Infiniti Q50 3.0T Races Jaguar XE 35T, Both Are Tuned but Kitty Got Bigger Claws

It’s as fair a fight as we’ve seen lately, and we’ll show you just how similar the two are on paper in just a moment. Before all that, we should mention the fact that Jaguar has pulled the XE from the U.S. market, whereas the Q50 is still available to purchase from your local Infiniti dealership. Jaguar Land Rover decided to focus on crossover models mostly, which led to the XE’s unfortunate departure from the States.

Now, just because it’s gone, doesn’t mean it’s also forgotten, and after watching this race, we’re happy to announce that there’s still plenty of bite left in that old girl. The Jaguar XE 35T is powered by a supercharged 3.0-liter V6 engine, mated to an eight-speed automatic gearbox. It produces 335 hp (340 ps) and 332 lb-ft (450 nm) of torque and will get you from zero to 62 mph (100 kph) in 4.9 seconds.

Thanks to a custom exhaust / intake setup, it should be putting down a little extra grunt, but not by any considerable margin.

The Infiniti Q50 meanwhile is a 3.0T model, rated at 300 hp (304 ps) and 295 lb-ft (400 nm) of torque when stock. It’s got bolt-on modifications of its own (downpipe, exhaust), so at the very least it should be able to put up a good fight. At least that’s what we thought initially.

On paper, a stock Q50 3.0T isn’t a lot slower than the XE 35T to 62 mph, with Infiniti claiming a time of just 5.2 seconds (so a mere 0.3 seconds off the mark). In the real world however, things don't always go as "planned". The Jag took this one pretty easily.