Review

It’s not been an auspicious start. Two days after taking delivery of the XE, and with 2,600 miles on the clock, a warning flashed on the display “diesel exhaust fluid quality detected”. I had 495 miles until the engine shut down.

Three hours at Marshall Jaguar and the issue was resolved. The AdBlue had been run so low that when it was finally topped up (before we received the car), the XE still issued the third and final diagnostics fault (two previous warnings had been ignored it seems).

The technician switched off the fault code and then I needed to undergo a 30-mile drive cycle to re-set the diagnostics. Now, thankfully, everything is back to normal.

While this was driver error rather than car, the question is why did the XE require a top-up of AdBlue after such low mileage? The answer, according to Marshall, is that cars are often not delivered to a customer with a full tank of AdBlue. 

We’ve heard this before. It explains why some vehicles require their first top up after less than 5,000 miles, but a second will see them through another 10,000. Fleets need to check their manufacturer partners’ policies on AdBlue to ensure they don’t encounter unbudgeted costs.

Our XE is the 2.0-litre i4 180hp turbodiesel. The Portfolio trim is the second highest spec and is priced £35,425 on-the-road, although our car has a number of options which boosts the price to £46,886. These include nav-pack (£1,125) and heads up display (£1,020). It’s unlikely that many of them would be fleet options – premium carpets (£105), mood lighting (£300), 40:20:40 split-fold rears seats (£430) and side-door treadplate illumination (£424), for example. Folding wing mirrors (£275) might pay for themselves, though.

So far the driving impressions are excellent: dynamic performance, sharp handling yet compliant chassis – it’s arguably the best in its class.

The automatic eight-speed gearbox returns 67.4mpg with CO2 emissions of 111g/km, 2g/km higher than the six-speed manual version, putting it in the bracket above for BIK. 

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Specs

Manufacturer Jaguar
Model XE
Specification XE Saloon 2.0d 180 DPFR SS €6 Portfolio Auto8 17MY
Model Year 0.00
Annual VED (Road tax) £0
BIK List Price £35,370
CO2 111g/km
BIK Percentage 22%
Insurance Group N/A
CC N/A
Fuel Type Diesel
Vehicle Type Premium family car
Luggage capacity (Seats up) 5litres

Running Costs

67.3 MPG
111g/km CO2
£0 VED
P11D £35,370
Insurance group N/A
Fuel Type Diesel
Cost per mile 94.72ppm
Fuel 7.56ppm
Depreciation 82.44ppm
Service maintenance and repair 4.72ppm

Info at a glance

  • P11D Price
    £35,370
  • MPG
    67.3
  • CO2 Emissions
    111g/km
  • BIK %
    22%
  • Running cost
    3 Year 60k : N/A 4 Year 80k : N/A
  • Fuel Type
    Diesel