Forty grand turismo

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Ferrari Giant test: Adventure Jaguar XE vs rivals 1st Jaguar, we salute you. The XE is a car that doesn’t ask you to choose between premium and performance 2nd Merc has raised the bar so high for cabin quality that nobody can touch it. It’s no dynamic slouch either 3rd Still a dynamic gem, but run out of town by Merc quality and Jaguar’s all-round desirability KEY TECH:BMW 420d Adaptive lights frame on the iPad-style (but not touchscreen) display. Even the exterior door handles ooze a luxury feel with their fluid, loweffort action. The new Audi A4 due later this year is going to have to do something pretty incredible to top quality like this (and there’s no chance of the 2015 3-series facelift besting it either). None of these cars is huge in the back, but there’s no doubting that despite the longest wheelbase here, the back of the Jag is the most cramped. It feels tighter for headroom and narrow, too. Curiously though, the rear bench is the nicest shaped and BMW’s options list is a bigger risk to your wealth than a Vegas casino holiday, but if you’re going to choose one thing, make it the £360 adaptive headlights. The 420d M Sport comes with xenons but the adaptive package adds a cornering function and a brilliant fullbeam assistant that uses a camera to recognise cars both oncoming and ahead in your lane. Instead of dipping the lights, it maintains high beam, but blocks out the portion of the light that might dazzle other drivers. Useful and clever. the most comfortable of the lot, while the Merc’s tapering rear side-window-line actually makes it feel claustrophobic. Kidnap victims will be better off in the boot, which is bigger than the Jag’s and the same size as the BMW’s, although the 4-series’ tailgate makes it easier to access. Whether that, and the sexier styling makes the Gran Coupe worth a £3720 premium over an equivalent 3-series is a matter of opinion. You can get into a GC for just over £30k, and a (much slower, more meanly equipped) 3-series for £5k less, the cheapest XE splitting them down the middle. The 197bhp 2.0 petrol XE SE costs £26,990, undercutting the cheapest C-class by £280, and then kicking it in the teeth with standard sat-nav, 17in wheels, dual-zone climate and an eight-speed auto. But what matters here are leasing rates and CO2 figures. Jag proudly trumpets the greenest XE’s impressive 99g/km, but that only applies to the basic 161bhp diesel with a manual ’box. Our 178bhp R-Sport’s 111g/km bumps it into the next company car tax band compared with the German pair, though the effect on your pay packet is negligible. Whether you’re choosing as a company car or leasing privately, of these three cars in these trims, the Mercedes is the cheapest to run, and the BMW the most expensive, though there’s no harm in letting the neighbours presume the contrary when they clock that three-pointed star on your drive. Seldom are giant test verdicts so tough to call. Let’s not pretend this is any kind of walkover for the XE because the opposition is too tough for that. But the BMW, exciting as it is to drive, does fall first, and not merely because of the Gran Coupe’s price disadvantage. Had we thrown in a 3-series it would have suffered from the same debilitating lack of refinement that relegates this 4-series to third place. These are sports saloons, but they’re also meant to be miniature luxury machines and the 4’s uncouth engine and poor road noise suppression doesn’t cut it. The Jaguar and Mercedes are harder to split – not because they’re so close in character, but because they’re so different. For many buyers, for casual car fans and your company’s accountant, the C-class is unarguably the better car. It oozes class, it’s got the best interior, it’s brilliantly refined and yes, it even handles tidily. For the Jag to win despite its slightly tighter packaging and occasional quality foibles, it’d have to be brilliant to drive and we’d have to really care that it was. Fortunately, it is and we do. If the BMW’s athleticism comes at the expense of luxury, the reverse is true of the Mercedes. It’s a brilliant car, but one lacking a little dynamic sparkle in the face of the XE, a car whose chassis doesn’t make you choose between luxury and performance, and whose other qualities are close enough to the Merc’s for us to accept as penance. It’s tight, but in the battle of the sports saloons, only the Brit really feels like one, and that’s why for us, the Jaguar XE wins. @chrischiltoncar 114 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | June 2015
Jaguar XE R-Sport 2.0D Price (as tested) | £34,775 (£39,365) Transmission Eight-speed auto, rear-wheel drive Engine 1999cc 16v 4cyl turbodiesel Suspension Double wishbone front, multi-link rear BMW 420d Gran Coupe Price (as tested) | £37,185 (£42,110) Transmission Eight-speed auto, rearwheel drive Engine 1995cc 16v 4cyl turbodiesel Suspension Strut front, multi-link rear Mercedes C220 BlueTEC AMG Line Price (as tested) | £34,770 (£37,125) Transmission Seven-speed auto, rearwheel drive Engine 2143cc 16v 4cyl turbodiesel Suspension Strut front, multi-link rear Height 1416 Width 1850 Length 4672 Height 1397 Width 1825 Length 4638 Height 1442 Width 1810 Length 4686 Made of aluminium Made of steel Made of steel Power & torque We say: Despite its extra 150cc, Merc is puniest here 178bhp @ 4000rpm 317lb ft @ 1750rpm 187bhp @ 4000rpm Weight We say: Steel Merc only 5kg heavier than Jaguar Power-to-weight We say: C-class looks inferior, but doesn’t feel it on the road 295lb ft @ 1750-2500rpm 168bhp @ 3-4000rpm 295lb ft @ 1400-2800rpm 1565kg 1615kg 1570kg Jag XE 114bhp per tonne BMW 420d 116bhp per tonne Merc C220 107bhp per tonne 0-62mph Top speed Oficial & test mpg We say: Jag has the most torque but the worst acceleration. Huh? XE: 7.8sec 420d: 7.3sec C220: 7.4sec J A G U A R X E B M W M 4 2 0 D M E RC C 2 20 We say: All fast enough to see you spending 18 months on a bike if you’re nicked Jaguar XE 140mph BMW 420d 143mph Merc C220 145mph We say: Ouch! Spanish mountains clobbered all three’s pretence at parsimony Jaguar XE TEST 30.7 OFFICIAL 67.3 BMW420d TEST 29.4 OFFICIAL 70.6 Merc C220 Tesla TEST 30.7 OFFICIAL 65.7 Fuel tank Range CO2 Lease rates We say: Merc gets an extra two gallons. We’d swap it for more boot space Jag XE 420d C220 56 57 66 litres litres litres We say: Based on our mpg figures – you may do better XE: 378 miles 420d: 369 miles C220: 446 miles We say: Base Jag ducks under 100g/km, but in this spec it’s the dirtiest of our test trio C220 109 g/km Jag XE 111 g/km 420d 106 g/km We say: Most favourable rates over 48 months, 10k miles a year £366 £389 £343 June 2015 | SUBSCRIBE & SAVE UP TO 66%! GREATMAGAZINES.CO.UK/CAR 115
Page 1 and 2: 14 cars tested, starring BMW 7-seri
Page 3 and 4: And you don’t even get the TT’s
Page 5 and 6: £150k, 552bhp turbo cabrio aces th
Page 7 and 8: Behold the first turbocharged Ferra
Page 9 and 10: A lightweight magnesium roof frame
Page 11 and 12: Cabrio test: 911 Turbo S vs Califor
Page 13 and 14: Mercedes C220 BlueTEC AMG Line BMW
Page 15 and 16: ORGET THE X-TYPE, the made-over F M
Page 17 and 18: KEY TECH: JAGUAR XE Aluminium chass
Page 19: Do not touch It may look like an iP

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