface Progress Control system that changes both the mapping of the powertrain and the Dynamic Stability Control system according to road-surface conditions.
Lastly, the XE also gets equipped with Lane Keep Assist, Driver Condition Monitor and Adaptive Speed Limiter among others.
Jaguar XE (left) and F-PACE
Keyword: 2015 LA Auto Show: Jaguar XE