First Drive: 2017 Jaguar XE, A Cat That Purrs and Slashes

In the haunting Tennessee Williams play “Suddenly, Last Summer,” predator Sebastian Venable becomes the prey, as he is literally cannibalized by the young men he pursues on the beaches of Europe. His beautiful female cousin Catherine witnesses his murder and has the gall to announce its cause to Sebastian’s repudiatory mother, Violet. She has the girl committed and threatened with a lobotomy.

After spending two days driving the pristine mountain roads and demanding Circuito de Navarra racetrack of Spain’s Rioja region in the all-new Jaguar XE, we can say with confidence that the play, in addition to being an allegory for Williams’ tortured sexuality, is also an allegory for the world of the premium compact sport sedan.

In our automotive casting, handsome and overconfident BMW plays Sebastian, imperious Mercedes plays the matronly mother Violet, forthright Audi performs the ingénue role of Catherine. And the vengeful and scrappy cannibals are played by this sublime new Jaguar, which is our new favorite premium compact sport sedan. “They were devouring him!” Catherine admits in the play’s climactic scene.

Watch out BMW. Things are about to get a bit bitey.

Don’t get us wrong. We love the new Mercedes C-Class and its proper junior executive stature. We have a resigned admiration for the Audi A4’s impassive architect-like architecture. And we’re quite loyal to category creator BMW and their venerable (Venable?) 3-Series, (we daily drive a 2004 325i sedan). But BMW’s certainty in its perpetual dominance, and its boundless pursuit of market share, has become its downfall. In an attempt to emulate its mother’s refined desires, while sequestering its true spirit, it has made itself vulnerable.

The XE exploits those vulnerabilities, and then some. Blends usually disappoint us. We find sleeper sofas intolerable as both couches and beds, and are aware that mixing all three primary colors results in nothing but diarrheic brown. But the XE somehow combines its varied source material — luxury, refinement, and potent sport — to create an exemplary amalgam. Credit Merlinian alchemy if you want, but this Brit thrusts the sword in the stone. And it sticks.

When it arrives on our shores a year from now as a 2017 model, the XE will haul in its tapered schnoz one of two engines: a 180-hp/317 lb-ft 2-liter four-cylinder turbo diesel, or a 340-hp/332 lb-ft 3-liter supercharged V-6. Both will be available with rear- or all wheel-drive and the ubiquitous and excellent eight-speed ZF automatic. And both will be capable of being outfitted in one of four self-explanatory trim levels: Base, Premium, Prestige, or R-Sport. As is de rigueur these days, a confounding array of wheel, technology, and luxury options will be on offer. What exactly these will include, and how they will be packaged, is for now unknown.

What is known is that the various wheels will be fitted to Jaguar’s supple yet impossibly well-planted double wishbone (front) and integrated multi-link (rear) suspension and fitted to its all-new aluminum intensive architecture, which will also underpin the brand’s newly unveiled XF business sedan and the forthcoming F-Pace SUV. This light-ish structure should keep the XE’s weight below 3,400 lbs. for the US trim entry-level diesel.