It's that time of year again where vehicle engineers head to Death Valley for some hot weather testing! And the first round of shots we're seeing are of the 2013 Jaguar XE. Visually, this is very similar to -- if not the exact same one-- the Jag XE we saw in late June. Both have R branded brakes and both have center-mount exhaust -- something we didn't catch on the first round. Looking back, though, it's painfully obvious. Last time, however, we didn't have the opportunity to grab shots of the interior. That's been righted.
Inside we've got aggressively bolstered seats stolen from the XKR, a three-spoke Jag wheel, giant nav screen and a tall cone hiding a manual transmission. Jaguar wouldn't need a cone that big to hide the pop-up control knob or a normal J-gate automatic.
According to our man on the scene, the new XE is "seriously fast, we're looking forward to finding out for ourselves...
addicted2sp33d says:
08:15 AM, 07/11/11
If they have the fortitude to follow through with it, it will definitely bring back some sporting credentials to the Jaguar brand if we get a Jag with a row-it-yourself transmission again.
The X-Type with a manual was a poor excuse for a Jaguar. I wonder what happened to the XKR fitted with "incorrect parts" that Tiff Needell tested?
gtrguy2012 says:
05:01 PM, 07/11/11
Highly doubt they would make it faster than the XK.
herrstreet says:
06:23 PM, 07/11/11
If this car does not have the long, curving lines of the E Type, and keeps the boring, wraparound headlights and flat fenders it will be nothing bot a 1-series bmw with a big schnoz. There is a reason that the XK is the hardest car to sell in all of the automotive industry - it's not great looking. Just meh. By hardest to sell I mean that it sits longer on the lot than any other car made.
icecubefosho says:
06:33 PM, 07/11/11
"it's not great looking"
Its one of the best looking in its class. The only ones that look sharper are the Maserati GranTurismo and the V8 Vantage and those are only at XKR-S prices.
fordfrenzy says:
07:39 PM, 07/11/11
THIS IS A GREAT DISGUISE IT LOOKS LIKE A BABY XK BUT MY GUESS IS THAT IT WONT LOOK LIKE THE XK AT ALL IM THINKING MORE LIKE A BABY ASTON SEE THE FAKE TAIL PIPES AND THE ENTIRE REAR END IS FAKE AND THE NOSE IS SCALED DOWN THE ONLY THING THAT XE IS THE INTERIOR AND BOY WONT IT BE GORGEOUS AND I SERIOUSLY DOUBT THEY WILL TRADE IN THE ROTARY KNOB FOR THE OLD J-GATE THIS IS A PROPER MANUAL TRANNY WHICH PROBABLY WILL BE STANDARD IN EUROPE AND OPTIONAL IN US I WONDER WILL THEY USE FORDS TWIN TURBO 3.5 FOR THE BASE AND THE 5.0 FOR THE XE-R EITHER WAY ITS NOT A BAD IDEA THE 3.5 CAN EASILY RING OUT 460 HP AND TORQUE WITH NO MODS AND THE 5.0 SUPERCHARGE IS GOOD FOR 550 HP CANT WAIT TO SEE
damaje199 says:
11:23 PM, 07/11/11
Re herrstreet: Agreed the current XK is rather boring, when it first came out I thought it reminded me a little too much of the last generation american Buick Riviera. With the right tweaking of the XK design, on a smaller car could look pretty sporty nonetheless, as long as it looks more like an Aston and less like a Miata.