Went to an auto show just recently and was able to sit in all the newest cars from nearly every manufacturer. It was better show than Detroit's. Jaguar had its new XE, XF, and F-pace on display and with the doors unlocked.

Sat inside all and my suspicions from photos came true, all three of these vehicles have outdated-looking interior designs and loads of cheap hard plastic on the bottom half of the doors. There was nothing compelling about any of them from an interior standpoint. I don't understand why anybody would buy one over a comparable offering from the Germans or Lexus.

 

That's sad. Jaguar used to have some of the best interiors in the business, they looked like beautiful handmade furniture on the inside.

 

What model is this?

 

The picture above is a Jaguar XK8, late 90s.

Yeah I'm not a fan of the current crop of Jaguars either. The interiors are too stark for me. The XJ is still very nice, but its a hold off from the prior era still.

 

Ah the 'J' shifter!

 

that was kind of obvious from the picture, sad to hear it is true.

 

Very simply because they (Jaguars) are different from the Germans and Lexuses that are seen a 100+ times a day in ever major city.

Plenty of emotional buyers in the market like me who are attracted to the exterior FIRST and the interior SECOND. Don't care how great the interior might be if there is no emotional pull when walking up to the car. F Pace and F Type exteriors draw emotion.

 

Yep. I did the same at an auto show last year and the Jags were either underwhelming or gaudy (except the F-Type).

 

I totally agree that, by my standards, Jag interiors don't look like Jags anymore.....though it's still hard to find much real fault with the new XJ interior, with is still pretty darn opulent, despite the lesser-amount of wood now. But you have a point....the other Jags have clearly lost the rich widespread wood/leather look of past years. When I talked to the Jaguar people about it at the latest Washington, DC show......their answer (which was more or less expected) was that, like other luxury-car manufacturers, they consider the traditional Jaguar wood and Connally leather interior obsolete now, and they are trying to market to a different, younger, more sport-oriented buyer-base. And Jaguar, of course, is now owned and managed by India's Tata Motors, not Ford.

However, there IS one thing about the new Jag interiors I do like more. That old "J" shifter was ridiculous...it took forever to move the lever around that big U-shaped semi-circle. The new pop-up twirl-**** for shifting (also used by some Land Rover, Chrysler, and Jeep designs) may also be annoying, but overall, it is a big improvement over that old J.

 

I agree that cars like the new XE has a pretty "average" interior, but take a testdrive with the XE S and you understand where the budget was spent. Or like a friend of mine who is an BMW enthusiast since 20 years ago said : It drives like a BMW did before they became an old mans car. So he actually ordered one.

I think Jaguar will be the new "motor enthusiasts choice" in the future. The latest models ( XE and F type ) has both the driving dynamics and the engine sounds, no matter if it is the V6 or V8. I expect the F pace SUV to go the same way.

 

I agree, Tata has really poured a lot of investment into Jaguar and Land Rover, and it's starting to come together nicely now. New lightweight architectures, new engine families. Improved reliability and build quality.

 

I could say the same thing about Cadillac. I hope Jaguar offers good lease deals on these in the U.S. Every entrant in this class needs them but the XE's exterior breaks no new ground for the brand and the interior is drab. That alone is going to make someone think twice about buying one. Especially if the Alfa Romeo Giulia actually ends up being well put together (that's a big if ).

 

Makes sense. This is the same reason why the Maserati Ghibli and Quattroporte, for example, are so compelling despite their sub-par interiors. The name plate, how snazzy they look, and being unique/rare still make them desirable despite them objectively not measuring up well to the German competition.

 

I've seen the Giulia at a couple auto shows now. Only the high-end vesion was on display, but it looks d*mn good. From photos however, the interior looks unremarkable and the car was delayed because it was "technically immature." Like all Fiat products, I don't have a lot of confidence it will be anything other than good to look at and nice to drive until it ends up in the shop.

 

This!!! That's very similar to how my XJ8 Vanden plas interior looked! Beauty....